Last Day, and Another One Bites The Dust-Training, Day 10

You can play this in the background and imagine a montage America's Funniest Home Videos style of me falling on my face. Well, actually on my hands.

I went on my first long blind track with Slugger today. I had no idea where Cole and Brian were, just the direction they headed in the beginning. Something that would be more along the lines of a typical life situation. I knew the last place Cole was, but not where he went. Slugger took off like lightning, as usual. We were doing great. I was slowing him down, putting pressure on the Flexi line and we were going more at my pace than him dragging me around like he wants to. He was running so hard though that all of his legs left the ground and he jumped over the line and got hung up in it. I had to stop him (which he didn't like) and untangle the line from in between his legs. After I got him loose, there was slack in the line and he caught the scent again before I was ready. Remember when I said you have to have perfect body position if you are a little whipersnapper like me? Well, my knees were not bent, my heels not dug in and my arms not braced. So-with that incredible force he has, when he snapped into the scent after that slack, it was like being hooked to a race car. He literally pulled me down, and almost got the Flexi out of my hands. I heard the trainer yell to me to just let go, so I did before I was dragged to kingdom come. I landed directly on my hand and heard an audible crunch. After he asked if I was okay, I waved the trainer on and told him that I was certain Slugger would just go and find Cole. So, I rolled around on the ground for a minute and then cowboyed up and walked to where "Super Tracker" had already found the boys. My hand started to swell as we walked back to the car and hurt like the dickens. I put an ice pack on it (I had one in the car already) and we went to get lunch.

I was sure that I had at least broken my pinkie, so everyone at the center convinced me to go in and get it looked at since I was feeling pain up the side of my hand and in my palm. Well, I have a soft-tissue injury aka a really bad sprain. At least my hand is not broken, but I have this nice little ace bandage :)Now I don't want anyone who is getting a tracking dog to be freaked out by all of my random injuries. This is not typical. 1. I am not really the most coordinated person on the planet. 2. I weigh around 110 pounds, Slugger weighs almost 80. 3. My shoulders and arms are not that strong since I do not have enough cartilage around my rotator cuffs. This will not happen to you. Or at least I hope it won't. Seriously, I laughed when it happened. First I sucked in my breath and said/yelled "Aahh!" and then I started to silently giggle. I was glad that Slugger was doing his job. It was me that wasn't ready, not him. I told the trainer, worse things have happened than a broken finger. So, we got to go to the hospital twice this trip...nothing was emergent and we never had to stay. I guess it is just part of taking in the scenery when we travel :)

I can't believe that today was our last day of class. Tomorrow is our big test and then-hopefully-our graduation! I just hope that Slugger passes the food distraction part. Too bad that tracking isn't part of the the test. The trainer said that Slugger is like the kid in Little League that is certain he should be on the Varsity team, and he probably should, but he isn't old enough yet. I am positive that we have a Varsity tracker on our hands. I just have to get used to it.

We talked today about taking our dogs home and continuing our training. Here is Slugger doing lap.After class, Captain Fuzzypants got a bath. Plus a professional blow dry. On the list of must haves when we get home, dog blow dryer :)I am so grateful to the staff at 4 Paws and to anyone who even donated a dollar to make this happen for Cole. Slugger is his perfect match and I am sure that he will prove his worth time and time again. He has already made such a difference in just a few weeks, I can't imagine what it will be like a year from now. Everyone that has made an effort to mold him into the amazing dog that he already is will forever be a part of our little family.

Cole will miss socializing with every adult in sight. He could care less about the other kids, but that is nothing new.It is time though to get back to our routine and our beds. Cole's nap today is still going strong after 2 hours. He is so tired. He keeps saying that he wants to go home. I admit, I also want to...but I want to take all of the amazing people that we have met with us.