Back Pedaling…
The other day a longtime friend of mine called me and somehow we got talking about dogs, his wife wanting a puppy and dog training. I mentioned he should check out one of the dog training books I’ve got highlighted on the site and after chatting a bit we hung up. Yesterday I get an email that, basically, said…”I like the site but you spell like a 4th grader!”
I looked back over a few articles and was embarrassed to see tons of glaring typos and spelling mistakes. Proof reading is, to put it mildly, not one of my strengths. So I’m scanning through and trying to correct these things. For example in about four places I had “gat” rather than “got.” This was not picked up by the spellchecker? If I can’t rely on spell check then I’m totally up the creek! (Apparently the word gat is a real word and means one of the following: 1) A narrow passage extending inland from a shore or channel. 2) A pistol. 3) A past tense of get. Who knew? Sigh.)
Anyway as I’m reading through the posts I start to realize that, pretty much, everything I’ve written on the subject of Border Collies to this point could be seen as pretty grim. The articles drone on and on about exercise, the energy level, they are too smart at times and more. While all this is true I don’t want a negative slant on things here. When I first got the idea for the site I would write an article or two here and there and then stick them in a folder on my desktop. Once I had a bunch I decided to go ahead and get them online. What I did not intend to happen was for this to be dark and gloomy nor something that could, possibly, turn someone off from wanting to own a Border Collie. The intent is to prepare someone, not run them off!
As I’ve mentioned around here in a few places I am a total fan of this breed now. Our two year old Border Collie is literally a part of our family and a constant source of entertainment for my wife and I. We have a ton of fun with him and he gets us out of the house more than we probably world normally.
For example yesterday afternoon we went to see a matinee and got home around 6:30ish. My wife grabbed the leash, I grabbed a tennis ball, Ned the Dog got fired up and we went out for an hour to play fetch at the Marsh. We live on a little island off the coast of SC and when the tide is out there is a huge open marsh area perfect for running our dog about a 3 minute walk from the house. It was beautiful late afternoon with the sun beginning to set, about 70 degrees (thank you South Carolina spring weather) and the perfect way to spend an hour with our dog.
So! The point of this rambling post is I’ll be making a concerted effort to put the fun and good stuff on this site as well in the category of “Fun Border Collie Stuff.” Our dog is a big part of our life and we would not have it any other way. And, for the record, feel free to call me out on the typos and spelling errors (there is probably at least one in this very post I can’t see)! On top of that I have no intention of having a “my dog is so cute/smart/good looking etc” site so if I start to bend that way call me out as well! Thanks for reading and more to come!
