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I train tracking dogs, and dogs search better this time of year after dark. The object of this is to remind you of the miracle of the meteor showers announced earlier in the week that were obscured by clouds. I remembered and discovered the meteor showers this morning at 4 am with the help of my Search Dogs Tuck and Bob (the Bobber) who play a part in this saga, in that they were the only reason I was up at 4am in the morning.
The object of tonight's training wasn't mass contamination, duration, no major obstacles.. The objective was just a small track as the dog leads the way while I FEEL what the dog feels like when working. This is an important part of training that should be done from time to time, just so you learn your dog. It gets so messed up in the light of day when your senses and thoughts are bombarded with daylight.
So a quick little excursion with Bob ended up a remarkable journey. Earlier in the week, when they announced meteor showers, it was cloudy and of course, you couldn't see anything. I forgot about it.
At 4am this morning, the stars were pasted against a black velvet moonless sky. The sky in itself was amazing. And there were streaks of meteors racing across the sky within seconds of each other. Every other meteor shower I have ever gone out to purposely watch, I would lay in the grass for hours with eye strain and finally hours later, when I might finally see a meteor, I would go inside to nurse my mosquito bites, and replenish my blood volume, satisfied that I had finally seen a meteor.
Latching the line to Bob's harness, I knew immediately this was going to be a remarkable night. Without even looking, a meteor raced across the sky, and another, and another.
I sent Bob off, and not even watching the sky, streaks of light continued to race. Bob was moving quickly, and in the dark, I keep falling in holes in the rough ground, wobbling like a drunk coming home on Saturday night. But even in the distraction of following the dog and trying not to break an ankle, the meteors kept tickling my awareness.
Since the track was put in, the horse had fallen asleep in the pasture right where the dog felt the track was. ONE PISSED OFF HORSE!! as we got him up. From that moment on, he was intent on killing the night wolf in his pasture. Bob went into self defense mode, ducking and dodging the horse, and the objective of the track was lost, even though he did locate several articles and was faithful to the track, the object of the lesson was for ME to feel the working dog.. and I had the Bobber bobbing all over at the end of a line avoiding the horse. He did well, and this ended up distraction training and a lesson in survival.
Because I knew there were articles left in the field, I sent Tuck out with no lines or harness and sent him on an article search. I couldn't see him in the dark, and the pissed off horse continued his quest to clear his pasture of Wolves, coyotes, dogs, or whatever. Tuck deftly evaded him, and continued his mission until all articles were found. In the meantime, the meteor shower truly showered meteors in a display I had never witnessed before in my life.
