A partnership

There's a great story in the book Sled Driver, by Brian Shul, about the moment he and his equipment operator became a team (look it up on Reddit, the ground speed check story). Shul flew the fastest plane in the world, the fabled SR-71 Blackbird, and in the incident he describes, they were listening in to the open radio channel while flying in the Southwest US. A series requests for ground speed checks were being made to air traffic control by a couple of small aircraft operators. Then a navy F-18 pilot decided to show off by requesting a check as well, even though he had the equipment in his jet to give him that info. While Shul was decided whether to flame the Navy pilot by requesting a check himself, his partner got on the radio to do so. That bit of mischief was the moment he knew they would gel.

I've been sharing a similarly limited space with Arthur for a couple of months now, and while I knew we made a good team, last night there was a funny incident that reminded me of why.

Anyone who knows me knows that I maintain strict standards for the behaviour of my dogs. If you compare me to my grandfather. It's a high bar.

The incident: Jonny, Arthur and I are currently in San Francisco, staying at a dog-friendly, condo style hotel while Dave is in town for a weekend of biking. There's a bed and a pull-out couch, with Arthur and I sharing the latter.

Now, I brought Arthur's mat inside so that he would feel more at ease in these new digs. He's pretty adaptable, but it never hurts to make a new place more familiar. As we were getting ready for bed, I set up the pull-out with blankets and pillows, then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I came back, guess who was comfortably taking up a prominent spot on our bed for the night?

Keep in mind, we've never been in this hotel before. I didn't invite him on the bed or give any other indication that that was where we would be sleeping for the night. He just saw me set up the stuff for sleeping and took the liberty.

We've had many moments like that over the years, when I saw that his natural inclinations matched mine. A good partnership is not only one where there is good communication, but one where sometimes communication isn't even needed. Arthur cheekily taking a up a spot on the bed reminded me that we make a good team.

wes