Let's get to know each other a little bit? - Page 5

Hi! I'm a 51 yo Licensed Practical Nurse, with my national certification in Hospice & Palliative care. I grew up in NJ, where my parents would buy an older home, spruce it up, & sell it, & do this over & over, each home getting bigger or better (to them) in some way. So, I never had any really close people friends, but I had my cat, my horses (at the stables I would take lessons at) and eventually, my dogs. I did own an Appaloosa, many cats, a couple of mutts, my favorite was Ziggy, half Irish Setter & half Husky, he had dark red eye liner, hence the name. My folks wouldn't let me have a 'purebred' anything, or I'd had myself a GSD way back then. Got married after school, had 2 wonderful kids, but husband got injured on the job, & from there it went to hell in a handbasket. Finally dawned on me that he would not change, & decided to remove myself & my kids from the abuse. Lived in Hawaii for a while, lived in Nevada for a while (loved the southwest), finally moved back east with the kids now grown, & met the love of my life!  We've been together now 10 years, & are getting married on October 26th. Got my first Gsd when I was still with my first husband, she was a 'coat', & the breeder wouldn't give us her papers; but we didn't care, she was such an awesome dog! She would herd my little ones around, & kept them safe from anything. When we had to go to a battered women's shelter, the folks there promised they would send someone back for her, as they wouldn't let her come with us. Well, that was one of my big regrets in life, 'cause we never found out what happened to our Gryndell. I still miss her silly face. 25 years later, when Carl moved in with me, we decided to have 'kids', our first fur-daughter was Kali, West German/American showlines; & we fell head over heels! After her hips & elbows were OFA'd we went looking for a mate for her, & that's when we found Shelley. Shelley convinced us that we would be better off buying another puppy, rather than breeding our girl. And so Beckett, my working boy, moved in. He is awesome! As Carl & I learn more, & expand our horizons; maybe someday we'll go back to that hobby breeder dream, but for now we've got our hands full with our fur-family, and I'm having surgery tomorrow on that torn right rotator cuff, & will be off work for a total of nearly 6 months! Yuck!! I'm not posting too much lately, kinda hurts to type, so I think I'll be quiet now. Pleased to meet y'all. jackie osborne

Jackie,

good luck with your surgery tomorrow.

Chris

Thanks Chris, I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about it. I'm getting a nerve block in the right arm, & the way they described it kinda creeps me out. Thanks, jo

I am 55 years old, female, 5'3",  usually about 125 lbs.

The first 40 years:

I come from Northern CA, raised in what is now Silicon Valley, back when that was Lockheed-Nasa brat country and the only silicon we;d ever heard of was in Carol Doda' s boobs in SF.  I was raised by two different GSD's, had horses most of my life (none now, but someday again). I have been ADHD all my life, which caused me a lot of trouble in school, so I dropped out at 15, eventually ending up at a weird, hippy private school in the Santa Cruz mtns. run by the UCSB think tank faculty, on a MENSA scholarship. I did not graduate because I didn't show up much, having forged a fake birth certificate (courtesy of the Grateful Dead's road manager Rock Scully) got a fake driver's license, and hit the road to see the world. AT 18 I got my first passport (legit this time) and hitchhiked all over England and France after stowing away on airplanes with forged boarding passes. Beware, I can still forge nearly nayone's signature, but have no reason to do so, never did it for criminal intent, just wanted to see the world on no dollars a day!
I lived in England for two years, toured from Europe to Japan with a couple of once-well-known rock stars for a few years, came home, needed a job, had no real marketable skills, ended up on the racetrack. I was one of the first female jockeys (sp?). After putting several orthopedic surgeons' kids through school (girls didn't get the best mounts in the early years) I married and helped my then-husband build a group of cardiology practices in the Sacramento Valley for a few years, till I caught him screwing around on me, dumped him, took him for a lot of money (wish I'd kept some of it) and got a GSD for better company. I apprenticed as a trainer with the jerk I bought the dog from till I realized he was half a crook and forever wanting to spend my money. Meanwhile I bought a few imported dogs and began a poorly thought out but fairly successful breeding program under the kennel name vom Haus Roecker from my home in Yuba City CA. I caught the Schutzhund bug shortly after my first (working line) litter was born in '86 when the USA Nationals was in Sacramento.

To be continued...

continued from above-

I trained dogs with pretty much every club and every decent helper in Northern CA (10 yrs. with Dean Calderon, from whom I learned nearly everything of any value I know today) and a host of top trainers visiting from Germany for years, foolishly marrying a German world team member, ecently widowed, with an eye towards immigrating to the US but no capital to invest. That  quick but ill-considered endeavor lasted about 16 mos., during which time we made an obscene amount of money importing and training dogs, titling dogs, conditioning and handling dogs.... none of which I got (read: his daughter's bank account in Germany) and further, cost me everything I had worked for for my entire adult life: home, kennel, RV, truck, self-esteem (temp) health (temp) credit... I continued to import, train, handle, and breed dogs, but by then living in rented digs at Big Basin Dog Training Center till I got back on my feet enough to move on.

After nearly 2 yrs in Modesto I moved to the East coast to escape the stigma of being married to that jerk to start a new life, intending to stay 2-3 yrs. and return home to CA. I got into the advertising sales business, made some decent money, bought a house, married the neighbor across the street (some people don't learn), put the dog business on the back burner for a few years, got laid off my best job ever August '06, and here I am, trying to reinvent my dog business in PA, this time with no capital to speak of... just my knowledge, experience, reputation (some actually remember ;) a few good dogs, and good intentions.

...and that's where I am today, folks.

That's me with Portia (below) last summer, fatter than usual, shamelessly under-dressed in the heat and humidity as usual.

Hope you found this entertaining.

SS

Shelley, You had one hell of a life! Women are tuff! I guess we have to be! LOL

Forgot to mention further education. While on the track I snuck away for a couple hours a few times a week to take Jr. College classes, eventually returned to school full time, majored in Georgraphy (the discipline for people who don't know what they want to be when they grow up) and English. Obviously I enjoy writing, but rarely do it other than here on the boards. When I am too old and infirm to train dogs anymore, I will probably turn to writing to augment my income (hipefully sell something).

I now breed under the kennel name: Frauengarten. Everybody hates that name, but its probably too late to change now ;)

SS

I'm only tough when I don't have a choice.

Shelley -

You go, girl.  Starting over is never easy, in fact I'm doing it right now too, at almost 50 yrs old.  Yes, women are tough, and we can pull ouselves up by our bootstraps with the best of them.

76 yr old mature woman.  I have 17 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.  Been married to Milton for 55 yrs.  We enjoy long walks in the evening sunset.  We train our dogs together and that is what has kept us close all these years.  Milton brought me into the GSD world and there was no looking back. 

SS you have done what I want to do. I am trying to save up to go to france for a while, but I don't want to forge passports and stuff so I guess I am looking for a job.