Hey ,

It's been a minute! I've been hard at work getting the print version of Nova's Tale completed and I'm excited to share that it is now available. As with everything along this journey, there was much more to it than I had anticipated and I wanted to make sure everything was as good as it could be before putting it out there. I did hire some professional editing help but outside of this has all been me. The formatting, cover art, and layout all presented new challenges but that learning experience was rewarding and will be useful for future projects.

It's pretty wild to hold a physical copy of your first book!

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Getting back to our regular scheduled programming I've got Chapter 8 for you below! I remember this phase very fondly because at this point we had Nova long enough to get over the shock of it all and were able to get into the fun of just having a dog. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 8

The Mobile Happiness Dispenser

The best thing to do when you fall off a bike is to get right back on and try again. So after Nova’s attack and positive session with Harry, we decided the best course of action was not to avoid other dogs but to keep socialising him, more than ever. It was one thing we had been consistently told since bringing Nova home – socialising your dog from a young age is key to having a well-rounded pooch. We decided to avoid the field and instead headed towards the mecca of dog-walking in Townsville: the strand.

The strand is one of Townsville's best features. It is a couple of miles of man-made beaches, walkways, barbecues, and pools stretching along the oceanfront. There are bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and parks. There are joggers, walkers, cyclists, and of course – there are dogs.

We grabbed Nova’s leash, popped him in the car, and headed down for some prime socialisation. 

The walk went beautifully. The strand was as busy as always which meant every 10th person was there walking a dog. Some people, and you can identify them immediately, have no interest in socialising their dogs with yours. They look angry, or perhaps a little constipated, and maintain a relentless white knuckled grip on their dog's leash. It’s never the ones you would expect. It’s never the bulldogs or rottweilers. Instead they’re consistently small, fluffy, and most of the time white. The owners don’t want to stop and talk and their dogs want to scream at anything and everything with four legs. 

Of course, Nova loves them. 

He’ll pull desperately on his leash and try to get at these little white noise machines. This makes the owner go even more tight-lipped and look even more constipated. As fun as this sounds, we often decide to ignore them and keep going. Fortunately there is never a shortage of other folks who are more than happy to let our dogs sniff each other out and see who’s who. 

Nova responded well right away. Where he used to jump up and paw faces, he would now just cautiously approach and begin his new go-to routine: lick with reckless abandon and hope for the best. We were thrilled to see how well he was with other dogs so soon after the attack. Had it not been for Harry’s gentle prodding the night before, it may have been a completely different story. With each dog he met he was more and more confident. We were both completely relieved. 

Our boy was back. 

As we strolled along the water I noticed something else that was a bit curious. I hadn’t noticed it before because for our first month together whenever we walked him we would constantly be staring down at him, completely oblivious to the world around us. I’m sure we looked mildly insane but that’s the way it is with a new puppy. You just want to see what he’s up to all the time. Now though, as the novelty wore off, I managed to lift my head and took a look around. What I saw were smiles. 

Lots and lots of smiles. 

People would be walking along, minding their own business, and then they would catch sight of Nova. Their reaction was as predictable as a hallmark romcom and just as irresistible. Faces were being split into smiles left, right and centre. Young kids, old men, mothers, fathers, bachelors, no one was immune to the effect. I saw a giant horse of a man coming towards us. His muscles looked like they were actively trying to escape his body while the veins tried to hold them in. I am almost positive he had extra veins in his neck. Are vein transplants a thing? If so, he was definitely doing that. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses but I knew the second he looked at Nova. His face went from a mirror-practised look of “uber cool” into a giddy two-year old. Even he couldn’t resist. 

I shared my observation with Danielle and we had a good laugh watching the phenomenon. 

“He’s a MHD” I quipped. 

“A what?” 

“A Mobile Happiness Dispenser! “ I grinned at my own cleverness and Danielle had the good nature to humour me with a laugh. 

As we returned to the car after our successful venture to the strand Nova started pulling on his leash again. There was no white fluffy dog in sight so I pulled back and called him to follow. Pulling back just made him want to pull harder. He seemed to be deaf to my calls as well and by the time we got to the car I was losing my patience. This just wouldn’t do. 

The honeymoon was officially over, I decided, and we were going to have to start training. 

During the years prior to finding Nova I had watched countless YouTube videos featuring German Shepherds. There was a creator who went by Tab289 had a gorgeous german shepherd named Solea who was also long-haired. Solea was amazing – she would weave through his legs, catch frisbees, jump obstacles, fetch things from the fridge, everything! I was determined to get Nova to do all of these awesome tricks. 

The training method Tab used with Solea and one that I had briefly read up on is called clicker training. Essentially you teach your dog to associate the sound of the clicker with receiving a treat. You can do this by simply clicking and treating over and over for a while. This is called loading the clicker. Then, when you’re training your dog, you click when they do the right thing to mark the specific behaviour you’re going to reward. Over time the dog learns what to repeat to get more rewards. 

Clicker training relies on positive reinforcement. That means you’re always encouraging the dog to do the correct behaviour with rewards as opposed to discouraging the wrong behaviour with punishment. It is well documented to be a much more effective training method and much more enjoyable for trainer and dog alike. 

I had gone to the pet store and stocked up on treats. I had purchased my very own clicker and even got a belt-mounted bag to hold my treats during our training sessions. I looked just about as cool as you’re imagining right now. I had one of the most intelligent breeds of dog to work with and a whole list of awesome tricks to teach him.

This was going to be the beginning of something awesome. Soon, friends would be telling me how amazing my dog was. Our videos would have millions of hits on YouTube and Nova would be fetching me beer from the fridge while I sat on the couch. 

I brought Nova into the living room and got his attention. We would start small, I thought, and build up slowly. 

“Sit!” I started to say but before I got it out he sat back on his haunches on his own. 

A second later, I clicked. 

Damnit, I thought, that wasn’t the right thing to do. I was supposed to ask him to do something, wait for him to do it, then click, then give him a treat. He looked up at me from his sloppy-sit expectantly so I gave him a treat. 

Wait, no that’s not right either. I need to mark with the click and then give him a treat. But he did the thing before I … let’s just start over, I thought. I took a few steps back. 

“Ok Nova, come!” 

Nothing. 

“Come!” I called again. Waving him forward with my hand. 

Nova slid his bum backwards on the hardwood floor until he was fully laying down. He stared up at me with his adoring brown eyes, his tongue hung lazily out the side of his mouth, and watched me expectantly. 

“Huh,” I thought, “this might take a while…”.