New member of our family – Part I

When it comes to dogs my perspective can be a little….jaded?…I suppose you could say. You see, my mom is a professional dog trainer and although she may not classify herself as a “professional”, make no mistake she certainly is. To give you a little taste of my childhood, growing up our dogs were shown in not only confirmation but obedience as well, and probably some other prestigious class at the time I was too young to comprehend. She has been showing dogs since 1972 and was one of the founding members of the Golden Spike Dog Obedience Club in 1983. Currently my mom shows in Agility and has a champion MACH Schipperke.
(For all you dog people out there her dog is CH MACH Bolteroy KeepSake’s Story CD RE AXP MJP CGC HOF aka Trip.)

So. It may be needless to say but due to my upbringing, I fully understand the responsibility, hard work, and yes reward too, that owning a dog can be. However, I can’t fathom the idea of not fully training a dog; therefore, I really didn’t want to tie myself into all those years of commitment. And responsibility. And work. Ohmygoodness, the work!

Enter my wonderful husband and darling daughter.

They wanted a dog so badly. They begged. And pleaded. And tried their little hearts out to convince me we needed a dog. They even resorted to attempting to excite me. Example: “ohmygosh mom, it would be so! much! fun! to! have! a! dog!”

Ha! Nice try, right? I knew waaaay too well how much time and work and responsibility dogs are and those tricks would not work on me. But they kept begging, and pleading, and trying all kinds of tactics for about 2 years.

Enter my wonderful, lovely, professional dog trainer of a mother.

I was doomed. My darling girl started in on grandma and before long I was ganged up on. I really didn’t have a chance you know. What with the pressure of getting a dog coming from all sides ‘n all.

Unbeknownst to my husband and daughter, I broke down internally and began talking with my mother about the logistics. She talked me off the ledge when I was about to jump back into never-own-a-dog abdominal darkness due to all the kinks we’d have to work out. But I eventually made peace with the idea that now was the best time in my daughter’s life to get a dog. After all, I am an animal lover and the magic of owning a dog is something every child should have really. I was fortunate to experience that magic myself – the eagerness to please, the quiet understanding and comfort when you’re sad, the unconditional love – all emanating from a cute fur-ball dog. In a few years my daughter would be too grown up and too busy with her teenage life to fully appreciate the work and reward a dog could give her. It was now or never…
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(to be continued….)
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And because I try not to post without any images, here are some images I took of my mom with her dog in 2006:

Doing the weave poles:

Look at how happy he is!

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Continued in Part II here