Chapter 1
THE DOG days of summer had begun in earnest—the true dog days, that is. Dog shows. Obedience trials. Agility trials, hunting tests, herding trials, tracking tests, and so on, all summer long. Not that these activities didn't pop up during the winter months. They did. But the true frenzy blossomed with the spring flowers, new grass, and tender green leaves, as dog fanciers everywhere planned their dog-show itineraries, packed collars, leashes, brushes, and chow, and looked forward to summer competition and fun.
June in Arizona brought soaring temperatures in the desert and a thaw of the last snow in the mountains. In those same mountains, the first dog show of the season took place outside among the pines of Flagstaff, where competitors gasped for oxygen in the seven-thousand-foot elevation. One of those gasping stood at the entrance to Ring 12, but her rapid breathing came from a case of nerves, not lack of oxygen. She was accustomed to the thin air. She was also accustomed to the tension of waiting to compete, but that didn't make the wait any easier.
Fun, Jane Connor reminded herself as she stood with her dog Shadow, waiting to go into the obedience ring. This is fun. Fun, fun, fun.
Of course it was fun. Dogs were the love of Jane's life. In fact, they were her life—her livelihood and her recreation. More than a hobby, dog training and handling were the things she did best. Competition was her life's blood, and winning was to her soul like air was to her lungs.
All in good fun, of course.
"This is fun," she repeated quietly to the alert young golden retriever sitting in perfect heel position at her left side. Shadow looked up at her with a doggy smile on his face. His dark brown eyes seemed to laugh. No matter the stress of the moment, Shadow always had fun.
The judge in Ring 12 was taking his time filling out paperwork. The ring steward had called Jane's number a good five minutes ago for this runoff—the American Kennel Club's version of a tiebreaker. Any bobble or hesitation in this performance could spell defeat, and waiting at the gate built tension to an almost sickening level. Jane could feel her focus slipping, minute by minute. Couldn't these people be a little more on the ball?
Finally, the judge finished writing, stuck the paperwork beneath a weight to guard it from the wind, and looked up at Jane with a smile. "Number two-five-one?"
Jane made the effort to return the smile. "Yes, sir. Two-five-one."
"Good. Come on in, please."
Quietly she commanded Shadow to pay attention, then they stepped into the ring and she surrendered the dog's leash to a ring steward.
"You are tied for a placement in this class," the judge told her, as if she didn't already know. Earlier that morning she and Shadow had done a bang-up job in Utility class, the most difficult level of obedience competition. She and Shadow needed a high placement in the class to earn points toward Shadow's obedience championship title. Today he really did deserve those points, because his earlier performance had been nothing short of flawless. Hand signals, scent discrimination, retrieving, jumping—he'd done it all with style and enthusiasm. The judge hadn't specified, but Jane suspected this was a runoff to determine first place.
"This will be a heel-off-lead exercise," the judge explained. "Are you ready?"
Jane took a deep breath. Glancing down at Shadow, she checked that the dog's attention was riveted on her. "Ready!" she declared.
"Forward," the judge ordered.
They marched around the ring at the judge's direction, performing the peculiar dance of the obedience competition ring. Forward, halt, fast, slow, left turn, right turn, and more of the same choreography—no vocal commands allowed in Utility class, only hand signals. But Shadow caught every signal, his eyes never straying from Jane. They moved together like experienced dance partners, never missing a beat.
If the dog faltered a bit in one turn, lagging just a hair, it was still only a sliver away from perfection. And his final slide into a sit might have been just a tad crooked. But all in all it was a superior performance, especially considering that the wind was wreaking noisy havoc with all the tents and shade canopies on the show grounds, threatening to turn them into kites, and worse still, a kid with popcorn sat not five feet from the ring, his aromatic bag of buttery treats held exactly at golden retriever nose level.
"Awesome!" Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jenny Sachs clapped Jane on the shoulder as she left the ring. "Good going, Jane!"
Jenny had been standing at ringside with the other Utility exhibitors awaiting the presentation of awards and scores. This morning Jenny's little Shetland sheepdog had flunked the class when he had knocked the bar from a jump, but Jenny didn't seem to mind the zero score. She always seemed to have fun—win, place, or lose. Sometimes Jane wished she had Jenny's carefree attitude.
"You think it was good?" Jane asked Jenny.
Copyright © 2005 by Emily Krokosz
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Dog trainer Jane Connor has always preferred the company of canines, so when her kennel is destroyed in an Arizona wildfire, she finds her whole world in ashes. Jane managed to rescue all the animals, but her status as a local hero won't pay the bills. Soon she's reluctantly agreeing to work on a reality TV series about life on the dog show circuit--starring herself and her golden retriever, Shadow. Jane has complete confidence in Shadow's star quality--until she sets eyes on their chief competitor:an irritatingly perfect little papillon! Worse, the dog is attached at the leash to hunky Cole Forrest. Jane can hardly hide her attraction off-camera, so how will she conceal it from a national audience? It's exactly the kind of distraction she doesn't need. But in a summer of surprises, Jane just might discover that an old dog learn new tricks--when love is the treat.
