Yesterday I picked winners of my contest and today I’ve been the quite honored recipient of the Versatile Blogger Award by Janet over at Canine Confidence and from Kristine at Rescued Insanity (from a while back and I totally forgot about it until now!).  I must confess that I feel very lucky to be given such a great award.  I feel like I’m still so new to the blog world and figuring out this whole game–sometimes I forget that I’m not the only one reading my blog since that was really my expectation when I started.  I figured it would just be a great way to document things and get all my ideas “on paper”–I’m totally and completely flattered (and feel so lucky) that I have people reading and maybe occasionally learning something or laughing at my misfortune!
This rules of this award are that I must share 7 things about myself and then pass along the award to 15 blogs that are either new or are new to me (which isn’t very hard since most blogs are new to me!).
So, the 7 things about myself.. well, I like to remain an enigma (not for much longer) so I am going to give some facts about Shayne, Rio, and myself.
1.  Shayne was featured in a national (US) coupon several years ago for one of the mega-huge dog treat companies.  She auditioned at a live outdoor event and then spent the day at a professional photo shoot.  She was one of 4 dogs, from that shoot, whose photos were picked up by the company and used on packaging and coupons.
2.  Rio will not sleep in my bed unless he can sleep under the covers.  If I hog the covers (after he stole them) he will get up and sleep on the floor in protest.
3.  I have the bad habit of biting my nails.  I have since I was little.  I’m trying to stop the bad habit (I did good for a few years but the stress of losing my job got me started again)… but the real interesting part is that I’m going to relate this to dog training in a post this week (maybe early next)!
4.  When Shayne lays just right it looks like she has a heart marking on her neck… it’s so cute!  Every time she lays so I can see the heart, it just makes me smile…
5.  For all of Rio’s exuberance, speed, athleticism, and craziness… he is such a special guy when it comes to people and kids.  He would make the ideal therapy dog (something I’m looking into as we speak)–he’s so gentle and sweet with people.  The down side is people never believe me when I say that he is actually a spit-fire and a little crazy.
6.  I am the first girl on my mom’s side of the family to graduate college and the first person to gain a Master’s Degree.
7.  I try to keep it a secret so she doesn’t feel bad about herself, but Shayne has a very manly bark.  My neighbors in NY laughed the first time they saw Shayne, “That big deep bark comes from that little dog?!”  It’s true she has a wicked big voice for a 34lb dog!
And now for my list of 15 blogs… they are in no particular order and some are newer than others but I think ALL deserve the recognition.   Also, I know many of these blogs have already gotten this award… it’s what happens when I’m late to the game LOL!
Donna and the Dogs
Tucker Tells All
AKG Photo Blog
West’s Tail
It Just Keeps Getting Better
Got Spots
Paw Print City Times
Pet-Peeves
Sheltie Times (I know she was just got this earlier this week… so happy Seconds!)
The Dogs Are Really In Charge
Dog Nerd 101
Reactive Champion (just found this blog earlier this week!)
Raising K-9
Just Dogs with Sherri
24 Paws of Love
These are all awesome places to visit… some for information, some for a good laugh, some for beautiful art…. and some all of the above!