Mother and Daughter

I don't know if anyone still checks this blog as I've been away for so long.  Sorry about that.  I'm going to make an effort to be better.

It's been hard for me to think of things to write about though.  I originally started this blog as a way to chat about Darbi and Miikka and share stories of their puppies.  Since Darbi and Miikka are now retired, it would be rather boring to write about how loud they snore and how all they do now is roll in cow pies.  It's been quite a transformation for me in the past few years to move from an Amateur trainer with 2 dogs to a professional trainer with 24.  

I told Luckiest Man Alive, when I first met him, that I would never be able to have a relationship with other people's dogs like I have with Darbi.  I was right, in a sense.  I will never have a relationship with ANY other dog like I have with Darbi...mine or otherwise.  She is my first, and her and I have a bond that is once in a lifetime.

But I was also wrong in a sense.  I get as much, or more, enjoyment when our client dogs do well as when my personal dog does.  I didn't think that would happen, but it has.  You see, a lot of these dogs come in for training at 6 months old and rarely go home until they retire from Field Trials.  I consider them all MY dogs.  They are all my buddies and I like to think of myself as their "other" mother.  I know their quirks, their needs, what frightens them, the special places they like a good scratch and all their idiosyncrasies. I try to give them as good of a life as a kennel dog can have.  Walks and swims on their day off, knucklebones in the kennel and one on one time spent with them all.  After all, we ask the world of them and how can I expect them to give their heart to me unless I do the same for them?

So, I think I will start writing about ALL my dogs now...owned or otherwise.

But to give homage to my favourite lady...a post about Darbi.

LMA and I are in Canada running a couple of trials and putting on a seminar.  Darbi's daughter, Elmingo's Chasing A Whim, finished SECOND in an Open in Lethbridge this week-end.

I had the "honour" of honouring for "Adey" in the first series and my eyes sprung full of tears watching her.  She is her mother!  Same mannerisms, same movements and same style.  I walked off the honour box with big alligator tears and my wonderful husband noticed right away and said, "she reminded you of Darbi, didn't she".  He knows me so well.  I spoke with her trainer and he said the same thing about Adey that I say about Darbi.  Not the world's greatest trial dog, but just the World's Greatest Dog.  You could hear the affection in his voice as he spoke of her.

Here they are, mother and daughter.  They look more like sisters.  It made my week-end.