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.

Shake

Ridgebacks are swatters.  They use their front paws frequently to box with other ridgebacks (they go up on their hind legs and bat at each other), to hold bones while they chew, and to express themselves.  Kassi will frequently paw at us when she wants something.  Imagine a pack of ridgebacks on the African savanna with a big male lion cornered.  It swats at the pack and the pack swats back. Its offense and defense for them.  Swatting is in a ridgeback's DNA.   So, it should be no surprise that teaching Kassi to shake came pretty easy.  Teaching shake was easy with our other two ridgebacks, too.  I tapped her right leg, pulled it toward me once, put her paw in my hand, and gave her a treat.   I tapped her leg again and motioned for her to give me her paw, and she did.  One time. For the treat. 

Some things just come natural, are easy to teach and learn.  Of course, the more complicated commands will take time.  Writing is like that, too.  You have to figure out what comes easy to you.  Dialogue?  Description?  Pace?  The mystery?  Characters? Whatever it is, learn to use it as a foundation for the other skills that don’t come as natural to you.  I have always been a visual person, that's how I learn, and that's how I create.  Description seemed to come easy to me when I first starting writing.  But my dialogue was stiff and stilted, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find a rhythm that sounded true. So, I took music lessons, read a lot of poetry, and read a lot of good writers who had an ear for dialogue.  It took me a long time to feel comfortable with mimicking conversations.

There are always going to be challenges for new writers, but finding your strengths and building on them is a helpful way to grow.  Just don’t rely on those natural abilities too much.  Kassi and I are already on to the next command and skill, and it won’t be an easy one… 

Puppy Class

Puppy Class

Kassi and I start puppy class this week.   It’s the normal six-week obedience class designed to teach humans how to communicate with dogs.   Kassi is doing really well with the sit, stay, leave it commands, and I’ve been through classes before, but it’s been nine years.  A refresher is always good and I think the socialization is important for Kassi.  No matter how much you think you know, there’s always something to learn, to figure out, that makes life easier, or satisfies that gnawing bit of curiosity that just won’t go away…

I always try to catch as many panels as I can when I go to writing or indexing conferences.  You never know what tidbit you will pick up that will help you along at the most crucial time.  I've said it before, and I’ll keep saying it.  Writing a novel doesn’t get easier.  Just because you’ve written one or ten, it doesn’t mean that you know everything there is to know.  I’ll be attending a few conferences this coming year and I can’t wait to see the schedules, and the topics that appeal to me.  I’m also on the faculty at the Midwest Writers Workshop at Ball State University this coming summer.  I’ll be teaching a session on writing mysteries.  It should be a lot of fun and I’m happy and honored to be attending this year.  I attended the same workshop twenty years when I was first starting out.  Life has a way of coming full circle.

To keep moving forward, you have to keep learning, keep an open mind.   I was listening to an interview with fellow Hoosier, John Mellencamp, not too long ago and he was asked where his inspiration comes from.  He basically said he didn’t know, but “he tries to remain alert and available.”  I think that about covers it and fits Kassi to a T.