3 years ago WAG was invited to do an agility demo at Camp Attitude east of Sweet Home. I love organizing agility demos so I said I would organize this one. After looking at were the location was in Foster Oregon I could not justify hauling the WAG equipment trailer over an hour each way for a mid-week demo so I decided to ask everyone that was able to attend to bring some agility equipment. It was absolutely amazing how much people could bring and still have room for their dogs. I had no trouble building a fun and maybe a little long course; I felt if the people were able to haul the equipment I must use it. The group at Camp Attitude blew me away and touched my heart!! Camp Attitude is a camp for disabled children and each child must come with a caretaker and then they are each assigned a camp “buddy” most of the children came with families so there are a ton of people there. They really enjoy watching us run agility and they loved meeting the dogs. They also invite us to stay for dinner and the food has always been great.
That first year after we were done with our demo and were meeting the kids and a little boy came flying towards Kant and I in his wheelchair and I was trying to figure out how I was going to get us out of his path because I did not see how he could possibly stop before hitting us. But he did come to a complete stop inches from us and as quickly as he was coming towards us in his wheelchair his words were coming out of his mouth and he was saying how much he loved Kant and how fast she was and that he really wanted a dog but his mom said he was too much work to also have a dog and I thought to myself that it was not the fact he was in a wheelchair that caused him to be so much work for his mom this was a very active, outgoing, and happy little boy that did not let his disability slow him down a bit. I will never forget that little boy and how he made me feel. I just loved watching all the interaction between the kids and the dogs!
We were lucky enough to be invited back the next year and it was just as amazing and wonderful. The Waggers that attended the first demo talked so much about it that we had twice as many people attend the next year. At the end of the demo I noticed a mother crying and I felt bad she was upset I went to talk to her to make sure that everything was okay and she told me her son is unable to focus on anything for more then 5 minutes and they have taken him to all kinds of places and tried all kinds of things to get him to focus on something for more then 5 minutes and for the first time ever he sat and watched each and every dog run and stayed focused for the whole demo which was about an hour; they were tears of joy both hers and mine!
I have been looking forward all year to coming back to Camp Attitude and this year when I got the call Louie, the camp director, told me that the camp has gotten so popular that they were having two camps, one in July and one in August!
That first year after we were done with our demo and were meeting the kids and a little boy came flying towards Kant and I in his wheelchair and I was trying to figure out how I was going to get us out of his path because I did not see how he could possibly stop before hitting us. But he did come to a complete stop inches from us and as quickly as he was coming towards us in his wheelchair his words were coming out of his mouth and he was saying how much he loved Kant and how fast she was and that he really wanted a dog but his mom said he was too much work to also have a dog and I thought to myself that it was not the fact he was in a wheelchair that caused him to be so much work for his mom this was a very active, outgoing, and happy little boy that did not let his disability slow him down a bit. I will never forget that little boy and how he made me feel. I just loved watching all the interaction between the kids and the dogs!
We were lucky enough to be invited back the next year and it was just as amazing and wonderful. The Waggers that attended the first demo talked so much about it that we had twice as many people attend the next year. At the end of the demo I noticed a mother crying and I felt bad she was upset I went to talk to her to make sure that everything was okay and she told me her son is unable to focus on anything for more then 5 minutes and they have taken him to all kinds of places and tried all kinds of things to get him to focus on something for more then 5 minutes and for the first time ever he sat and watched each and every dog run and stayed focused for the whole demo which was about an hour; they were tears of joy both hers and mine!
I have been looking forward all year to coming back to Camp Attitude and this year when I got the call Louie, the camp director, told me that the camp has gotten so popular that they were having two camps, one in July and one in August!
Two opportunities to spend time with the most amazing kids!!
Waggers once again did not let me down and they showed up ready to help and entertain the crowd twice!! We were starting to recognize kids and they remembered us. This year they invited us to go down to the river with them after the demo before dinner. That was great fun for the dogs and kids and even the handlers enjoyed it.
WAG definitely has some water dogs
and then there is the small group that likes the water but not to swim which included both of my blue shelties and
a very cute black and white border collie, Bling! There are a bunch of kids that are in wheelchairs and the last 30 feet or so to the river is not wheelchair accessible so the kids must be carried down a section that I had a difficult time getting down by myself.
The river was packed full of people playing! They had all kinds of floatation devices for the kids and one was a 6 foot wide floating island. Echo, who had no interest in swimming, quickly figured out she could get in to the river on one of those floating islands and thought they were the greatest things ever.
Echo tried to jump from one floating island to another when they were moving and she fell in to the river, a camp buddy quickly scooped her up and put her back on the island and she shook off the water right on the kids that were laying on the island and the kids laughed so hard and wanted her to do it again. I took home two very tired shelties that night and I am sure all the other dogs that were there slept great.The August camp was twice as big as the July one and the weather was just a slight bit cooler. We also had more Waggers available to come in August with more equipment.
I am just amazed at how hard Waggers work whether it is a demo or a trial; you show up and there is an empty field or arena and
before you know it it is full of agility equipment and at the end the equipment is gone just as quickly. This group was no different! I have started to really enjoy designing courses and the challenge of having limited equipment is a fun one. I felt I designed some nice courses but you never know until they are on the ground.
Everyone
seemed
to
enjoy
them
and
gave
me
very
nice
compliments!
But I could not have done the demos without all the Waggers that made the trip out to Camp Attitude!!
After the August demo
the campers did not come down to the river,
the staff was too tired, but they set a huge slip and slide for them.
It is amazing how much fun the kids young and old could have with a big piece of plastic, some water, and a whole lot of shampoo!! We still took the dogs and snuck down to the river
after a group picture.
We had some crazy retrieving dogs,
some dogs and handlers that just wanted to swim, and
of course the group that wanted to play in the water but not swim. Debbie was collecting rocks and
found a very odd shaped one. Another afternoon spent with the most amazing people and having the greatest time with my dogs, which slept very well that night!
I am already looking forward to next year!! If you want more information on Camp Attitude you can visit their website: http://campattitude.com/Camp_Attitude/Welcome.html
I am already looking forward to next year!! If you want more information on Camp Attitude you can visit their website: http://campattitude.com/Camp_Attitude/Welcome.html
Thank you Tammy for all the great pictures to capture the fun we had!!
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