Caelan's Story

This week's Excellence Agenda story comes from Caelan, one of our two whippets.  In an earlier post I suggested that Mission is the foundation of the Sustaining Agenda.  This is a story about mission and perseverance, and one dog's sustaining agenda.

Whippets are born with a mission:  catch the bunny.  They are called sighthounds because if something moves - they are attracted to it and have the acceleration and speed to catch it.  The "job" (sustaining agenda) of a whippet was to catch small game for the pot.    A whippet friend of mine tells the story of one of his original females who, riddled with cancer, was still catching squirrels in the last week of her life.  The mission lives on to the end.

We got Caelan because we were looking for a small sized sighthound.  What we did not realize is that what we got was an elite athlete.  As she approached a year old, we began to see her muscles develop and how quick she was.  We got invited to a race practice, to help train her for straight racing and realized this was her natural element. (Whippets race only for fun and the straight races are 200 yards in distance.  No betting and just fun prizes.)  Caelan loves to race - this is pure pleasure for her.  Over the past few years it has been a thrill to watch her develop and she has won her share of events and has earned three Certifications.

Caelan is now seven and a half years old and the youngsters are now much faster than her.  She won't be winning any more races, and I wondered if the competitive spirit was still there. This past weekend we attended a practice and it was a lesson in the value of an Excellence Agenda.  Caelan did three runs and it was like watching three years drop from her age.  Caelan was totally into her game.

An Excellence Agenda is not just for people, it is part of evolution and nature.  Caelan has an Excellence Agenda based on her natural athletic ability.  The ability to run at 35 miles per hour and to have total focus on her mission of catching the lure is her "job".  The fact that she will not win races against the younger dogs does not diminish her commitment to her agenda.  The ability to show up for the game and deliver her best effort is what counts. It is part of who she is as a whippet - her true being.

How often have we given up on our Excellence Agenda because we felt we could not compete?  How often have we not gotten into the game and lost the chance to be a part of something bigger because we could not be the "winner"? How often have we excluded others from expressing their Excellence Agenda because they would not be a "winner"?  By building on our community members individual excellence and abilities, we are building a community of excellence where everyone's contribution counts.

An Excellence Agenda is about being in the game.  It is about living our personal Vision and our Mission.  It is about contributing to communities of excellence, where every individual's abilities counts, that makes the world a better place.

Caelen was born with her mission; it is part of the breed, the encoded DNA of the dog.  Watching the new puppies at practice go after the lure, you can see the instinct coming into play.  This past weekend Caelan was living her mission, and living her Excellence Agenda.  And I learned a valuable lesson about showing up, being totally engaged and the value of contributing the best of your ability.

PS:  Whippets don't have owners, they have staff.