Trust Your Dog

After Deacon’s track at the test, I was told more than once, “What is it you always tell us about trusting your dog?” Well, I deserved to hear those remarks because I didn’t trust my dog entirely on the track at the test. But he persevered and he earned that TD with me standing there shaking my rain soaked head.

I was sure the glove couldn’t be where it was so close to the edge of the field - but Deacon kept trying to tell me and finally he got the point across as his head dipped and he ran back to me with the glove that couldn’t be there in his mouth.

Deacon has been an extraordinary dog to train to track. Actually it was more like he merely needed me to show him what I wanted him to do and then he allowed me to follow along. I serve as his anchor, to keep him from going too fast and overshooting a corner.

For Vicki Wooters, it was her first T on November 2nd - for me it was my fourth and the first in fourteen years. But I can tell you that the thrill was just as great for this old timer - just hope I have enough in me to be Deacon’s anchor for a TDX.

While Deacon was raised to be a dog guide, that was not in the cards for him. But he has joined his mother and grandmother by earning a TD. Thank you Hope for donating Deacon to the Seeing Eye. It was my good fortune to get to raise him and have him back in my life to become active in our sport of tracking. And thank you Karl Gabosch for a track well laid.

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