For decades I extol the virtues of wearing the proper clothing for dog training, comfortable, weather appropriate clothing, closed shoes...
Yeah, about the closed shoes.
Well there really IS a reason, of which I in my arrogance clearly needed a reminder of.
Working a young, relatively weighty dog on a drag line, I was casting him to a training table and in his effort to avoid the request I smartly stood on the line with my left foot and scooped the slack with my right to urge him with a bit of leash pressure to go to the table from a distance of about 8 feet.
Super-cool maneuver as the purpose of the task was to remind the dog that my hands were free but correction can come from any source.
Having done this thousands of times before ( in appropriate shoes, of course) I was wholly unprepared for any problems for my sandaled feet.
Lo and behold, the line runs across my right toe, down below the second toe and along the tops of the remaining toes and as I pop the line to the left to take out the slack and redirect the dog; I feel a sickening snap as my toe is bent awkwardly into a position I am sure that toes are neither accustomed to, nor designed for.
Ouch. Is about all I can say.
That, and please wear appropriate shoes.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
