Reader Mailbag
Here’s a delightful response I got in my inbox about last week’s piece on Valentine’s Day gifts. A reader shared that she asked her husband to forgo traditional flowers due to their cost and fleeting nature, so he surprised her with a dozen roses LEGO set!
I also got some insight from an agility judge, who explained, “Seriously, it can be REALLY HARD to be judging in REAL TIME and to be 100% sure that at least one of the dog’s paws is still in contact with the teeter when the teeter is on the ground.“
Point well taken! I know that a lot of people celebrated the removal of the table from advanced levels of agility, so I’ll put this out here for readers to consider: do we really need a teeter in dog agility? I don’t think we do.
Finding Your Next Agility Dog
If you’re seasoned in the sport, you understand the challenge of selecting your NEXT competition dog. The process can differ greatly across breeds and breeders, with most of us having our share of both positive and negative experiences. In this week’s podcast, we delve into our approach to choosing our next dog, specifically aimed at newcomers to the sport who are on the hunt for their next agility dog while they learn the ropes with their first one. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.
Sarah has a small favor to ask from our loyal BDA podcast listeners. Could you spare a moment to rate and review our podcast? Your feedback not only supports us but also helps other agility enthusiasts discover our community. Just open the Bad Dog Agility Podcast in the Apple Podcast app and scroll down to the bottom to leave your rating and review. Thank you for your help!
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Don’t confuse this series with James Cameron’s 2009 epic “Avatar” which takes place in the fictional world of Pandora with the blue-skinned Na’vi. In my family’s opinion, the animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (which aired from 2005-2008) is the original Avatar and stands as one of the greatest series of all time, combining brilliant characters, authentic relationships, and many different levels of brilliant humor intended for a broad audience. Its character development and redemption narrative made it compelling, and we have watched the entire series more than once.
However, its 2010 live-action movie adaptation “The Last Airbender” by M. Night Shyamalan was less than stellar. It sucked. Even Shyamalan admits “he’s fully aware he missed the mark.” Fans were understandably disappointed.
Fast forward 14 years and TOMORROW, Netflix will release the new live-action adaptation that “Avatar:The Last Airbender” deserves, crafted by the original series’ writers. At least, we hope that it will be as good as the original animated series.
Battle of the Sexes
Here in the United States, the National Basketball Association (NBA) celebrated All-Star weekend with a one-on-one 3 point shooting contest (watched by 5.4 million viewers) between the greatest NBA 3-point shooter of all time, Stephen Curry, vs the reigning 3-point contest champion in the WNBA, Sabrina Ionescu. I played basketball recreationally for almost 30 years before retiring a few years ago and I miss it every time I walk into a gym. There’s a grace and beauty to shooting a basketball and I love watching the three point contest more than the dunk competition.
After winning at the WNBA All-Star event last year, Ionescu issued a challenge to Steph on twitter, which he accepted a few days later. For this event, Ionescu agreed to shoot from the men’s three point line, which is 1 foot, 7.25 inches farther back than the women’s line. Ionescu shot first and put up 26 points, which would have won the men’s 3-point contest the same weekend, but Steph finished his round with 29, giving him the exciting win. Bravo to both shooters! You can watch Steph vs. Sabrina in the video below:
Sarah’s Corner
Sarah here: this past Saturday, Esteban and I took Hannah to see “Madam Web,” a Marvel Comics-based film set in the Spider-Man universe. We enjoyed the movie, despite the mixed reviews which we read after we got home. I agreed with the faults that were pointed out in these reviews, but I still enjoyed the movie. Reflecting on this, I think our Madame Web experience mirrors our dog agility journey. Like overlooking the film’s flaws, I’ve learned to accept imperfections in my personal training and handling execution in dog agility without letting them overshadow my enjoyment of the sport. Setbacks and faults are part of the process, but they don’t define my experience or the joy I find in the sport. Let’s appreciate both the perfect and imperfect runs, because it’s the whole experience, with its ups and downs, that makes our agility adventure fulfilling.
As always, email us at team@baddogagility.com with your comments and questions, and let me know if you’d like to see the teeter go or stay.
Happy Training,
