#“you said you'd post covid puppy where's -”

[yellowocaballero]

DONE DONE DONE with the latest motherfucking behemoth. I still have to write the epilogue and fill in a few gaps, but the newest monstrosity will be published early next week!

It's not the longest work in the Trigun tag but it's certainly up there.

[doberbutts]

do you have any general advice for how to get into dog training? like what kind of education or connections you'd need or how to make them? it's something i'm interested in pursuing so i'm doing my own research but i'm interested in your perspective/history since i already follow you.

As I’ve said in various other posts, and even written in my FAQ, the way I learned is a bit atypical to the way most people learned, because I had a lot of people that I simply bumped into over the course of my life (sometimes literally) that helped me shape the way I do things. Whether that’s simply the woman that needed a website for her SAR team and contacted my tech school prof looking for a student to make one for them, the woman that ran a shar-pei rescue that was socializing one of her fosters at the dog park I frequented, the woman who owned the dog I picked out at a dog show for the winner before he even went into the ring (and I was right), or the woman I saw running drills with her dutchie across the field from where an outdoor show was being held that I just happened to attend and approached her with questions, all of these things are completely accidental. Even finding the swissy breeder was accidental- I had a name in my head for who I wanted to talk to regarding a puppy, decided to find the swissy ring, and asked the first person with swissies that I saw... which happened to be the exact breeder I was debating getting a dog from.

As a result, my connections are honestly mostly from me seeing an opportunity and chasing it. Training was an important dream of mine even as a young child (once I decided I liked dogs, which took a while, and the idea dogs could be trained was integral in me coming to like dogs in the first place) and I am not one to let an opportunity slip through my fingers just because I’m not yet sure how I’ll chase it.

I took my GSD Queenie to the dog park and met a woman running a rescue there. After talking dogs with her for a while, she took me on as a volunteer. I worked as a volunteer for her and her rescue of misfit occasionally aggressive dogs until I started getting outside clients due to my work there.

I sped through the curriculum in tech school and had finished the year’s work before the first quarter was done, so my prof put me on his clients. One of them was a SAR team of bloodhounds, who came in to meet the person who helped put together their website. My reward was them plopping their newest puppy in my lap, they figured out real fast I liked dogs, and offered me the chance to learn with them. I said yes.

I was told to go to a dog show before I ever got Skoll, to learn what a doberman and a breeder should be like, by a woman who has since become a good friend and ally within the breed. I went, no idea what she looked like. Watched the dobes line up to go in, pointed a male out to my mother and said “watch, that one will win”. As they did their stacks and went around my mom asked how I could tell as they all looked the same to her, and I pointed out all of his good qualities compared to the others. When he took not just his class but breed, I celebrated with her, saying that I’d have to figure out who bred him. The woman sitting behind me leaned forward and said no need, that’s my dog, also hi Jaz it’s nice to meet you. I’d been complimenting her dog the whole time without even realizing it. I might not have a dog from her, but you can believe that if I know she’s attending a show, I’m hanging out near her setup because what she has to say is always valuable to me.

I took Creed to a local AKC club’s match- a for-fun pretend show- to support my friend’s club and shortly after setup, before everything started, I caught sight of a woman running obedience drills with her dutchie several yards away. I waited until she was done and then approached her asking about her dog- turns out they do mondio. I want to do mondio, do you train around here and do you think the club would accept a doberman? She said, I’ll do you one better, I’ll take you there myself and mentor you in the sport. Here’s where to meet me.

I attended another dog show in support of a friend’s dog showing for the first time, and when their breed was over I went to find the swissies to see if I could meet a few and talk dogs with someone. The very first swissies I saw I asked about. That was the breeder I’d been considering the whole time. That was the breeder that immediately sat down to talk dogs with me... and that is the breeder I’ve been texting back and forth these past several months waiting for my dog to be born.

Covid’s a bitch, but when it’s over... if you want it, chase it. If I had kept to myself at the dog park, of even not gone, I would not have had the volunteer opportunity, and I would not have learned how to work with aggressive and reactive dogs. If I had simply kept to myself and kept my head down in tech school, I would never have met the bloodhounds. If I had turned down that breeder’s offer to meet, or if I had hung back and not spoken to anyone, or even if I’d kept my mouth shut regarding the dog I’d liked... I would not have met someone who imparts knowledge of the doberman world the working side of things tends to miss. If I had not attended my friend’s match, or had decided not to ask after the woman with the dutch, I wouldn’t know much of anything about dutch shepherds and I wouldn’t have been mentored, even briefly, in mondio. If I hadn’t gone to that show to support my friend, if I hadn’t decided to find the swissies, if I hadn’t decided to speak to the first person with swissies I saw... I might not be getting the dog I’m waiting on.

If you want it, chase it. Opportunities will rise, and it becomes up to you whether you’ll pursue... or you’ll let it slide, thinking that a better one will come your way.