A wee young gal with a rambunctious black Lab took one of my tracking classes in an attempt to curb some of her dog's enthusiasm. As fate would have it, she was a reporter at the North Shore News and she decided to write a weekly column about the experience, giving my business a ton of exposure.
Not long after, I approached her about writing a weekly column in the paper and voila, Canine Connection was born. She became my editor.
I didn't have a lot of writing experience, just a few creative writing courses in college to round out my curriculum and add some fun to a routine that was all about psychology, but I knew a heck of a lot about dogs. So I was given a chance.
When my first columns came out, my heart was naively tender and easily hurt when the angry mail I received from some readers began to arrive on Sunday evenings.
"Get used to it," were her words of advice when I sent off emails to her asking what was wrong with people. She helped me understand to not take things personally because there are some people in life, even dog people, who are just unhappy. I soon learned to ignore the negative comments.
At first my columns were pretty standard fair, talking about general dog topics such as teaching dogs to sit or come when called. In time I became more comfortable and confident, and challenged more controversial topics in the dog world. I remember when the "raw food for dogs" issue came out. That was controversial, and I got a lot of flack from veterinarians at the time. Now, many years later, raw food is openly discussed in most vet clinics and is considered a mainstream form of feeding.
My editor was always there during those times, to encourage me, never once discouraging my choices and helping me find the 'write' words when I couldn't.
When my columns became passionate about a subject near and dear to my heart - such as the sled dog culling last year - she gently coaxed me off my soap box and reeled me in, explaining that I couldn't say some of those things in print. I would chuckle to myself and do a re-write with fewer expletives.
As with anything in life, time brings firsthand knowledge and working with dogs is no exception. For me, this life with dogs has been rich with experiences. As a result my writing style changed from the story format I learned in school to more of a blog style where I can express emotion, opinions and at times go on rants. My editor made allowances for my creative expression, never insisting I stick to a standard format. That creative allowance made me more accessible to my readers as they began to relate to the stories in my columns.
My editor was always the first one to read what was in my heart when I wrote about sensitive subjects like the death of my dogs, before they went public.
When she adopted a dog from Mexico I shook my head and said to myself "Not another one, what was she thinking?" I've helped my share of "rescued" dogs from Mexico, the Virgin Islands, Thailand and beyond and know how much work is needed to rehabilitate these dogs, far more than rehabilitating a dog raised in our local environment. But when I met Diego - who is adorable - to help her train him I was pleasantly surprised. (I still don't recommend rescuing a dog from a foreign country and there will be an upcoming column as to why.)
Now after almost 15 years our professional relationship has come to an end as she moves on to other things. So this is really a great big "Thank you" to my editor and the News for the support over the years and for giving me a chance so long ago. I'll miss her, but as the notorious Shrek said: "Change is good Donkey!"
