Introductions.

I just remembered this blog existed, so I suppose I'll use it.

Hi, I'm Crisp (or Christine, for my mother), and I am a 25 year old dog trainer, full-time student of Psychology and Anthropology, and a crazy dog lady.

This blog was supposed to be used to talk about all the ways I coped with my first dog, London (an Alaskan Malamute) being monstrously reactive in his younger days. Today, I'll use it to post my exploits with my dogs and probably a few other things along the way. Let's call it an evolving idea.

So here's London, my "jerk dog". He's the one who started my jump into the unknown waters of being the sole caretaker for a dog.

London is a 7 year old Alaskan Malamute who has his CGC and is a certified therapy dog. Despite our accomplishments together, London was extremely reactive in his younger years, which forced me to become much more aware of my dog's behavior and body language at a young age.

I'd always had dogs before London. I'd been in the company of dogs since I came out of the womb, but London was the first dog that was "mine". I was smitten with Malamutes since I had lost my first Mal when I was young.

TK is a 7 year old Shikoku Ken who joined us in February of this year.

My love for Shikoku was sparked by a chance meeting while I was at work. I'd never heard of a Shikoku before - which brought on a slew of research and an inevitable infatuation. Still, after a long while of being part of a great community, I had all but given up on getting a Shikoku - I was much more interested in the Kishu breed.

Sometimes, though, our dogs pick us. I think that was the case with TK. TK has intense anxiety when it comes to strange hands. He's not everyone's perfect dog because of this, but he is a perfect dog for me and my family.