Hi everyone! I've been lurking around for sometime now. I stumbled onto this website a while back when I was Googling something. When the dog food recall, I remembered this site and knew it would be a good resource to keep up with what was going on. There is just such a wealth of information and experience here, I couldn't resist joining any longer!
I guess you want to know a little about me. I've lived in GA all of my life. I currently live, along with my husband and our furry children, west of Atlanta on a small 10 acre farm. I guess my occupation is best described as self employed in the retail home decor/furniture business.
My parents will tell you the first book I picked up was a horse book and the second was a dog book. While most little girls were playing with dolls and such, I had a dog breed book in one hand and a Breyer horse in the other. I started riding when I was seven and have ridden off and on ever since. I've shown Quarter Horses western and huntseat during my teenage years but many years later, dressage became my passion.
I know.....we're here to talk dogs not horses! As I said, dogs have always been my other passion. I grew up with toy poodles. We had a beautiful silver male when I was growing up. Great dog. Very tolerant of playing dress up and riding in baby carriages. After he passed we took in a 6 month old champagne female who's owner was dying of cancer. She was a sweet, sweet dog but a little neurotic. We also had a mixed breed that appeared out of nowhere. He was a wonderful dog. He had terrible allergies. I only wish we would have had products like Frontline then and more nutrition knowledge. He would have been spared alot of misery.
Fast forward a little. My husband and I are diehard Lab people. We got our first two Lab puppies, a male and a female, within three months of each other. Neither of us had ever been around retrievers. My husband wanted a duck hunting dog and I always loved Labs. It was trial by fire! A very educational puppyhood. "Marley" had nothing on them. We survived and so did our babies. (I wish could say the same for our sheetrock.) They were the best dogs we'll ever own. They lived to be ripe old ages but their loss was still devastating.
We now have another lab, another chocolate. He's five going on 12 months. He's my husband's hunting companion and my couch potato. He and I tried Obedience during the off season. He did very well and would be a great
artner if I could find the time to take him to shows. He's a sweetheart and a fun dog to be around. He constantly makes us laugh.
Our other dog is my Sheltie. He is my spoiled rotten baby and I love this dog so much it scares me! He'll be four in June. He's a CGC and we've tried our hand at obedience and agilty but never made to the ring. He didn't care for obedience too much. He enjoyed the agility as long as it was fun. He didn't like it if the trainer and I got too serious. He also didn't like the teeter or the collapased tunnels. I would like to try Rally with him someday.
Other inhabitants of our farm include two worthless but lovable cats. I also still have my two Quarter Horses I showed as a teenager. They're both getting pretty old at this point. One is 29 and beginning to fade, the other is 23 and still full of it. They spend their days grazing and dozing in the sunshine.
That's pretty much it for me. I look forward to sharing stories and information with you guys in the future. I will warn, if you haven't already noticed, my grammar and punctuation skills are virtually non-existent. I don't know what happened to them. I was a very good English student in school but I must have fallen from my horse one too many times without a helmet! Please be forgiving ~