Reply To: Shannon & Cricket (DRTDT)

[Alana McGee]

Yeah, don’t beat yourself up too much. WE ALL DO IT. It’s ok. I can give you lots of personal stories……What’s the saying- something like a ‘one thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning’. Something like that. Not in a bad way, just, it’s how we learn! We (both humans and our dogs) are more intellectually elastic and forgiving than we as humans sometimes give the species credit for.

Cricket showed amazing (really really awesome) creativity and resilience in your video though. Which is nothing but great. I can’t emphasize that enough. It was super unexpected, and made me laugh out loud. She met criteria you were asking, just not what we were all expecting. I love those moments.

Seriously, don’t dwell on it though. Just be aware. We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect and hunting situations are hard to approach sometimes, and it is difficult to always be mindful of everything that comes in to play. It’s part of developing your team dynamic and you begin to learn what works, and what is not as ideal etc.

You are going to be BY FAR your own harshest critic, but give yourself a break. You guys really are doing awesome Shannon. We certainly wouldn’t say it otherwise.

We do LOVE how clever Cricket solves some of the problems presented to her. It is just always a fascinating perspective into the minds of canines (and into individual minds of canines) when they problem solve. She is a clever cookie and very very capable. It’s just REALLY fun to watch the two of you develop.

AH note about the “buried snow hides” Don’t actually bury them- but do types like the tossing games. The snow itself is going act like fluffy dirt (and remove visual ID)- we don’t want to have you actually “burying them in snow”. We will eventually- but not yet.