Stinkin’ hoops!

I hate hoops. I hate watching the hoopers class. Although it’s getting better, dogs & handlers bounce around the course like ping pong balls, rushing from one test to the next. Dogs are barking:  I hear them saying “I thought we were doing agility! Where are the OBSTACLES?!”

And the hoops themselves — there’s nothing sexy about hoops. They’re boring. Plastic, lightweight and boring.

But, after a recent Keri Daun (Sharon Nelson) seminar, I’ve come to realise a very important concept: it’s not about the hoops, it’s about the path.

Well, duh. I teach in my classes that it’s not about the obstacles, it’s about the path between the obstacles. The obstacles are the easy part. (Well, maybe not the contacts, but that’s a whole ‘nother story!) What makes agility challenging is how to direct the dog around the course, making a twisty-curvey, nonsensicle path into a flowing, efficient, obvious path for the dog.

It’s not the hoops, it’s the path. Be the path.

If it takes hoops for me to fundamentally understand this concept, well then, hoops are good.

Be the path