Oh the holidays.

It really is the time of year that we are reminded to take the time and think of all the things that we are thankful for, and the wonderful things in our life. I know it would be better if all of us did this more often but life gets busy and hectic and stressful and we forget about the little things that we love. It seamed like a good idea to take a post to mention some of the things I really appreciate about my life and about the people and animals I share it with.

 Chevy as a puppy.

I am thankful my friends trust me and are willing to ask me for help. Right now I have the privilege of having one of my friends dogs stay with us for the weekend. He had some family obligations that made it necessary to have Chevy stay somewhere else. The fact that he trusts me to take care of his dog really means a lot to me. Thank you.

 Chevy and Sadie on Thanksgiving.

Having family that is not nearly as animal/ dog focused as I am but they love me and do there best to relate and understand me. Not to say they don't love or like animals they are just a little less focused on it. But Sadie and Chevy were  invited to come to Thanksgiving so they don't have to stay home alone.  Thank you.

 Sadie playing on a map.

Something that always makes me happy is the dog training club I am a part of.  This is a collection of people who are really fantastic. They are always happy to help or offer advice. It's really nice to have other people that are as interested in training as I am but have been doing it longer and have that experience to offer.

And there is Sadie. Sadie who introduced me to the joys of owning a pit bull.Who is my main motivation to learn more about training and caring for dogs in general. Sadie is not ashamed to express how she feels running around like a doofus in her classic Sadie squat pose. We have a lot of work to do and issues we need to train with but she is a wonderful dog and I love her so much.

I am very thankful for all the wonderful people I have in my life and I hope I do my best to show it.

Stress and a new idea.

This week has been really stressful. Last week I got injured, hurt my wrist and it's still recovering.  Also I work in customer service and we are launching a new product next week. In anticipation work is extending our hours. It was really stressing me out.

This last week I did something that helped. I had the good fortune of getting to know a shelter dog over the past week and helping him always made me smile. It really put life into perspective. I have a nice bed to sleep on I have people that love me. But for one walk every day I could make someone else happy. I could throw a ball and walk a dog for an hour and he was so happy to see me. His owner came and claimed him after five days but I still remember how it felt to just devote yourself to making someone happy. And it felt really good. I will admit that almost every time  I went to the shelter I end up crying.  I am going to make it a goal to walk Sadie more and to not worry about the training but just appreciate the time with her just the two of us. Also I am going try and help the shelter out on my days off volunteer and walk a few dogs.