Starry's Excellent Adventure

Starry and I (plus Capella) headed up to Montana for the Big Sky Tracking Dog Club of Montana’s annual VST/TDU test.

Starry

It is held in the wee hours of the morning at the University of Montana.

The bears took the day off but there were so many deer!

Starry drew the first track, which meant her track was off campus at the family student housing complex. Not the option I would have chosen as it is a tough place to track. Starry said, “Hold my Egg McMuffin” and went to work on this track.

Four articles, three hours old, four different surfaces, six deer, one giant red ball.

She did it. At 14 months. On her first attempt.

The pass rate for AKC VST tests is less than 10% 🤯

Starry’s great-great aunt Asia was my first VST dog (and Champion Tracker) so I have trained to this level before — but the value of experience is knowing there is always so much to learn. Being unteachable is where and why people hit failure — and stay there.

Early in Starry’s training I reached out to Phil Atkinson to pick his brain for new ideas to add to my training toolkit. He has been generous and supportive in Starry’s tracking journey, and I am so grateful for his contributions to her success and skills. Much credit goes to Phil for Starry’s early start on non-vegetative surfaces. Thanks to him, and to Starry’s dedicated tracking friends — you know who you are ❤️

And then the dogs and I floated home.

Wow.

⭐️

From the Inside Space

One of the most valuable things I have learned from the past few years is the importance of a pause.

Unless it is a matter of safety, there is usually no reason to instantly react.

So much better to experience the thing, and then go into a mental/emotional space to consider both the meaning of the thing and how we want to react.

Artist: Berkeley

Over four years ago, I discovered that my then-husband had a collection of child sexual abuse material (aka child porn). In response, I did what I believed a Good Human should do under those circumstances.

This is a decent representation of what happened to my life as a consequence of doing the right thing.

I haven’t shared much about what has happened or what I have experienced in these intervening years. I couldn’t — for several reasons, including the ongoing investigation.

A few weeks ago, I finally got the call. I settled into a pause space with the news, trying to understand what part of this is my story to tell — and why telling it matters to me. I am still sorting all that out.

But I want to say this about that.

No, I wasn’t lying.

Starry's Fun Sunday Morning

Last night I set my internal alarm clock for 3:30 am and I woke up at 3:20. Do you also wake up automatically if you set an internal alarm clock?

Yes, the most perfect Sparkle 💖

I fed the dogs, had my coffee, wrote in my journal, and was out the door with Capella by 4:50. Yes, it was dark and no, I did not get arrested as I prowled around a local middle school, dropping five random items on my path.

Capella’s reward for hanging out in her crate while I did that was to go for a walk at lovely Kleiner Park — in the dark but at least it was cool!

Pozy went for the next walk — just around the neighborhood as she continues to build back muscle from her third surgery on her right knee.

And then we waited, Starry excited and annoying because she knew what all that meant: Tracking Day.

Rituals are pre-cues for dogs. They let the dog know in advance what is coming up. The only days Starry doesn’t get the first walk is when she will be tracking. The only days I pack up the empty glass container is Tracking Day.

The jackpot goes in the container and I place it at the end of the track before we run it.

And trust me on this — the only time I go to the McDonald’s Drive-thru (aka The Magic Talking Sign) is on the way to Starry’s track 😂

Starry knew exactly what was happening well before we arrived at the middle school.

It had been 2.5 hours since I laid the track. It was 704 yards long with six turns, five articles, and over half of it was on non-vegetated surfaces like concrete and asphalt.

X = article

It took 11 minutes for me to lay the track — it took Starry 13 minutes to run it 🐾💨 She is confident and quick, and it is fascinating to watch her work.

Starry has been tracking on hard surfaces since last September — here is a look at one of her first tracks. In the beginning, we use food to help the dog understand the job — she caught on quickly, as you can see 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Starry earned her TDU at the Specialty in May and since then we have been training 2 - 3 days a week for VST. Good thing I am a Morning Person — aging tracks during the summer heat means they need to be laid VERY early so it is not too hot by the time they are ready to run.

We find out on Friday if she gets drawn for a track in the August Montana VST test 🍀

Happy Sunday, Friend ❤️