In the many moments of frustration with Cooper, the thought that I got the wrong dog has crossed my mind several times. But, I have to say, that I’m glad we got Cooper. This weekend provides a prime example of why.
Cooper and I competed in the Muddy Paw’s “Fun Fair All” flyball tournament this weekend in Salem, Oregon. Cooper did really well, earning his FDX title (more on that in another post). In addition, our team won 3rd place in our division. Both of these are better-than-I-hoped-for results.
It’s been a difficult and often discouraging experience training Cooper for flyball because he likes to go running off into the other lanes (which makes the team lose that heat, no matter how well the other dogs on the team have done).
But, this weekend, with the help of all my teammates, Cooper did really amazingly well.
And that gets to what I’m grateful for. With a less driven dog, I would have done what originally I expected I’d do with my water dog — go on hikes and walks, play fetch, go boating, have a companion, and generally hang out.
But with Cooper, I have been forced out of my shy shell and into (gasp!) a team sport.
I have never played team sports — never wanted to, never thought I’d be good enough for, never found any sport interesting enough, etc.
But here I am, on a team, playing a team sport.

Cooper and Patrice at the start of his run in a flyball heat

Patrice and Cooper as he finishes his run
And on top of that, I’ve joined several clubs — also amazing for me (I never join clubs) — X-Fidos flyball club, Cascade Dockdogs club, and IWSCOPS.
So thank you, Tammy and Rosemary, for Cooper. He’s been my catalyst.
(And thanks to Laci for the pictures.)
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