Who the Heck Am I?

I’d like to welcome any new readers I have from the Pet Blogger Challenge, or elsewhere. I want to apologize because for those that started reading here at that point, this is going to be your third non-animal focused post in a row. And Thursday’s post is going to be the next in my Animals Helping People series. I promise, next week we’ll get back to cute stories about the dogs. But while answering the questions in the challenge, I realized I’d never really talked about myself here, except in direct relationship to something going on with the dogs. And maybe, just maybe, my readers might like to know a little more about me. So here we go.

If we were to meet at a blogging convention, I’d hand you a business card that says writer/blogger/editor. Doesn’t that sound nice? It does to me. That’s why I have those cards. They let me live a fantasy. And it is a fantasy, because the likelihood of me ever quitting my day job to be a full time writer/blogger/editor is next to nil.
If we were to meet anywhere else and you wanted a business card, you would get one that identifies me as an Operations and Administrative Programs Manager for a managed care organization. And when you gave me a blank stare, I’d explain that I’m essentially an office manager at a major health care cooperative. It’s not as exciting as calling myself a writer/blogger/editor, but it is a good job, with an organization whose mission I believe in. And it pays nicely, too, nicely enough that I am able to be the sole earner in our family while C, my husband, is back in school getting a combined BA/BS and then likely goes on for a Master’s degree.
This has had it’s ups and downs; I won’t lie. But when it comes to our pets (and that’s why you’re here), it has all been ups. We would not have been able to bring home the 6 month old Junebug if C had been working. No puppy would have been a good option for us if we were both out of the house, let alone a Beagle. She took to crate training really well, but we were never out of the house for more than a few hours at a time.
This has also resulted in her being incredibly bonded to C. There was a time when he would go out once a week while I stayed home, and it would confuse her to no end. That was just not the way the world worked. That isn’t to say that she is not bonded to me, she is. But her bond to C is stronger. She’s truly a Daddy’s Girl.
This was also an emotional boon when Smokey was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma. Besides C being home, we had a different roommate at the time, E. E was also not working. I wrote a post about being grateful for having two unemployed people in our house. It meant that for that final week, Smokey never had to be alone (well, as alone as he could be with the Junebug). He always had someone’s bed he could be sleeping on, always knew he was loved.
Now, as E told me at the time, even if we had had to leave the dogs alone for an hour here or there, there was no way Smokey ever would have thought he wasn’t loved. Still, I don’t know that I could have gone to work each day if it had meant he was alone. He was my angel.

So now that you know a bit more about me as a person, here’s what you need to know about me in regards to my pets- I am not a great pet parent. My dogs are not trained. The current two haven’t ever been to an obedience class. They do not walk on loose leashes (we try, but we’re just not consistent enough). Their recall is only so so.
Moree, when we had him, didn’t get nearly enough exercise, nor was he groomed as often as he should have been. We’ve gotten better at the walks and going to the dog park since then, but we haven’t gotten another long haired dog for a reason.
At home, my dogs bark out the living room window, at just about anything, if they have access. Some nights they can be good and stay in the room with us without any problems. Other nights, the neighbors have the audacity to be getting in and out of cars, opening and closing doors, etc, and the dogs must, must let them know they are on to them.
My dogs are allowed on the furniture and on us. Smokey was a 65lb lap dog, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. June loves to be on laps. Larry just runs over you on his way to wherever. They sleep on the bed. About the only real rule there is that they don’t get to sleep between us. Instead, Larry usually sleeps under the covers curled up against my core, while June sleeps next to C.
If we have guests, we have to warn that June especially has no plate respect. She will try to take food right off your plate, despite the fact that we have never fed her from our plates. In fact, that’s one of our few things- our dogs don’t get our food.
Our dogs also don’t get anything with sugar or too many additives. We obsessively check ingredient lists on their treats. We pay for expensive duck jerky (ingredient list: dried duck) and salmon treats. The do occasionally get cooked stew meat (no seasoning) made just for them. We even switched what kind of peanut butter we eat so that we could make sure that the dogs were never getting sugar filled peanut butter (its our preferred way of giving pills).
Larry takes a little while to warm up to people, but overall, my dogs are sweet and loving little monsters. And I like them that way. Any behavioral issues they may have are our fault. And we accept that.

I am not a dog expert by any stretch. But I love dogs, and I read about dogs, and I pay attention. I have friends who are dog people, and we all talk to each other and learn from each other, and that is honestly why I am here.
I love to talk about my dogs. I love to talk about other people’s dogs. And I am constantly amazed at what I learn from other dog lovers.
So that’s who I am.
Who are you?