Agility in KSA

The final session of agility in Dhahran is drawing to a close. As of this post, we only have two more classes left. We have had a dynamic and dedicated group for this last set of classes so it is a bit sad to know it will soon end. It is so heartening to see the progress that the handlers have made.

 

Last week, I designed a Novice Snooker course with three red jumps. I don’t actually have three red jumps so the yellow jump had to be a red one for the morning. And I included the table, an obstacle which is never used in Snooker in the real world. But when doing agility in KSA, we can change the rules as we need to!

 

Some of my friends have been making jokes about “you won’t miss that” when the F16s scream overhead every minute or so or when we are faced with some particularly idiotic situation that is unique to living in Dhahran and working for Aramco. And they are right, I won’t miss any of that. There isn’t much I’m going to miss when I leave here.

 

Mangos, now that is something I am going to miss. Round, oval, green, red, or yellow outside, gorgeous pale yellow or deep orange inside, sweet or sour. I will miss mangos in all of their glorious variety.

 

And I’m going to miss the agility classes too. They have been such a lifesaver for me. They are close enough to the real thing to satisfy both me and Mimi. And being the instructor has been an amazing experience. I have learned so much about teaching agility, which is not at all the same thing as doing agility yourself with your own dog. I will miss all of the agility class participants as each one brings a unique challenge and perspective. I know that I am a better handler by the simple act of helping others to become better handlers.

 

We don’t have a lot of equipment but I’ve tried to make the most of what we do have. Even with the challenges of our limited equipment, I now see patterns of obstacles and handling pathways very differently than I did before I started the classes.

 

The weekly exercise of designing a sequence with the intent of teaching a specific skill has given me deeper insights into handling. Having all sorts of dogs in class (old, young, slow, fast, tall, short) has given me a broader understanding of handling paths. I have learned an amazing amount about agility and dog handling by teaching the agility classes and will really miss the weekly challenge of figuring out what we should work on and how to get us all there.

 

I grumble to myself every week as I pack the car on Wednesday night. I have to haul all of the equipment from my hovel to my car in at least two, sometimes three dolly trips, over a distance of about 100 feet, which doesn’t sound like much until you walk it back and forth four times in a row. The equipment fits into the car only one way so I can’t just toss things in there. Then at the school parking lot, we have to unpack the cars (CJ is regularly carrying some of the equipment for this session) and haul it up a curb then down a somewhat steep hill over a distance of about 300 feet. Depending on the morning, it might take us a couple of trips to accomplish that. Next we set up the course, usually in the dark as the field has no lights. Then after class, the whole thing goes in reverse, except now it’s uphill. I spend more than a couple of hours each week hauling equipment around and stacking and unstacking it in various locations. Grumble, grumble.

 

I’m going to miss that.