Introduction to Sadie's Mom

Hi!  I'm Sadie's mom.

First of all, let's get the preliminaries out of the way.  I'm 36 years old, single, and live in Georgia.  There.  That should be enough.

Now, about why I'm writing a blog about dog stuff...

Starting from the age of about 6, I was always around dogs.  In fact, my mother still 'blames' me that the family got into showing dogs.  When I was in 5th grade, two of the teachers at the school I was going to at the time had a student dog obedience class that was held once a week after school.  I signed up for it, and attended with our mutt at the time, Kris.

After that, it was a LIFE filled with dogs.  My mother acquired an American Cocker Spaniel named Dizzy.  From there, we started showing and breeding them.  I got involved in junior handling and even wrote a junior handling column for one of the American Cocker Spaniel breed magazines.  I can't remember a weekend in my youth where I wasn't at a dog show ... or at least grooming and bathing dogs to go to dog shows in the future.

From there, our family eventually got into a different breed, Australian Shepherds.  And that's when the obedience bug took over.  I helped my mother teach 4-H dog obedience with our local 4-H club, and eventually even got a Companion Dog title on my pup at the time, Tattle Tail.  [She was a Cocker Spaniel.  I have no doubt there will be stories forthcoming about that, lemme tell you...]

I grew up, got married, and while I was married worked at several veterinarian clinics and also the local Humane Society.  While married, we were the proud owners of a Shih-Tzu named Pepper and a Siberian Husky named Shiloh.  I even managed to get the AKC Canine Good Citizen title on the Shih-Tzu.

My divorce allowed me to take Pepper with me, while my husband decided to keep Shiloh.  During it all I was always training and learning new things.

Eleven years later, after moving around a bit and having to say goodbye to Pepper, I decided I couldn't live without a dog.  I traveled to a Humane Society in rural Alabama, and that's where I met Sadie.  Sadie and I have been together for 5 years now, and she's been something else -- to put it mildly.  I've never had a dog like her, nor have I been so challenged.  But I'm sure I'll be spewing about that, too.

So over the years, my life has been filled with dogs.  I have a lot of knowledge about "old-school" obedience, a good deal of different breed knowledge, and a love of dogs that borders on obsessive.  So, I figured, Why not write about it?

So there you go!  I hope to be doing posts here a few times a week on different subjects that cross my mind.  Feel free to leave a comment whether you agree or disagree.  But mostly, this is a place for me to toss out all of the doggy ideas I have flying around my head that I feel I need to get out.  I guess that's your warning.  :)