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In January, I revised one story and drove one into the ground without actually finishing it.
In February, I finished nothing.
Today, I finally finished a story--for certain definitions of finished. Hey, it has a beginning, a middle, and most important, an end. Once they have those three things it's only a matter of time...
Also, there is still time to finish another story before the end of the month, she said optimistically.
I took the day off two weeks ago Friday to try to certify Billie for tracking.
Because AKC tracking tests are tough to get into (the maximum number of dogs for a TD test, which takes all weekend to plot and run is 12) the rules say that first you and your dog have to certify. Certification involves running a TD length test laid by a judge. Basically, you have to pass a test to enter a test. If you certify, you get 4 certificates good for a year. Each test you enter, you have to send in a certificate. If you get in the test, they keep your certificate. If you don't make the draw, they send your certificate back and you can reuse it.
A fairly long while ago I tried to certify Billie and we made the first corner and really didn't get any farther. It was a very warm day and she has proven to be a very difficult dog to 'read'.
The deal with a track is that neither you nor your dog knows where it goes and the dog uses its nose (following the scent of the person who laid the track) to follow the track and find the article at the end--usually a glove--with the tracklayer's scent on it. You have to know when your dog is at a corner, when it's telling you--the track goes this way--when it finds something with the tracklayer's scent on it. Some dogs, particularly at the TD level, basically drag their handlers to the end. The handler hangs on to the line and follows. For most people, it's a team effort and we have to learn to understand what the dogs are telling us. Billie has been capable--in my opinion--of running a full-length track for a good long while. I have not been able to read her. And since she wasn't willing to make me go with her, by whatever means, I was never sure when she knew where she was going and when she didn't.
I'd finally gotten to where I was generally very certain when she was at the corner, and more or less certain (usually really certain after the fact) what direction the track went in from the corner. But she would often quit working at corners and I would often really struggle to tell which way was really the way and not just Billie checking things out.
So we went to certify with a friend and her dog. Billie and I took the first track. It was a good day, not too warm, very dry. The grass hadn't started to green up yet, which was a good thing as dogs sometimes struggle bridging the gap between dry dead grass and the live green stuff. But, alas, although I sort of knew that Billie was at the first corner, I wasn't certain enough to go with her and we went on, worked back, and eventually went in the wrong direction. We finished that track with some help from the judge. She did very well. Me, not so well. And I talked to the judge about what and why--because not only is he a judge, but it's a lot easier to see what a dog is doing when you're fifty yards back. She indicated every corner, he said. I'm just not certain enough, I said. I'll lay you a second track if you want, he said. If you do, I told him, I will go with her every time she goes.
So, my friend ran her dog and also came close, but didn't certify for different reasons than Billie and I. And I rested Billie and we went to another site to lay a new track. The judge went off to lay the track and then we talked about tracking and dogs and all the stuff trackers talk about while it aged. When I took Billie out to run it, I leaned down to her when I was putting her harness on and told her that I would go wherever she went without question.
And I did. It was sort of scary really because I usually make her prove to me that she knows (which actually doesn't work, something she has basically illustrated to me time after time), but this time every time she gave the slightest indication that she was at a corner, I followed her. And she nailed the track. It was the best track we've ever done together.
In the two weeks since, when I've tracked with her I've done the same thing. It's a very different way to track for me, but I can see her confidence building. She's tracking faster and stopping less often. I've entered her in a test at the beginning of April though there's a better than equal chance that we won't get in. But I feel like I can read her, like we have taken the next step in our partnership and it is such an awesome thing when that happens and one of the reasons I love tracking.
[Apparently I keep writing posts but forgetting to post them...hmmm, no wonder it appears as if I am not even here]
No love from Strange Horizons.
I've packaged up the story to send back out again because it's a totally awesome story and someone should buy it. And I'm not just saying that because I wrote it (wait a minute--of course, I am--I'm totally saying that because I wrote it, even though it is, in fact, awesome :-)
Retractable leashes and veterinary offices do not mix.
Ever.
For reasons why, refer to Etiquette tip number 1. If you don't find that convincing, remember that most dogs are in the vet's office because they have something wrong with them. Possibly something contagious. Or just something that makes them excessively cranky.
Also, you never know when there will be ferrets.
Everyone does not love your dog as much as you do.
Seriously.
When I have my dog with me, I am not secretly wishing that your dog will stick its nose in my face.
Corollary number 1: There is no rule that says all dogs everywhere must 'meet.' Some of us want our dogs to learn to ignore other dogs. Some of us know that dogs on leash will always be more aggressive than loose dogs. Every dog you see on the street is not an invitation.
Corollary number 2: As hard as this is to believe, I will never think your dog is cuter than mine. (Though I may think it's pretty damn cute. Although not if you violate this important etiquette tip. Seriously.)