ABOUT ME
I've been an animal nut for as long as I can remember. At a very young age, I came downstairs crying to my parents about the terrible injustice and tragedy of my not having any pets. And (my parents being the loving and kind people that they are) lo and behold, I came home to a surprise just a few days later. My first cat. She was a calico with extra toes. I named her Duchess ("The Aristocats", of course). She was, well, a pretty horrible cat. She was followed by more cats (a second Duchess, who was black and one of the most wonderful cats ever). Then came dogs. My very first dog was an English Springer Spaniel of Nanjay lines named Ringo, who was the perfect dog in so many respects, and the dog to which all subsequent dogs (for both my sister and me) are compared. Ringo was polite, incredibly civilized, tolerant, humourous and generally an all-around sweetheart. I also brought home an eleven year old Beagle mix from the vet clinic I worked at. He came home with me "just for the weekend", and stayed for six happy years until his death at age seventeen.
Nearly four years ago, I brought home my first Swedish Vallhund puppy, "Rakki" (he's the one in the page header above), from Ulla Gamberg's Vastgota Kennel in Ontario, Canada. Rakki is my first show dog, we compete in a variety of clubs including UKC, CKC, ARBA and IABCA (and soon AKC). We completed Rakki's UKC Championship and are now working toward agility, obedience and rally competition
Having been a vet tech for a number of years (after doing 3/4 of an applied arts degree in photography, of course), I went to nursing school and became an RN. Which, (also of course) qualified me to work in IT, where I ended up in Quality Assurance, trying to break websites and making sure they did and said what they were supposed to do and say. Hey, you can't say my interests aren't diverse, right?