23 Mar The Nationals: Part 1 the Remix

This country is beautiful, and its full of beautiful people....

25 Oct The National: Part 2

I've been trying to think of the best way to write about the last day of the nationals. There's a lot of angles I wanted to come from but none of them seemed to work with how I wanted it to sound. So instead of...

08 Oct The Nationals Part 1

Leaving for the national finals is always an awkward moment. Did I pack the right clothes (this is a real struggle for any semi-fashion conscious gay man)? Did I remember my dogs? Did I pack my rain gear? Do I have enough time to get...

02 Aug Lessons From the World Trial

Photo Credit: Lisa Berglund As excited as I was, when I first entered the trial, and when I bought my plane ticket, and when I flew out, and when I landed, I had no clue what I was in for. I tried as best as my...

01 Aug Home At Last

I've been meaning to post for a few weeks but to be honest my mind has been so full of thoughts that I don't know how I couple possibly have lined them all out. So be warned; this post could quite possibly be all over...

07 Jul Its Getting Serious Now

I was a little worried yesterday to be honest. Since I've gotten to the Netherlands I haven't really felt very nervous or anything. I've been on a nice few days of sight seeing, and sleeping. This jet lag is a real thing! I don't know...

05 Jul My Most Random Post Yet

A year ago I made a pretty big decision. It's had its negative and positive consequences, as any big decision does.  But in the end I'm happy with how it turned out. I was living in a toxic situation, or at least it was toxic...

27 Jun Ready To Fall In Love

Whew! What a couple weeks! Two weekends ago I went back to Idaho to drop my dogs off at my folks' place while I'm in Europe. Its always nice to go home for a few days. I get to see some friends that I haven't...

16 Jun LOOK BACK!

I love my dog. She loves me. Its pretty clear to me that she has more than an average affection to me. Its part of our bond, our chemistry. Its part of our, do I dare say, "magic"?  If I had to put together a list of the things that I love about any particular dog, or a list of things that I really need to be successful with them (and I'm defining "success" in a pretty broad way from working to trialling to coexisting with them) I'd have to say that there's that one thing that isn't really definable, except to say that they have a sparkle to them. To me, its what sets a dog apart from being a "good" dog, and a "winner" to being a "good dog and a winner". I've run dogs in the past that some might call winners, and I've run dogs that were good dogs but didn't win much, like my first dog Jim. He was tough as nails, gorgeous, useful on any level... except he was a pretty bad trial dog.  And I've been privileged to run dogs that were good dogs along with being winners, thank you Heidi. She could do most any job and then head to the trial with no fine tuning and come out on top. She had the sparkle, that extra something that made us work together in a way that meant she was one of the few dogs that I felt confident that I could be competitive wherever I went. I'm not trying to brag necessarily, but that should't suggest that I'm not. I'm proud of what we did together and I'm even prouder of her for everything that she gave me and taught me. Thank you Heidi. 

15 Jun Perspective

The other day I attended the funeral of a good friend's family member. I didn't really know the person but I felt like being there was my way of showing respect and condolences to my friend and his family. Funerals always bring up a variety...