Dog Sports: Winners and the Losers that Vilify Them

I will never forget my first local dog agility competition after winning the 2001 USDAA Steeplechase Championship with my tiny 6lb papillon Phoebe. She had a slow run compared to her typical times due to her cat-like paws being gobbled-up a la quick sand by deep dirt. Before I even had time to grab her leash a popular competitor and judge I greatly admired shouted, “That wasn’t very fast! Phoebe’s time was terrible. She got beat by two dogs. Guess it doesn’t take much to win a championship in the 12” class!”

The reigning grande dame of dog agility rescued me from my incontinence of tears to dish the truest advice I’ve ever received, “Grow a thick skin, because now that you have won you will be judged harshly, have a smaller circle of friends and more people will dislike you than like you."

12 National and World Championships later and my emotional calluses can bounce 5,000 “she’s a b%t#&!” bombs off my back faster than Greyhounds chase rabbits. And, I’ve done my part to pay it forward and counsel other wounded souls at the top of their game left bleeding by leash-wielding villagers.

Lest you think this Win/Hate relationship exists only in a land where papillons pole dance for titles – it does not.

I am a huge Lady Gaga fan; she is the namesake of my current competition dog. Mother Monster sums it up well in her recent Instagram post:

I love you too, Ed, and I'm glad Gaga has your back. Now let me explain the chasm between winners and the losers that vilify them. Losers tear down winners, winners LIKE winners. We admire them, want to achieve like them and most importantly we learn from them. They are the teachers, innovators and pioneers in any sport, and in some cases, they actually invented the games we play while on their own path to winning.

My dad might have made the Olympics were it not for a blown knee during trials, or he may have always been destined to watch it on TV with a Schlitz and some Charles Chips, one will never know. What I do know is he drilled in me since childhood, “no matter how good you are, someone will always be better – learn from that person.”

I started in the sport of agility nervously guzzling Rescue Remedy like vodka whilst my dog lifted his leg on the weave poles fortuitously spraying my Reeboks. I could have quit to go clubbing, or stayed for fun (the kind of fun you have ripping out a hang nail), but my choice was to complete a Betty Ford Bach Flower intervention and learn from the best of the best how to succeed and maybe (dare I say) WIN in this sport.

22 years later and I am competing in an entirely different sport, but it’s the same old Win/Hate game. I was reminded of this recently when I was verbally pooped on for wanting to compete at the highest levels in dock diving. There seems to be a growing faction of must compete “for fun only” folks that love to shock collar zap any competitor desiring to reach the pinnacle of competition. This is poop in a bag on fire, my friends! You don’t realize what it is until you step in it.

More often than not, a self-proclaimed “for fun only” competitor is struggling with their own dog in competition. The “we are doing this just for fun” moniker is often a veiled bauble of self-preservation crowned with a tiara of insecurity. Competition by definition is the activity of striving to win something. Of course, there are plenty of awesome handlers that are trialing just for fun; I was one of them joyfully twirling grandma Phoebe through tunnels in her twilight years. I am referring to the “for fun only” militants that insist handlers with any objective other than having fun with their dog are worthy to be smacked with a rolled newspaper.

I’ve never woken-up on a trial day and thought, “Hmmmmm. Should my dog have fun today or be competitive?” My dogs are competitive, because they have fun. Now, brace yourselves critics and sharpen your grooming shears…..my dogs are having way more fun than yours! Yep, I actually wrote that, and here is why.

When you see a dog, a champion, competing at the top of any high-speed sport (i.e. agility, dock diving, flyball or etc.) they are first and foremost having fun. You MUST check the fun box as a perquisite for a dog to have enough confidence, motivation and drive to perform accurately at speeds rivaling animals on the Serengeti. Fun is not a goal, it is a given.

Dogs that trot on course, lack training to be successful or seldom perform at their full potential often have a chirpy handler at the other end of their leash preemptively declaring, "we are just doing this for fun." In reality the one having the most fun is likely the person cashing their entry fee check.

Ironically, I’ve yet to see one of these supposed fun-loving “dogs don’t care about ribbons” types actually refuse a ribbon, a title or refrain from posting about their own dog’s accomplishments on Facebook. Case in point, the post below is from the same person that admonished me a day later to, “support you dog and stop worrying about what color her medal is or whether she will go to Worlds." (her grammar, not mine) ;-)

To this person, and the countless others like her, I impart the following game-changing wisdom…..

Instead of vilifying those who are at, or aspire to be at, the top of their game I encourage you to befriend us, learn from us and be inspired by us. The view from the top of the podium is pretty nice, and you might enjoy it one day.