I haven’t written on my blog in many months.  What happened?!

All is well! I stopped running day-to-day operations at FDSA, and that freed up time to do what I am seriously passionate about – education.  Free education, for the most part, because I spend a very high percentage of my day on Social Media; Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.  I try to post educational content of various sorts; behavior, dog sports competition skills, getting along with people, etc…pretty much daily. And since doing this is extremely gratifying for me, it takes up quite a lot of time. Which is fine – I’m happy!

Hence, my blog has suffered neglect.  It’s easy for me to grab a quick clip out of a training session, explain what I am doing or why I do it a specific way, and then throw it up on IG or FB.  I can also do random Live events on the various platforms to communicate whatever random thoughts are floating around in my head at the time.

With my blog, I try harder to write intelligently, proofread (okay, still not my strength), and organize my thoughts into a more comprehensive package.  That takes just enough effort that I’ve been neglecting it.  I promise I’m going to try and improve!

So about dogs and dog training.  Let’s catch up a bit.

I sent Dice back to his breeder several months ago.  As much as I tried to make it work, his temperament was not appropriate for my situation. I live in a family with several other people and I have an active household.  While I was willing to work with his dog-reactive behavior in public (which was improving!), I finally came to recognize that the overall package – not just his behavior in public, was neither a safe nor enjoyable fit for my family.  While management is always an option, management failure is the norm, not the exception, and I could not accept that risk.   Because his breeder felt that he could be rehomed to a situation where his temperament would not be a problem, I agreed.  He is currently in training for IGP and is doing well in the sport.

At around the same time, a friend had a litter and had extra puppies that had not been placed yet.  I offered to foster a puppy and give it a dog sports foundation.  That puppy, Xen, is now eight months old.  I decided to keep him and he’s now my dog.  And while he’s a rather typical strong-willed male from working lines, we’re finding our way and hope to have a strong and competitive future when the time is right. In a future blog, I’ll talk about him a bit more – how I characterize his temperament, and what that means for his future as a dog sports prospect.

Lyra is now almost 11 years of age and as charming and good-natured as ever.  Brito is 9 years old and is a typical terrier – hasn’t slowed down one iota.

Due to COVID I haven’t traveled in a couple of years, and honestly, I don’t miss it.  When I do resume travel, I suspect it will be an extremely limited affair.  I do miss seeing my friends around the country though.

FDSA is in the process of getting a shiny new website, which keeps me busy on that end.  Look for it around the end of the year. We’re also about to introduce our first “single day” conferences, so you can learn a whole lot about one thing – in a day!  The first one is coming up in May, and the subject will be nosework.  Learn more here:  FDSA Nosework Conference – Online!

Anyway…that’s about it for now!  I hope to be back to writing here at least semi-regularly.   Here’s a photo of Baby Xen, fresh from his bath:

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