Awesome Dawson

I met Katie & Dawson in the summer of 2003 at a tracking workshop. I didn't see them again until the spring of 2005 when we both signed up for Donna's tracking classes. We were paired together for a work session, & from that day on became friends as well as tracking buddies. We would go out evenings & weekends in all kinds of weather , once we were out when it was minus 40!!! I guess you can call that "extreme tracking! " The picture below was on Sun. May 20/07 when Tate received his TD & his buddy Dawson got his TDX !! What a great day!
This next picture is of Dawson & Katie as they walked off the field with their tracklayer, moments after finishing their TDX track!

In Oct 07, 2 weeks after I moved to Lethbridge, Katie & Dawson entered another trial & Dawson got his UTD !!! This is a new tracking title in Canada, and it was only Thunder Bay's 2nd UTD trial. UTD stands for Urban Tracking Dog. The last picture below is Katie holding up the final glove for the judge, to complete their UTD track!

My reason for this post today is because I am sad, you see, Dawson has cancer. It's not fair, he's only 7, a year older then Tate. I'm sad because I can't be in Thunder Bay to help Katie through this...he was just diagnosed in Feb. Katie calls me, & we cry together on the phone, then we talk about all of our tracking adventures together & laugh. I feel kind of helpless here, but I think about them all the time & send positive thoughts their way. I wish I could do more.....So if everyone reading this post can say a prayer for Dawson & also send positive thoughts, with any luck he will stay healthy for a long time. It would be wonderful if Dawson would be able to enter the May trial this year, get his UTDX , & become Thunder Bay's 2nd Tracking Trial Champion!