i am humbled, gracious and overwhelmed by all the comments
and emails you sent in response to my plea for help. i got a lot of
fantastic suggestions and questions and will begin incorporating all the ideas
into the blog. today i just want to quickly comment on a few things i
read.
i received a lot of comments and questions about
behavioral issues and i will answer those more specifically in future posts but
i did want to quickly address it here as well. to me the most important part of living with dogs is
incorporating them peacefully into our life. i don’t want myself or dave to be constantly upset or being
driven crazy by certain behaviors and i want to enjoy our life together as much
as possible.* this means we
probably put up with more than most are willing to (top three are likely
barking, hair and urine) and our house has essentially evolved into what i
would refer to as completely dog-accessible. basically the dogs figure into most decisions we make, much
like everyone does with what’s important in their life, be it children or
traveling or their profession, etc.
many people commented that they’d like to see more of dave
and i included. as someone
eloquently put it:
“i think we
all love the dogs b/c we can see how happy and loved they are but we're sorta
stuck guessing about the people who make this life possible. i'd just like to
hear/see more of your life as well b/c without you two, there is no happy
pack.”
well color me
surprised…i’ve always felt like there was way too much of me here. the idea of me
writing a blog is truly an oxymoron.
i’m a self-described blender, i don’t like to stand out, and a blog by
it’s very nature screams “hey look at me.” i’m going to try to refrain from constantly saying “you told
me you wanted to see this” as a way to justify me drawing attention to myself
so expect to see more of dave and i incorporated here. if you’ve had enough you have every
right to say “uncle.”
again, thank you
for engaging and spending your time here.
when i named this blog “earthdoglife” my idea was that, while earthdog
is our livelihood, the concept surrounding it is really a lifestyle
incorporating animals as our family.
i consider myself exceedingly lucky that you have embraced the concept
and i’m grateful to be a part of such a lovely community. i will leave you with a little odin
snippet:
*that is not to say we don’t deal with unwanted behaviors but i don’t believe all behaviors are completely correctable. i also don’t feel those behaviors mean a dog can’t be a loving, integral part of a family (sometimes acceptance leads to nonexistence).