Why do dogs need blogs, anyway?

OK, let’s get the introductory material out of the way. I’m Vern Ceder and I write a column called Sanity Check for Front and Finish. Hey, this month Molly and I even made the cover, for no greater reason than that I write a column and the editors like it. Front and Finish is mostly dedicated to training dogs for AKC and UKC obedience competition, and my column tries to explore some of the things that make dog trainers crazy. Actually, it has been suggested that we’re crazy to begin with, but that’s a different question.

In any case, it struck me that there were several items in my notes that for whatever reason weren’t right for publication in my column, but still might be worth chewing over in a public way. I think that pretty much explains what I’m doing here and why I chose the name.

Of course that still leaves the title question unswered. A quick search indicates that very few dogs (and not many more dog trainers) have actually jumped on this blogging bandwagon. As far as I can tell, Molly, my Australian shepherd, is completely unimpressed by the blogging phenomenon. As to trainers, from what I can tell, email lists seem to be the preferred mode of online interaction - they allow for the sharing of ideas and flames without the real-time constraints of chat.

So here I am to have a shot a filling the gap. While I’m sure I won’t be posting daily, or even all that regularly, I will do my best to avoid being one of the many three post wonders that show up on the blog sites.

Oh, yeah, one last promise - this will be the only time, barring extreme provocation, that the words “dog blog” will appear together at this venue. Really.