Fall in love with dogs

I have been asked many times about how one gets a start in doing dog training or dog breeding or some other dog-related career. I really don't have a good answer for that other than, Go out and do it; fall in love with doing it.

Thorn's CDX, 1994

I started with dog training classes and reading about dog training when I was 10 years old. As soon as I finished college, I bought myself a German Shepherd puppy and moved to Oregon for grad school, and I took more training classes and went to seminars and trained with friends and new people and went to competitions. I trained in tracking with a friend, using Glen Johnson's book for a guide. I took agility classes and obedience classes from the local clubs. I competed in AKC obedience and found a schutzhund club and did a CD, then CDX, then a BH with my first dog. I found a ringsport seminar, and I visited anyone who would let me come bother them and went to any competition I could find to watch.

Thorn - 1996 North American Sch3 Championships, Maine

When I moved back to Virginia, I lived in Yorktown, and I trained with several local groups and would drive up to DC on Saturdays to go to a DVG schutzhund club. More seminars, more classes, more training my own dogs. I moved to the Charlottesville area, I took more classes and trained with a club first in Rustburg VA and then one in Leesburg and then one in Berryville, and then another one in Front Royal area. I drove a lot. I went to competitions. I trained my own dogs. I read everything I could get my hands on. I put a Sch1, 2, 3 on my first dog, and a CD and a Sch1 on my second dog. I drove even more. I put a Sch3 on my 3rd dog, and we traveled and competed.

Nike's Sch1 (2000?)

I drove to Leesburg and back 3 times a week for several years - that's 12 hours of driving to training each week. I bred my first litter, bought my first young adult dog, drove all over the US for competitions -- Texas, Alabama, Maine, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina. 

Frostbite v Pantara, Sch1; Blackthorn's Ashen (Sch3) and Blackthorn's Asa (Sch2)

 All along, I worked at whatever job I could find that would pay me -- nothing related to dogs. I was really broke a lot of the time. I drove to NC to watch the 1995 Sieger Show with $20 to my name (Adrian Ledda bought me lunch, a kindness I still remember). I was a temp worker - a kiosk rental manager, a secretary, a computer helpdesk operator, a data entry peon, a call center operator. And finally, an editorial assistant - that job, I picked up and ran with it, and I've been working as an editor of some sort for 24 years now. 

Nemi's BH

Even today, what I do with dogs is my passion, not my career. I am a freelance editor -- I don't train dogs for anyone other than myself. I breed because I love the dogs. If I didn't breed dogs, I'd live an easier life with fewer expenses and more time for training. I live where I live so I can do the things I love -- in the country, with lots of space for the dogs. The things I do for fun tend to revolve around the dogs, too. I've met literally thousands of people this way and many have become lifelong friends.

Mjolnir vd Liebenburg, IGP3

Mjolnir vd Liebenburg, IGP3

How do you get started in dogs and dog training? Go out and do it. It will be a struggle; it will cost you. You will fail. You will fail yourself, and you will fail your dog. But keep doing it. Love the struggle; love what you learn from each failure and each success, from each dog. Love the journey, because there is no destination. Love the dogs, because they are why you’re doing it.

Xan, 2019 - grand-daughter of Nike