When most people think about dog training, they think “tricks.” Keep upping your criteria and bingo, you have a fully trained behavior that your dog will perform after a single command.
Writing is therapy, and therapy is exhuming our feelings from wherever they are buried. Dogs use their nose, and 'people who can't smell', like me, have to dig deep some other way. Some people dig with a shovel, but a pen seems to be more precise! Cheers, Mark
p.s. I love cool articles about dogs; my Gusta has been gone 4 years but she's never far out of mind when I go for a walk - it's like she's still walking with me.
This is a great essay. The dog-training part was interesting by itself, but drawing the comparison to writing made it even better. I've studied all the various aspects of writing just like you have, but it reaches a point where it sort of blends together and becomes your voice, just like I'm sure it comes together for the winner of the agility contest. The training is a must, but when it comes time to leap over a barrier, or write the first page, instincts honed by training need to take over.
I love this ! And the video is fabulous!!! Oh how I wish you were my agility teacher. Mine never ever did foundation work. Oh well, we just want to have fun, so no problem. But still. You are a wonderful teacher not just in dog work, but in writing.
I wish we could confer over agility in the same place, for once! But you're right - you & Echo are having fun, and that's the main thing. Thanks for reading it!
Thanks so much for reading/watching, Carissa! In answer to your question: yes! I'd recommend you search around for a labrador hunting club or something like that for resources.
Writing is therapy, and therapy is exhuming our feelings from wherever they are buried. Dogs use their nose, and 'people who can't smell', like me, have to dig deep some other way. Some people dig with a shovel, but a pen seems to be more precise! Cheers, Mark
p.s. I love cool articles about dogs; my Gusta has been gone 4 years but she's never far out of mind when I go for a walk - it's like she's still walking with me.
Yep, our pens are our miniature shovels - time to get back to excavating! Thanks for reading.
This is a great essay. The dog-training part was interesting by itself, but drawing the comparison to writing made it even better. I've studied all the various aspects of writing just like you have, but it reaches a point where it sort of blends together and becomes your voice, just like I'm sure it comes together for the winner of the agility contest. The training is a must, but when it comes time to leap over a barrier, or write the first page, instincts honed by training need to take over.
I love the idea of having a "voice" in agility just as one does in writing! That's something I'll be sharing with my students, for sure.
Agreed!
I love this ! And the video is fabulous!!! Oh how I wish you were my agility teacher. Mine never ever did foundation work. Oh well, we just want to have fun, so no problem. But still. You are a wonderful teacher not just in dog work, but in writing.
I wish we could confer over agility in the same place, for once! But you're right - you & Echo are having fun, and that's the main thing. Thanks for reading it!
I love this analogy. The video of Tock is amazing! Question— can one teach a dog to hunt? More specifically, to retrieve a bird?
Thanks so much for reading/watching, Carissa! In answer to your question: yes! I'd recommend you search around for a labrador hunting club or something like that for resources.
Terrific lesson on agility and writing!
Yes! And with that, let's open our documents or pick up our pens, and let our agile fingers fly...