I love my dog. She loves me. Its pretty clear to me that she has more than an average affection to me. Its part of our bond, our chemistry. Its part of our, do I dare say, "magic"? If I had to put together a list of the things that I love about any particular dog, or a list of things that I really need to be successful with them (and I'm defining "success" in a pretty broad way from working to trialling to coexisting with them) I'd have to say that there's that one thing that isn't really definable, except to say that they have a sparkle to them. To me, its what sets a dog apart from being a "good" dog, and a "winner" to being a "good dog
and a winner".
I've run dogs in the past that some might call winners, and I've run dogs that were good dogs but didn't win much, like my first dog Jim. He was tough as nails, gorgeous, useful on any level... except he was a pretty bad trial dog.
And I've been privileged to run dogs that were good dogs along with being winners, thank you Heidi. She could do most any job and then head to the trial with no fine tuning and come out on top. She had the sparkle, that extra something that made us work together in a way that meant she was one of the few dogs that I felt confident that I could be competitive wherever I went. I'm not trying to brag necessarily, but that should't suggest that I'm not. I'm proud of what we did together and I'm even prouder of her for everything that she gave me and taught me. Thank you Heidi.
