Blue Merle Minion: Yes, it's an end of year post

There's been a meme going around online along the lines of 'Describe your 2019 in 5 words' or something close to that. For the year here, it would have to be something like incredible highs and lowest lows.

The highs:

In January 2019 I released a book - Fight or Fright? A Reactive Dog Guardian's Handbook. I thought I might sell twenty copies if I was lucky, but I was fine with that. I wanted to get my thoughts onto paper (or Kindle screen!) and maybe help a handful of people get through a difficult time with their dogs. Rather more than twenty copies have sold! Throughout 2019 it has hopped back up to hit the dizzy height of the number 2 bestseller in the Dog Care category on the Kindle at amazon.co.uk several times, and still sees regular sales. A follow up is now in the works for release in 2020, and I will post updates here as release comes closer.

In September I released another book, one very close to my heart as it involved a cast of characters taken from the dogs in my life, recreating various events that happened in our lives together but adding in the dog's take on the situations. Conversations with Collies also had the advantage of illustrations created by the amazing Emma Judson of Foul Mouth Fido fame and not only in the pre-Christmas period did the Kindle book hit various points in the top 100 Kindle books in the category, but the paperback (a thing of absolute beauty with Emma's work!) also made it into the top 100 list, which I am very happy with as paperbacks have to compete with all book types!

A new project which I've put together (and will be putting work into building up in the new year rather than it simply existing as it does right now) is the Canine Professional Support Network, creating a place for canine professionals to come together to discuss the good and the bad, talk things through and find support from their peers. There is a Facebook page - which definitely needs work - and an attached group, which has some wonderful members already, with a massive amount of experience and support available.

The lows:

There have been a number of personal things in 2019, from family tragedies to health problems. From the Blue Merle Minion perspective (which is what matters here), the worst thing that occurred in 2019 was the loss in March of my original blue merle boy, the cantankerous opinionated old boy that was Red. He was 14.5 years old and had been with us since 8 weeks old. He was quirky and tricky and could be difficult with people if they weren't doing what he wanted, but in other ways he was the easiest dog that ever existed. We could take him anywhere and he was convinced that we were there for him to be adored. Any number of total strangers could fuss him and fawn over him and he'd sit there and take it all day. He failed utterly at the job he was picked for, as a working sheepdog, but he was an amazing friend and companion, and would do anything for a tennis ball or a football.

Or a squeaky pig...

Of course, he never slept on his job as a lorry dog!

Such a huge character will stay with us always 😍

Aims for 2020:

I have lost much loved dogs before, but the loss of Red really knocked me for several months, and I have not through the rest of 2019 felt able to push myself to write as regularly as I should. I am hoping to work on that next year, and keep the blog more regularly updated. I am sure, as I finish researching and start writing the follow up to Fight or Fright, topics for entries will leap out at me as I go along.

The same can be said for my studies - they fell by the wayside rather as I grieved, and turned my attention to writing fiction rather than focusing on dogs. I am going to have rather more time at home with only myself and Finn as family work commitments mean we will be alone during the week, and studying regularly will be a perfect way to fill in that time in a constructive manner!