Thanks for the good luck charm Mom - a little story about Jet's Harness
Eagle-eye Susan Coutts (Birch Bark Hill blog) asked if Jet's harness was on backwards last night. I had a look, and yes I think it is! But Jet didn't even act as if there was anything going on.
And now, here is a little story about Jet's harness.
For some reason her harness was always slipping around so that the line was to one side or the other and didn't stay on top. Maybe it is her body shape - so short and square, who knows! It drove me crazy in the Calgary UTD test, so before I went to Thunder Bay, I decided I would sew the pieces together at the bottom, to prevent the slipping. But what would I use?
I am no seamstress, and not that handy with a needle and thread. So that does not explain why I inherited my Mom's sewing basket after she died of Cancer in 1995. The basket moved to Alberta with me, and I swear I have never really even opened it. I took this photo tonight, just for my story...
I opened her basket hoping something might be there, and it was...some strong white thread on a spool that you can see on the left side of the basket. There was even a big sewing needle threaded into the spool. What was my Mom doing with that, I wondered. I fished around in the basket to see what else was there. There are all kinds of scraps of material and little notes. It is sort of sad because I have no idea what she was planning to do with it all. She always had projects on the go. But it is nice too, like a little snapshot of my Mom and a reminder of her after so many years have passed.
I got really emotional about the basket when I was fixing Jet's harness and decided I would tie a piece of the thread at the 3 meter mark on my tracking line, so that I could feel my Mom's thread during the test. It was weird but I remember rubbing my thumb on it a few times as if it was a good luck charm...and...Jet passed her UTD! My Mom would have loved this because she always joked about how practical her gifts were, she would laugh and say "practical Mom."
Thanks Mom. And thanks Susan for reminding me of this little story.
Category Article Border collie, Commentary, Jet, tracking test results, tracking test tips, Tracking training, urban tracking
