Clean Run - June 2017 - 60

turned in all the right
places and had happy
weave poles where the
bases didn't touch his
toes, and found the finish jump even though he
was so far ahead of me.
Or where Banksy stayed
super calm when the
dog before her ran, had a
perfect day of clean runs
without a single E, hit
every dogwalk contact
deep with split feet, and
then there was no traffic
when we drove home.
And cake.

Your stairwway lies on the whispering wind.
ItIt makes
makes me
me wonder.
wonder

Bustle

Hedgerow

It makes me wonder

9
18

There's still time to change the road you're on.

The long way
The piper's calling you to join him.

14
3

12
19

Sometimes words have two meanings.
13

Two paths you can go by

It's just agility, kittens.
There's a lot bigger
fish to fry in life. I know
you were almost clean.
That totally sucks that
you got called on your
A-frame. Now go play
with your dog!

Be careful how you
choose it, sometimes
it's hard
to feel it bite
Feel it bite.
"Royal Orleans" Presence

More on biting. I don't
really know why I was so
Many have I loved,
obsessed with this album
1
and many times been
in junior high. On closer
There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold.
bitten
listening many years
The voices who stand looking are all down here.
Many times I've
later, I'm going to say this
gazed along the
is where Led Zeppelin
open road.
started to jump their
shark. Things got weak. They were all living castles and in fight"Over the Hills and Far Away" Houses of the Holy
ing. Who knows? Maybe life felt hard. Sometimes, you're going
Oh yeah, no matter how cute your dog is and you love him, if
to get bit. That's a lesson I learned when I got my first Border
your fingers are in the way and they're a particularly vigorous
Collie. She doesn't mean it. My hand was there and the toy
tugger, there could be blood. Especially if you're gazing somewas there and, ow. So something you should know, just in case
where, perhaps admiring the freeway when there is no traffic
you're getting a Border Collie, too. Or any dog who tends
on it and considering whether should you leave now to miss
towards stressing upwards in the realm over threshold, over
the traffic? And bam. In that moment, there go the teeth. Stay
stimulated. Ouch.
connected to your dog! Keep your mind in the game. HopeHard was the journey, dark was the way. Way.
fully, less blood.
20

To be a rock and not a roll.

I used to rock it, sometimes I'd roll it. I always knew
what it was for.

I heard the word; I couldn't stay. Oh.

I couldn't stand it another day, another day,

"The Rover" Physical Graffiti

Another day, another day.

Some dogs will play with anything. Some dogs just want their
cookies. Have you ever tried this for those dogs? This worked
for Gustavo, the Never Plays With Toys dog. Put some cookies in
a brown paper bag and crinkle it up a little bit, and all of a sudden it's a toy. Maybe Jimmy Page had a dog like Gustavo. Rock it
and roll it across the grass, make it look like a dying bunny flopping around, and that might be a stairway to toy playing.

"Carouselambra" In Through the Out Door

Said there ain't no use in crying. Cause it will only,
only drive you mad
Does it hurt to hear them lying? Was this the only
world you had? Oh-oh
"Houses of the Holy" Physical Graffiti

Oh. I do believe that Robert Plant has trained a running dogwalk! That is a very emotional experience, ask anyone who's
done it. Chest thumping, moody brooding of emotional roller
coastering. Mine got better! It took a lot of horribly emo
days and sleepless nights and brooding poetry in my journal
and sad emails to Silvia, bless her Slovenian agility heart. Now
when I have a miss, it really is just another day. I forget about
it, we go and practice, and the hit comes back.
Thanks Led Zeppelin! Now we can even listen to "Stairway
to Heaven" again! Get those bustles out of your hedgerows,
trainers, and rock on. D

Laura Hartwick spends a lot of time trying to get better at agility and walking around on a perennial vision quest in the forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains with the
brave dogs of Team Small Dog. You can find her at www.teamsmalldog.com.
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Clean Run | June 17

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