I have been after my special person Sandi to put up photos of my family members (Ruby, Rose, Belle, Annie and Willy) and she has been really busy and hasn't gotten to it. But today is a very special day for me and for Sandi, and so I want to write about that.

I really love to track. We took instruction from Gretchen and Marge at Bon-Clyde (their classes were fun!) Tracking has helped me learn how to concentrate, discriminating one scent from another (and there are millions of scents out there!)

Today we had a training session in Vass, NC with Ed Presnall (tracking trainer, judge & author, from Pawmark & TCoW in Wisconsin). He laid several tracks for us, and one was a regulation TD track, and I worked very hard getting to the final article. We had to stop several times to pick sand burrs. Sandi said she was very proud of me.

Ed said that he would certify my track for ASCA TD. Sandi is very happy and excited, and again told me how proud she is of me. She knew how hard my track was, and that even though I had to track through sand burrs, I kept working hard to find the final article. Ed said I was a great tracking dog and he liked me a lot....and he had never seen an English Shepherd work tracks.

What I really liked was that I got an egg and cheese biscuit at the end of each track.

A Dog's Life - my first blog

I am such a lucky dog, and now I have my own blog!

My name is Ayla - I have had several names, but this is the one I like best. "Ayla" is the main character in Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series. The character Ayla lost her home several times, by accident and by rejection, but in spite of this she becomes a powerful figure, and my special person Sandi thought that I deserved the name. "Ayla" also means "circle of light around the Moon" in Turkish, and I like that.

I remember being taken to an animal shelter in Durham and being left there . I was pretty scared and I didn't feel well - and I was really hungry. After a few days Sandi and her friend Carolyn came and visited me. Then one day they came back and put me in a car. I hadn't ridden in cars much and I remember I threw up. They thought I had found a home, but that didn't work out, so I came back to Sandi's house. I've been there ever since. Sandi, Herman and Ruby decided to keep me in their family in January 2006. I am a lucky dog.

People tell me I'm an English Shepherd. I wasn't sure what that meant until this past Saturday. Sandi took me to a farm where they were having an English Shepherd Gathering. There were around 25 people and almost as many dogs, and they (the dogs) looked like me! (but most were smaller!) Not only that, but I was supposed to do a tracking demo. I love tracking and I think I'm pretty good. Sandi said that she was very proud of me. I hope we get to go to the Gathering again next year.