Human Intro

I have tried to start a general blog several times. Each time I'm never happy with some nitpicky detail of the blog. I think I finally have a name I like and lots of reasons to post, so here's to hoping this works out!

First and possibly most important an introduction. I always like a place to reference when I "meet" someone new on the internet. My name is Christina and I currently live in Tri Cities, Washington State. I like it here, though I was raised most of my life in the Tacoma area (there: green, wet, gorgeous; here: dry, brown, not so gorgeous). I've definitely adjusted to desert life. I am married to James, who works as an engineer for a big construction company. We will very likely be moving in the near future, so that the location is due to change!

This is a picture from 2008 of James, Mochi, Arya and my parent's dog Kaimery. Not that he's changed much in the years since but most of my pictures of him are just silly!



I volunteer as the training director for my local dog training club and spend 3-4 days/nights a week either teaching or taking dog training classes. I am aspiring to become a professional, I would like to attend Karen Pryor Academy and/or The Academy for Dog Trainers. There are a few other groups I'd love a chance to be a part of, but education is quite expensive when you're working as a volunteer!

I am a member of the the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (#78699) as well as the Australian Shepherd Club of America (#130968). I plan on joining my local ASCA club once I know where my husband's job is going to be and possibly the Pet Professional Guild. Community is very important to me, I can read books all day but having someone to guide you is important to the development of a career. I hope someday to be a mentor to up and comers, but that is a long way off as I need quite a bit of guiding myself now!

I have 3 dogs: Arya, Mochi and Helo. If you'd like to read about Mochi, he has his own blog here. This is his introduction post. He gets his own blog because he has a set of special behavioral issues and keeping a log on him is important. I will introduce the other two in a separate post!