A lot has been going on over here in dogland.

Idgie is turning 3 years old in just a couple of weeks. Where did the time go? She is amazing and talented and brilliant, and she is just one leg away in both Standard and Jumpers (AKC) from being in Excellent B after just under year of trialing.  She runs off leash at a local off leash dog area we Fort Collins people refer to as “the ponds,” and while she occasionally finds it necessary to puff up and yell at the RUDENESS of other dogs, I feel safe taking her there and she has a great time (especially if her dog besties are there, and I am so happy to finally have a dog that has dog besties!).  Having an intact female is an experience.  She gets along GREAT with dumb boy dogs and most girl dogs too.  The girl dogs she feels threatened by are the ones that are most like her; which is to say BOSSY.  Love that dog, she is just like me.

Kelso is perfect, as usual.  He is turning 11 in 3 months, but most people are surprised when I tell them that, saying he looks more like 7, so my plan to have him stay 7 forever seems to be working out.  Adequan and B12 injections (separately) have made his life nice and easy, along with the healing properties of the raw diet, of which I am finally convinced. 

In bigger, more exciting news, I quit my day job.  My days as a dog daycare supervisor are almost through, and I will be working on my business, The Cognitive Canine full time.  I will still be teaching group classes at South Mesa, but my days will finally be spent doing what I love and do best–helping people with their troubled dogs (or is it helping dogs with their troubled people?).  This is a huge leap, but now is the time.  This year has been the year of self-care, and I feel like this is just another step in that direction.  I am excited and scared. I recently heard of a word I hadn’t heard before, and that word is joyfear.  That’s it! I said.  That’s what I’m feeling, it’s joyfear.  And the great news is that joyfear is what you feel when you are doing something important and necessary. 

On an endnote, check out my friend Jill’s blog.  She is a great writer, and she loves dogs.  What else do you need?  I wept as I read this one, but it was that great kind of weeping that just reminds you how good everything actually is.  Here it is:  What I Learned from Obi.  While you’re looking at adorable Obi I will tell you I met Obi before I met Jill.  He went to the first dog daycare I worked for, while I was in college.  I loved him, he was everything Jill says and then some.  He literally hugged me every time I saw him.  He didn’t jump up rudely and push me around, he gently got up on his rear legs, wrapped his front legs around me and rested his chin on my shoulder.  I have never felt so genuinely hugged by a dog before or since, it was like he understood the very primate custom of hugging.  I feel so very blessed to have known him, and I now feel blessed to know Jill, whose love for Obi lives on in her writing and in her current dogs, Dexter and Sam. 

Cheers!

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