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In<br />
Like<br />
Flynn<br />
A Junior’s View<br />
Janelle Farkas<br />
Northridge, California<br />
Team Janelle and Jeep<br />
Bret Kofford<br />
Imperial Valley, California<br />
I ended my last Aussie Times article hopeful that soon, Jeep and I would be<br />
getting used to our new routine.<br />
I<br />
ended my last Aussie Times article looking forward to the<br />
future, excited about my new job, our new life, and happy<br />
that I am encouraged to bring my best friend to work with<br />
me. I ended my last Aussie Times article knowing, that soon,<br />
our adjustment period would be over, and that we would both be<br />
“back.”<br />
I write this article today,<br />
so happy, so fortunate, and so<br />
lucky, to share with you that I<br />
believe this has happened. On<br />
a personal level, I feel more like<br />
myself than I have in the last<br />
three years. I am smiling, laughing, learning, reading, cooking,<br />
going to agility, seeing friends, trialing, and having fun. I finally,<br />
after a few years of some pretty significant ups and downs, feel<br />
like me again. And Jeep? GOODNESS, he is just AMAZING! He<br />
is now handling his new environment like a superstar, loves going<br />
to work, sleeps pretty much all day, loves my co-workers and my<br />
students, and doesn’t need as much time to recover after a full day<br />
at work as he used to. Just this past week, after being off for a week<br />
due to the July 4 th holiday, he went to work with me three out of<br />
five days, and bounced back to the car with as much enthusiasm<br />
as he bounced into my office. Every single day I feel so fortunate<br />
to share my journey with him, and I am so proud of his ability to<br />
take everything in and handle it so incredibly well.<br />
I have finally gotten to a place, emotionally and physically,<br />
that I am able to compartmentalize better; I am thankful for my<br />
time at agility, and have gotten so much better at being present at<br />
a trial, able to not worry about all the other “stuff” going on in my<br />
life. At our most recent trial, Jeep went 8 for 11, the best weekend<br />
I think we have ever had. He and I were in sync, he was in tune to<br />
my handling, he was running smoothly and confidently, but, so was<br />
I. I have said it many times, but I truly believe agility is a TEAM<br />
sport. Yes, my dog could probably run for someone else, and he<br />
has on occasion, but he does not have the same passion for agility<br />
running with someone else as he does when we are running together.<br />
The team aspect of this sport means that if either one of us aren’t<br />
on our A game, then we probably don’t have as good of a chance at<br />
106 AUSSIE TIMES Sepetember-<strong>October</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
. . . I feel more like myself<br />
than I have in the last three years.<br />
being successful (however you define success). This most recent<br />
trial was probably the first trial – at least the first trial since I lost<br />
Taxi – that I wasn’t thinking of the past, that I was handling the dog<br />
in front of me, and that I was able to be present and completely pull<br />
my weight as a team member of “Team J” (as some have come to<br />
call us). I left this trial excited<br />
for our future, happy that I had<br />
the time to spend with my dog,<br />
my mom, and all our friends,<br />
and reenergized for the week<br />
ahead.<br />
As I write this article, I am<br />
two weeks away from our next trial. I feel giddy; I remind myself<br />
of me, ten years ago, just over the moon excited that I get to spend<br />
the day with my dog. The only things that have changed? The dog<br />
and the girl who grew up and is now a working professional. But<br />
what didn’t change was the love for agility, the love for spending<br />
a weekend with my teammate, the love for my support system<br />
at ASCA trials, and the love for spending a weekend with my<br />
mom. Admittedly, the last few years have been tough and full of<br />
uncertainness and stress. It feels good to be on the upside of that,<br />
and I am so looking forward to seeing where our journey takes us.<br />
ASCA Stuff For Sale<br />
Below is a list of items ASCA has available for sale.<br />
Contact the Business Office<br />
(please inquire about foreign postage rates if not noted):<br />
• ASCA® Yearbook 1957-1977 – $20<br />
• ASCA® Yearbook 1978-1982 – $20<br />
Postage for each book: $2.50 (US), $5 (Foreign)<br />
• OFA Listing Book (thru 12/31/88 – $7 each (US)<br />
• Back issues of the Aussie Times – $10 per copy (US)<br />
• ASCA® Video Brochure – $23 each plus $3 postage & handling (US)
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