Agility is not just a sport. It's an addiction...
 Lorraine
Pearson arrived
home from a weekend show at about 7pm, but come 11am the next morning she was literally
counting down the hours until Friday when she would get to do it all again. Though she was
supposed to be working, all she could think about was running around a grass field with her
dogs! That's when she realised that she was addicted to agility and agreed to write an article
for Agilitynet about her addiction. She apologies in advance that her article is not longer but
she's been too busy away competing.
Hello. My name
is Lorraine and I'm an agility-holic. It's been less than 24 hours since my last competition
and I'm already desperately craving the next. I have training which will help take the edge
off and there'll be a shiver of delight when 'Ring Cards' pops up on my iSS home page. But
it’s the checking in, the queuing up and the hopeful anticipation of a running a clear round
that I so desire.
My family and
non-agility friends are starting to make comments such as 'hello stranger.' And I know the
cost of funding my addiction is harming my bank balance but I just can’t stop.
Like most fellow addicts, my habit started small.
I had just one pet dog and wanted to give agility a go, just
recreational. As we got better, I thought I might dabble in competition. We got a 5th
place at our first show, so I entered another and then another. And from there it just got out
of control. I was hooked.
Before I knew
it, I was training my second and then third dog. I was spending a small fortune buying all
manor of accessories for days out competing. I couldn’t believe the pleasure I got from
purchasing reflective sheeting and vent locks.
When it
started, I had restricted competing to just once, maybe twice, a month. But my willpower soon
waned. I upped the ante by booking camping and now get cold sweats at just the thought of an
occasional weekend off.
How am I going
to cope after September when the number of shows starts to reduce and those beautiful sounds of
'course is ready for walking' and 'first 20 dogs to the line' over a crackly tannoy become less
frequent?
Is there a cure
for this addiction? I certainly hope not!
 About
the author...
Lorraine Pearson competes in agility with two English Springer
Spaniels. Deefa is Grade 5 and Toffee is soon to be Grade 6. Lorraine has two other Springers,
Whisper and Breeze, but they have a 'hands off' notice placed on them by her husband Mark as he
competes with them in Gundog Working tests and field trials.
First published 22 August 2014
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