Dog Blogging - For Now, a Personal Resource

I am writing this post merely as an intro to why I've decided to set up this blog. I really am creating this for myself, as a journal to keep track of my dog training and otherwise endeavors in. I find it much easier to type than to write things in a physical journal, and also a blog seemed like a logical choice for organization and making this accessible from any computer. If someone reads this, welcome! Maybe one day this will turn into an interesting, well-written chronicle of my dog training and husbandry development - but for now a nonsensical collection of ramblings will surely do.

My dogs:
I currently have two 4 year old, male, mixed breed dogs: Dojo, the pit/amstaff/GSD/collie mutt (thanks Embark!) and Basil, the border collie/australian cattle dog/aussie mix (again, thanks Embark!). Dojo is my first ever dog - this is because my parents were strictly cat people growing up (although we had a raccoon once... a story for another time). My mother was/is also somewhat of a hoarder so probably not the best home for a dog (or any animal, human or otherwise really...). That didn't prevent my dismay, however! I pleaded and reasoned for years to get a dog but alas, no luck. It is probably for the best anyway since I am now a (mostly) functioning adult who has at least some financial resources and the ability to research with great fluency.






Dojo: My first dog. My brindly, mostly pit/american staffs. terrier, sweet boy. He loves ALL adult humans (toddlers are weird!) and is generally pretty good with socially-appropriate dogs. Oh how I love Dojo so... My now-husband-but-then-boyfriend and I adopted Dojo at 8 weeks old from the Franklin County Dog Shelter in Columbus, Ohio. I just wanted a weekend-warrior type dog that could do hikes occasionally on weekends and take all sorts of places - he ended up being a near-perfect candidate for that after he matured! I never realized that he would end up being my first sport dog.

When Basil ended up not being a good dog sport candidate (see below), I started training and competing with Dojo. Now we train and compete in agility and rally, though agility is our absolute fave. We have also dabbled in disc dog, competition obedience, and musical freestyle. His fluent tricks list is also growing by the week! One day we will probably do nosework and tracking too, but we do too many things at the moment ;). Dojo can be a little environmentally sensitive and HATES car rides (one of the big things we are working on that I plan on addressing in my next blog post) so I'm constantly torn about all of the activities I drag him along to, but generally he is down for anything (BUT GIMME THEM DRUGS FOR THE CAR, LADY!).

He's even got his AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) title!

One of the first pictures I saw of Basil online - how could I say no?

Basil: Reactive mess. I love him and he is GREAT at home and with Dojo and our cats but oh boy do I tell him how lucky he is that he is SUPER GORGEOUS. I "adopted" Basil through a re-home situation that was of no fault of the previous owner. He likely had/has a genetic predisposition for reactivity and turned out to not be a "go anywhere, do anything" sort of dog that they were hoping for. I think there was a health factor on the previous owner's end as well that also played a part - like I said, not their fault! Basil was simply not a good fit for their home. Probably not a good fit for our home either! But dammit, I truly believe he needed me, because I think if he had not found someone as stubborn and masochistic as me that would take on management and training he needed, he would have been put down. He would have nipped at or barked at the wrong person and would have been put down. End of story.



And so it became that I found Basil because he was a cute picture on the internet, a dog that was "good off leash" (yay adventures!) and was clearly a border collie mix. Hey the "perfect" sport dog prospect! HAHAHAHAHAHA nope. But god damn have I learned a ton about dog behavior, thresholds, counterconditioning and desensitization... and training in general. So yeah, I'm taking back what I said. We needed each other. And I love him.

For the record: he can be good off leash - especially when a disc is involved!