Clean Run - March 2012 - 25

off-beat ideas, most times. Sam is what one would call a hard dog. He will push the boundaries. If you give him an inch, he will take the mile. So, I have to be very watchful of what he does. If I let a mistake go, he will usually take the error farther the next time. Somewhere along the way, he will decide to have a contest of wills over which exercise he will do. Oddly enough, this is a good thing. I have learned from working with Sam, that when this ﬁght comes, I have to win the battle. From then on, he will do the exercise well. I think it is just his way to see how committed I am, or whether or not I mean what I say. I am often approached by fellow exhibitors who are fascinated by my little hound. They will say that we are doing such a good job, and that we should be proud of our accomplishments. I will nod, and say yes, but wished we could “Q” more. The comment back is that, “Well, he is a hound!” OK, I certainly understand that he is a hound, but he does have a brain. It just works on a different wave length. For example, when you ask a Border Collie to “jump,” you are likely to get a response like “You wish me to jump? How high? How many times? And, oh, would you

like me to herd those dogs over the jump too?” Ask a hound to “jump,” and you’re more likely to get the response, “Say what? You want me to jump? Jump what? Why? But there is something that is far more interesting over there, and I really need to investigate. Hey, it would be more fun to go under the jump! Or, I can crash into it and watch the bars go everywhere!” We don’t get any extra points for being more difﬁcult to train. And we certainly don’t get any extra points for style, though I sure wish we did. Like when Sam decides that he needs to give me a heart attack and tries to jump the triple while turning around in mid-air! He was trying to see what the nearby E-Z Ups were serving for lunch. He actually managed to clear the triple, by the way, and landed rear feet ﬁrst. Ever look down at your dog jumping the triple and your dog is now facing you? Trust me, it’s extremely difﬁcult to gasp and run at the same time, and not something I suggest you try. Or extra credit for providing comic relief, which we do quite often. I am not sure how the judges manage to call the faults while doubled over laughing, but they do. I suspect that the AKC has special courses on how to laugh while putting your arms up in the air. We navigate the same course that everyone else does. Sometimes we do it like most of the dogs, but, most times, we will run the course much differently. Trust me on this, I don’t plan it that way, it’s just happens. I was standing at the ring, waiting our turn, when an exhibitor approached and said, “I’ve got to tell you this! A young Harrier came to our beginner’s class on Saturday. So, I asked if they knew Sam. And the response was that they certainly knew Sam and that he was their hero!” I was ﬂoored. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever dream that this little rescue Harrier would be an inspiration to anyone! While I am certainly humbled that Sam is inspiring other handlers to start training their hounds, I feel unqualiﬁed to lead as we are still trying to ﬁgure it out ourselves. But I welcome all newcomers, and we can ﬁgure it out together. Those of us who run the “foreign bodies” usually congregate together, so we’re easy to locate. Maybe it’s because there is a common bond between us. Probably insanity.

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Clean Run - March 2012

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