Life Lessons from a Dog

The sudden death of their beloved pet dog 13 years ago, followed less than a month later by their teenage nephew’s suicide, left David Castle and his wife, Sonja Erickson, reeling with grief. But only hours after attending their nephew’s funeral, Augie Doggie bounded into their lives and set them on a path that brought them invaluable life lessons and ultimately healing.



Augie

Augie was a Shetland Sheepdog, commonly called a Sheltie, a friendly, social puppy with a love for children. But it was the need to find an outlet for his non-stop energy that led David and Sonja into the field of dog agility competition, of which they had not previously heard. Agility competition is basically an obstacle course for dogs, where they are judged on time and accuracy. They run off-leash, with no incentives such as food or toys. Their handler serves as their coach, but the coaching is limited to voice, movement and body signals. The handler can’t touch either the dog or the obstacles.

 

David was Augie’s handler, and Sonja accompanied them as they trained and competed. They became part of a close-knit community of agility competitors, making friends, traveling across the country, and staying busy. In the years since, Augie competed and excelled in dozens of agility competitions, Sonja got her own Sheltie to train and compete, and the family moved to the country where they had the open space they needed.



Sonja said that Augie was the sort of dog that children were drawn to, the sort of dog they knocked on the door for to ask to come out to play, a dog ambassador who made it his mission to win over the children who were afraid of dogs. She even posted a tribute to him after he died last August.

Sonja and David now have three Shelties and one Border Collie that they train and compete. But according to Sonja, the dogs train their handlers too.



Kellen



“It’s like God says, ‘Here’s what you need to learn and this dog is going to teach you,’” Sonja said.

From Kellen,  her Sheltie that had nearly every problem a dog can have in competition because “his sole interest was to see how fast he could run and the heck with listening to my coach,” she has learned problem solving skills, patience and perseverance. “And humility,” she added, “because the dog was pretty embarrassing a lot of times.”

 

Those life lessons have also aided her career in human resource management with Traveler’s Insurance. Her dogs have taught her that it’s important to keep the relationship positive, and to redirect rather than criticize.



Sonja Erickson (right) and Kellen

“There’s a better way to treat people,” she said. “If they’re not doing the job right, you don’t get mad and yell at them. That’s not a good way to treat people. You need to recognize their strengths and build on those.”  All this insight can be traced back to Augie, the dog who wouldn’t stop to sleep the first couple of days in the Castle/Erickson household, the dog who earned his handler a sort of time-out in his first etiquette class but went on to earn “Top Agility Dog in Class,” the dog who eventually lost his hearing but continued to compete, the dog who earned this tribute from Sonja and David: “God blessed us with this absolutely wonderful, once in a lifetime, fantastic, awesome little doggie,” who “added so much to our lives.”

May you be similarly blessed with such a divine companion.