Will Work for Making You Happy
Agility competitions are a big commitment. The dog has to do the work, but it’s the owner that has to commit. People who compete in these agility events have to train themselves and their dogs. Once a week just isn’t enough, it’s almost always a seven days a week dedication.
Neither the handler nor the dog knows the order of the run. They have to go through every obstacle, but they don’t know the sequence of the run. The handler is only informed of the sequence of the only right before the competition starts. They can’t practice the exact run beforehand. The dog must follow the directions exactly and do it fast. It takes a really long time and tons of repetitions for the dog to respond that quickly to the handler’s directions.
In this case, the handler was a man, which was quite unusual. Out of the one hundred fifty or so teams, there were only a handful of men, everybody else, including the judges, were women. Was he there because his wife couldn’t make it?
The dog was working hard, but he wasn’t pushing himself to the max like most of the pitbulls and the Border Collies. Even though he just went through the motions, that dog ran a clean race. No mistake and he got full points for it.
The dog wasn’t doing this run out of pleasure, but because of his loyalty to his handler. I don’t even remember his handler giving him any extra biscuit at the end of the run! It’s those endless repetitions and the hours put into the agility training that build the bond and makes the dog follow their handler’s directions.
I always try to capture the ‘real moments’ like this one. If you want photos of these kinds of moments, book a session and let their personality truly shine https://www.sritch.com/contact/.
Camera: Canon 7D ISO 200 and 1/350
Lens: Canon 70-200L/f4 @135mm and f/8
Processed with Darktable: https://www.darktable.org/