And So The Journey Begins

Welcome to Renaissance Hound and my very first blog! A brand new blog and a brand new website for a brand new little business. Marking the beginning of what I hope will be a great long road lined with lots of wonderful dogs and people. Today’s blog will be a short one - I’m too excited to really concentrate. There are so many new things to look at and think about at the moment! Soon enough you’ll find a full-length blog here, though, so feel free to come back, or follow us on Facebook where I’ll also be sharing my future musings.

Renaissance Hound has been long in the making. Like so many great ideas, this one was conceived in the company of good friends, over a series of long nights and discussions. The name appeared to me in that gray space between two dreams at 4 am one morning. And our beautiful logo was expertly crafted by an amazing friend. But the original flicker of inspiration came way before that, many years ago in the form of a little beagle named Olive Oyl.

Olive’s time here with us was way too short and I never had a chance to see her become all she could have been. Even so, she left me a changed person, having given me the incredible gift of true companionship with a canine friend. I knew so little about dogs at the time and no doubt I would do some things differently if I had them to do again. But it was my time with Olive that set the initial course for my journey into the land of dog. It was Olive who made me want to learn more about the inner workings of dogs. Olive who made me take my first steps on the path to realizing that, at the intersection of behavioral science, inter-species communication and reward-based training skills, lays a land of opportunity, where we can gently help our canine friends navigate the maze of human society. A land where the human-canine bond can reach it’s full potential. The land I am now setting out to explore in the hopes of helping dogs and their humans live more harmonious lives together.

So without further ado, I hereby dedicate Renaissance Hound to the beagle Olive Oyl, and to all the things I’ve learned as a result of her coming in to my life.

Until next time - Happy Howls!

Me and Olive at home in 2005