Starting out

  I don't know why I feel the need to welcome those of you who are taking time out of your day, or night, to read this blog. But I do — mostly because you are indeed welcome, and I look forward to hearing from you.
   If you don't already know anything about me, or Did Ya Q?, please allow me to introduce myself and what this blog is about.
   I am a writer by trade, so this should come naturally to me, but I'm not writing this because I need another outlet. As a managing editor for all six papers in a small newspaper group in the Metroplex of the Fort Worth/Dallas area, and a freelance writer for several magazines, there are ample opportunities to see my words in print. I am writing this to help people understand dogs, dog training and the relationship between dogs and people and to chronicle some of the humorous adventures in dog training.
   You have probably guessed that I am also a dog trainer. Some may wonder why I am both a dog trainer and a writer, and for that I have two answers.
   The first answer is that I love both aspects of what I do. If I were no longer looking into the news of the day, producing breaking news stories on tight deadlines and dealing with high levels of stress, I'm not sure I could function correctly. Conversely, if I were not working with dogs, communicating and dealing with them on their level, teaching other people to communicate and learn about their dogs, and relieving all of my stress by being around wagging tails and playful pups, I know I couldn't function at all.
   The second answer is that in addition, I am also an artist — usually producing artwork of dogs and other animals. While I will be talking about dog training, dog tales and sometimes writing things, I will be talking about art — at least my art — almost never.
   Did Ya Q? is the name of our dog training business and our dog supplies business. We started it after attending conformation, obedience, dog disc, herding and agility events all around the country and could not find many of the items we needed while on the road.
   We settled on the name, because the score a dog and person team receives is many time not as important as earning a green ribbon, or earning a "qualifying score" or "Q." The most common question you may hear at a performance dog event is, "Did ya Q?" We want everyone to Q every time, thus the name.
   So now it's up to you. If you've ever had any questions about dogs or dog training, you can leave a comment here, or e-mail me.  To subscribe — that means being notified when we do a new video — to our YouTube channel, or to follow us on Twitter, those links are below.

You can also see our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/didyaq
And you can follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/didyaq
If you would like to send an e-mail comment or question, I welcome those too! you can reach me directly at info@didyaq.com