“I know I don’t probably know what I think I do, but there’s something to some of it.”--- Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Clint Daniels and Bobby Pinson
In 2005, as a student studying Network Administration, I learned how to trouble shoot a corrupt Operating System starting from where it crashed and working backwards. When the path leading back thru the processes and functions led you to the glitch, you could pin point the time and restore your OS to just before when things went south, reboot from a backup to that date and erase what came next that contained the reason the operating system crashed. You could minimize lost data and mitigate the damage. It is called "Booting to the last known good," a Computer Science term I still remember. Most of what I learned to do in technology school has now been usurped, replaced and swallowed by software programs. I became obsolete.
There isn't much I use or remember from computer school, but "booting to the last known good" is one thing I use practically daily. It is a great philosophy, a coping mechanism to be applied to bring me to a resolution for many situations in life.
In working on AKC Buried Element searches, "booting to the last known good" has presented itself as the go to method for coping. In our Novice and Advanced Level buried searches, Winnie and I stumbled when AKC altered the medium in which the odor was buried from dirt to sand, but we slid thru earning her Titles. Moving on to Excellent Level has revealed another bump in the road, odor buried in the ground makes Winnie want to dig and she is less interested in "tell
ing" me where she smells odor. I have faith my dog can still sniff and confidence I can still "read" her. With ease Winnie has earned her three qualifying scores for each of the other Elements at Excellent Level; Winnie is 5/5 in Exterior and Containers, 4/4 in Interiors. But we have tried 5 times for success in buried hides and have only one Qualifying score to show for it.
So it's back to basics we go, booting to the last known good. I'll set odor how we did it at Novice level and see how Winnie does. This process could shed some light on things, hopefully we will expose what may have been overlooked in our training. I believe I missed a step along the way, and even if I never know what exactly it is, I have faith that a reboot will give it a chance to come out right.
We will try again in a few weeks for success in buried searches at the AKC Lost Coast Kennel Club Trial in Fortuna, CA. The current reboot may not lead us to a successful reinstall of the OS in which Winnie can master buried searches. Qualifying scores to get Winnie closer to the Excellent Level Buried may still elude us and that's ok. It turns out booting to the last known good in regard to dog sports is all about getting time and perspective.
Funny how I would never think of comparing computer science to a dog sport of any kind, apples and oranges, right? And yet, here it is. Something I learned studying technology helping me with Scent Work when I can't even remember most of what I've forgotten anymore about Information Technology (talk about a useless degree!). And somehow what I do remember turns out to be useful in life. There really was something to some of it.
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