Repetition: This Week's Blog Post

I thought for a while that I could sustain the blog with an interaction between training Kassi and how that training and those commands related to writing.  I still think there’s still value in that idea, but I also think that I need to broaden the parameters of posts.  I’m not sure yet what that will entail, but I’ll probably experiment with the format over the next few weeks...

As I’ve said before, Sunny was nine years old when Kassi came along, and to be honest with you, I had forgotten how I had trained him, at least until I started training Kassi.  The basics, sit, stay, etc. came easily enough, but the more specialized commands seemed difficult, until I realized that my secret to training Sunny was repetition.   Every time I put his leash on him, I said, “Get your leash on,” and he would go to the same spot and wait to be leashed.  Kassi followed suit.  Now she does it, sits alongside Sunny just like Sunny sat alongside Brodi.  Every time we leave, I tell Kassi, “Go get in your crate.” And she does, willingly because I also give her a treat and put in her favorite bone to chew.  She knows what’s going to happen long before it does by our actions, getting on our shoes, coats, readying to leave, but I say it anyway.  Every time.  When I release her from her crate, I say the same thing every time. And I will always keep on saying it to calm her, to give her comfort, so she knows what to expect.  When I give the dogs treats, I always tell them to “Be Nice.”  It's a command that means be patient, wait, don’t bite the hand that feeds you, be gentle.  Kassi watched Sunny from the start and now she’s a pro at "Be Nice."  If I fail to give that command it’s all about the food, and I’m risking and encouraging aggression and that's something I don't want to do.  If I got a nick on my finger it would be my own fault.  So, the secret is repetition…always, even when the dog shows you that they know what's coming next.

As a writer, or artist of any kind, the same mindset can be applied to make life easier.  Show up every day, establish a routine, keep doing it over and over until the patterns become established and you are able to get out of your own way.  Repetition is boring, but it almost guarantees a body of work over a period of time, over a career.  But repetition is a necessity to sustain a creative life and to train a sane, relaxed hundred eighty pound hunting dog.   

Kusasa -- This week's blog post

Kassi’s African name is Kusasa.  It means future, or tomorrow.  Deciding to get a pup was a big decision for us.  After losing Brodi it was hard to think of going through that loss again.  Sunny grieved and he had some health issues afterward that we’d never experienced had before.  After about six months, he recovered and returned to his spry self.  But he was coming up on nine years old.  I still hope we have a long time together, but big dogs being big dogs, you just never know.  We figured he was healthy enough to handle a pup at this point, but if we waited any longer, then it might be too late.  I really wanted him to help train the new dog in the house, which turned out to be really helpful.  We considered a rescue, and that might still be a possibility down the road, but we had to look at our own ages as well, and the truth is, Kassi might be our last big dog puppy.  It was a now or never decision, one that we haven’t regretted from day one. Kassi was meant to carry on the legacy of Brodi and Sunny, to fill our house with as much ridgebackiness (yes, I know that’s not a word) as possible, for us to keep walking and moving into the future.  Plans change, life changes, but one hopes that there will be some constants.  Kassi is our constant, and she has proven that she’s more than up to the task.  We couldn’t have asked for a better pup.   

When someone asks me about writer’s block, I usually respond that I don’t believe in it, that you can’t edit a blank page, that you have to keep moving and write you’re way out of the spot you’re stuck in.  I totally believe that, and I’ve used Anne Lamott’s “Don’t be afraid a shitty first draft,” as a mantra for more years than I can count.  Writers, artists, musicians, creative people don’t quit.  At least not the ones who are obsessed, who have to create or tempt madness.  No matter what life throws at you, if you’re an artist, you have to create, exercise your craft, believe in the future.   

Whatever it takes.  Keep moving.  Find that constant, whether it’s the dream of publishing one book or striving for a career.  Whatever it is you have to have something to hang to and something to pull you forward, otherwise when the going gets tough, it’ll be easy to walk away, to quit, and then there’s only regret left to chew on…  Find your own Kusasa, your own future and believe in it as deeply and completely as possible. 

Gentle Leaders

I'm a big fan of Gentle Leaders.   As a dog walking tool, I really haven’t found a better alternative.  They are far more humane than pinch collars or choke chains.  If you’re not familiar with Gentle Leaders, they are essentially a head harness that give you control of a dog in a similar way that a rider controls a horse.  People sometimes mistake them for a muzzle, but they do not restrict the dog’s mouth, and are far more comfortable than the collars I've mentioned. 

I started using a Gentle Leader with Brodi, who weighed well over a hundred pounds.  He was all muscle, strong, and stubborn as a mule when he decided he didn’t want to do something.  When we added Sunny to our lives and I was faced walking two strong, willful, hundred pound dogs, I used the Gentle Leader, too.  It should be no surprise that I have started using one with Kassi.  She’s been pretty good on a leash, and we’ve taken her out leashed since day one, so the transition was just a matter of getting her accustomed to the feel of the Gentle Leader, and walking alongside Sunny.  What seemed like a big challenge was made easier with experience and the right tool.  

The weather over the weekend was perfect, and we went out for our first big walk.  Kassi fell in beside Sunny really well (the blue harness helped keep them together, but after two walks, she didn't need it any longer), and proved what I have thought from that beginning that she was going to be a natural walker.  There’s still a lot to learn, and trust me, the moment when I realized that I had two ridgebacks back on the leash and I was walking my old path was a bittersweet moment, but it was an easier transition than I had expected.   

Tools that have worked for us in the past keep us on the path forward, creatively, or when walking the dogs.  It’s natural for me to use character development to propel the plot.  I have always believed that plot was just the footprints that a character left behind, but as a mystery writer there has to be an added layer.  There has to be that interaction between the reader and writer that borders on a game, or a puzzle given to be solved.  Detectives, amateur sleuths, and PIs (private investigators), all have certain traits that are natural to them that automatically advance the plot, but they still need to be original in their own ways.  So one tool, can help create the next. Creating the puzzle is never easy, and the writer has to play fair with the reader—give them all of the information they need so they can solve the puzzle just like the main character.  One defines the other, and honestly, without the solution of the crime, or a puzzle, a mystery is not a mystery.  The puzzle is a tool that has to be used honestly and with care and restraint to move the story, the plot, and the character from the beginning to the end.