Hi everyone,

I am Devan (you can call me by my real name or my username) and I live in Calgary, AB with three dogs who enjoy keeping me very busy! I stopped posting here regularly for quite a while (a couple of years I think), but thought I'd come back as I've missed Pet Talk. I have a new username now (was formerly "Orangutango" to those who still remember me), as I was uncomfortable using a past dog's nickname which is a big reason I stopped posting here. Sounds silly, I know, but it just felt weird to me. Anyhow, it looks like there are a lot of new people and faces here since I've been gone so I thought I should re-introduce myself for those who don't know who I am. And many who do remember me might not know my current dogs very well, as I think I'd just gotten Ripley around the same time I became less active on PT. Anyhow, let me introduce (or reintroduce) you to my dogs.

First is Dance, my almost 5 year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. She's my world and I am so glad she's mine. She is the most hilarious, joyful, full of life dog. She lives to have fun, but at the same time is super easy to live with and very much a go with the flow kind of a dog. She's shy with new people, but she is a lot better than she used to be. She adores her family and friends... almost too much sometimes, haha. She's very exuberant and full of enthusiasm. Dance and I have dabbled a bit in conformation showing, Rally, Obedience, and Agility. Due to the fact that she's not very happy about strangers, we haven't done a whole lot in the way of any of those sports aside from just training. She almost has her Rally Novice title, though. She'd have finished that and been on to the next level or two already if it weren't for me, haha. She's much better at it than I am! I hope to get her back into Agility this year if I can afford it. She really enjoys it. Mostly though, so just enjoys hanging out with me and endlessly fetching a ball or cuddling on the couch!



And here is the most recent photo I have, taken by her dog-sitter while we were away last week:



Next we have Keira, our 4 year old female Doberman Pinscher. She's a very sweet girl, but also very demanding, snooty, and kind of frantic in the way she does things. She knows how to push buttons, that's for sure! But we love her just the same. As with most Dobermans, she's pretty sure she's a princess and that the whole world should revolve around her. Keira's not one for sports and such, so she's just a loved family companion. She just likes to sit around and look pretty, and her favourite pastime is running aimlessly through an open field. She doesn't tug, fetch or play really at all and is very much an "oh, shiny!", easily distracted girl. She is our best dog to take out into public though. There is never any worry that she might embarrass us. Her manners our impeccable in public, and she is a very good breed ambassador.





And last but not least is Ripley, our almost 3 year old male Doberman. Ripley is just a happy-go-lucky, sucky goofball. He's a huge clown and, much like his sister, thinks that attention should be paid to him 24/7. He's adores his close family and friends, but if you're not either of those, he couldn't really care less about it. He's very friendly, but isn't one to seek affection from those that he's not close to. If you ask him to, he'll oblige, but only because it'd be rude not to let somebody pet someone as handsome as himself, haha. He has a big head and thinks he's the best guy to have ever graced the planet I think. I originally got Ripley with intentions to show him, but due to some issues he is not registered still and so I discussed it with my breeder and we decided to go ahead and neuter him. If he ever does get registered, I'd like to do Obedience with him as he enjoys it (so do I). He loves to train and work for things and is a lot of fun.





Anyhow, I think that's all! I look forward to getting back into PT a bit more and getting to know all of the 'new' people (probably not new, but new to me) around. :-)