Most everything I know I learned
the hard way! It is just who I am! Over
the years I have gotten use it and learned to accept that is how I learn
best. The hardest lessons usually leave
the biggest imprint on my memory!
I honestly think that is true
for most people…otherwise there would not be consequences for our actions!
Think about it…we are hard wired to do things the hard way. Consequences have
never bothered me much UNTIL AFTER THE FACT.
The threat of a consequence has never been as effective as the full
action of a consequence! How many times
do we hear when we are out: ”STOP! DON’T DO THAT! YOU ARE GONNA GET HURT! I’M GOING TO TAKE YOU OUTSIDE! YOU ARE GOING TO GET A SPANKING WHEN YOU GET
HOME! “ The list could go on and
on. We learn pretty early when someone
REALLY MEANS IT!
It might be a look, a tone, or
the general way they are holding their body…but something down deep knows when
business is meant! I have a big secret
to share with you all….DOGS ARE FAR BETTER AT THIS THAN ANY HUMAN! The smart dogs are the worst at this , they
play us like a cheap violin! I hate to
say this but a ummm not so smart dog would never dream to think about doing
something they were told not but a smart well they give you the “middle paw”
quite often!
IF YOU ARE ANTI HUNTING....READ NO FURTHER!
Some of them are quit EVIL about
this! This was how I learned this lesson
the HARD WAY! When I got serious about
training dogs I had a little chocolate lab named Hooter! Hooter, bless her heart, made me a dog
trainer! I read EVERY THING I COULD GET
MY HANDS ON and this dog would eat the pages and spit them back out at me! I talked and had private lessons with many a
qualified professional and she left many of them scratching their head as
well! I am serious I tried everything
that was ever recommended to me with this dog….but until the day this dog
passed away when she decided she was going to mess with you she would and she
didn’t care about consequences either!
In the end she was a pretty amazing dog in spite of how SMART she
was.
I know there are folks out there
who think I am exaggerating this…but I can give you a list of names of those
who have “Hooter” stories and who were outsmarted by this little dog! This little dog was a physically tough
dog! At a field trial event she ran so
hard and fast that when she miscalculated a jump she drilled herself into a
ledge but got back up and went and got the bird. When I went to send her for the 2nd
bird of the double I could tell she wasn’t quite right and wouldn’t really
focus in on anything. She had a
concussion! I didn’t know dogs could get
a concussion! When handling her to a blind once in awhile she would get this
glint in her eyes (you knew she was about to middle paw you). You would blow a stop whistling give her a
directional cast and she would go the opposite way just to mess with you! Hooter weighed 45 pounds soaking weight! She also had the heart and fight of a
badger! She was not big enough to
retrieve a swan in the proper way of grasping the breast so she would grab them
by neck or feet and drag them back. I
once watched her DROWN a not quite dead bird before she brought it back! Quit was not in her vocabulary!! Hooter
drilled into me that no matter how well trained a dog is they are still going
to be dogs and THAT THEY NEED TO BE DOGS!
Her daughter LOCO was not quite
as tough as her mother but she still was to smart for her own good and she
would gladly give you the middle paw!
After coming off of the line at a hunt test that she failed miserably by
BREAKING (didn’t wait for me to send her) and then DRAGGING ME ON MY BELLY FOR
20 feet by breaking again on the honor on lead I listened to 2 professionals
arguing over which dogs they would rather have to run than my dog!
Fortunately what Loco and Hooter
taught me was that is okay to have a dog that is not brilliant! I am not saying that any of my other dogs
have not been smart and amazing but I am saying that brilliance has its own
problems! Especially when it is combined
with a sense of humor!
Folks we all learn lessons the
hard way some are easier to swallow than others, but what is key is do we
retain that knowledge! Do we not keep repeating the same mistakes over and
over. I hope you are more like me,
Hooter, and Loco….find new mistakes to make and HAVE FUN WHILE DOING IT! CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED ONCE IN AWHILE it
gives us something to laugh about!
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