Lucky Knickers..!

Wendy Beasley says of course she isn't superstitious!

I am not worried about walking under ladders, have no problem with black cats and am happy to wear green so why is it that when I am getting ready to go to a trial I make sure I am wearing my lucky knickers!  I know I am not alone in this as one handler I know carried a stone around in his pocket when he was competing after finding it on his first track and picking it up thinking it was an article. Another friend had a haircut the day before he first qualified and for the first year he competed he hardly had any hair left after a visit to the barber almost every week.

There is no doubt that we suddenly start counting magpies when we are travelling to a trial and we have gone as far as taking predictions from the names on the Eddie Stobart lorries. This is not as mad as it may sound as one year when we were on our way to the Kennel Club Championships we noticed that one of the lorries we saw was called Moira and decided this meant Moira Rogerson would win, and strangely enough she did, so when we saw Wendy Joy just before the 2006 Championships we could not help hoping it meant something and it certainly did when Libby won for me that year and so Wendy certainly was full of joy!. Now of course we avidly look out for these vehicles on the way to a trial and somehow forget all the ones we have seen that didn’t mean anything.

The same thing applies for all the lucky mascots/clothing that we ensure we don’t forget and we never seem to notice when they don’t work but cling on to the hope that they bring us luck. When my Libby got her second ticket which made her into a Champion the two articles on the track were a red ribbon and a small teddy bear, which the judge was kind enough to let us keep and for the past 12 years this Teddy complete with his red ribbon has accompanied us to every Championships with three different dogs and varying degrees of success, but no matter what the result I still believe he brings us luck.

These superstitions do not end with clothes and keepsakes but can also be brought to bear on how we work the dog. Little things like always doing the harness up on the same side, and throwing out the line to left or right can become more of a superstition than a habit and also when any slight deviation occurs it can be used as an excuse for failure, especially in the nosework. However, when our rational head takes over we realise that no matter how lucky an outfit, a haircut or a talisman may be sooner or later it will let us down and failure will come to us with when wearing our lucky hat and lucky jacket with the lucky charm in the pocket  and even the Eddie Stobart lorries cannot predict a man to win (although we have stretched it to the name of the dog!)

So where does all this superstition leave us? We can use it for inspiration and for an excuse, but in the end it is only good solid training that makes the difference and if the training is good then the consistent dog will take advantage of the luck when it come its way.

(Note from Ceri: I did ask for a photograph of the lucky knickers but strangely enough, Wendy could/would not supply!!)

(posted: Tuesday, August 13, 2013)

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