Happy 2009 everybody!  I want to start right off the bat with some celebratory news - the Natural Dog Training DVDs have reached the next stage in their development.  At this point all of the footage (lots) has been archived, and I have recorded complete voiceovers to narrate all of the instruction.  My trusty harddrive has been packed up and express shipped across the continent (to Los Angeles), where the pieces will be assembled into something MORE than the sum of its parts.

So now phase II begins, which is going to be working on the artistic stuff, as well as getting some music recorded.  I've been working on getting rights to some cool bluegrass music - but in lieu of that panning out I've begun composing the Natural Dog Training Breakdown.  And that's "breakdown" in the Bill Monroe sense of the word, not the "Beat Street" sense of the word.  Which is equally as cool, but a little out of my realm.  After all, I played/wrote bluegrassy things all through college (and after), while I haven't written a coherent rap since junior high.  Or maybe high school.  OK, ok - it's late, and I'm feeling a bit giddy knowing that today was the day that the harddrive arrived chez editor extraordinaire.

Hopefully this will also give me a chance to focus on some of the Natural Dog Blog site improvements that we've talked about.  Top priority will probably go to a forum - quickly followed by making the site more intuitive in its layout.

I have to say that creating these DVDs isn't as easy as I once mused that it might be.  It's one thing to do something like filming a lesson - letting whatever comes out in that 90 minutes stand on its own.  It's a completely different task to assess the Natural Dog Training techniques and distill them into something that will convey EXACTLY the most important aspects of the techniques, to be a succinct-yet-complete guide for any situation you might experience as you embark on the Natural Dog Training journey.  While it's certainly taking longer than I initially thought it would, I think that you're going to be really pleased with the results.

And yes there's a natural dog training moral to the story

We live in a day and age where we can get used to expecting "instant results".  When I finally committed to making these instructional DVDs, back in October, if someone had told me that it was going to take months of work I might not have gone through with it.  The journey of 10,000 steps can be intimidating, after all - but it really DOES begin with the first step.  Followed by the next one.  And the next one.  I often remind people that this is the process to expect when you're working with your dog: a series of small successes that ultimately add up to your "destination".  Funny - to me - to recognize that it applies across the board, as well.  I don't know if I'm conveying this well enough (ironically) - but it's just a little moment that I'm having, where I see that each step is completely worth it.

After all, you can have ideas about where you're going.  And you might get there.  And you might not.  But if you've taken one step, then another, and savored each one of them - trying to make each step your best - then you're definitely having one hell of a ride.  No matter where you end up!  Or how long it takes you to get there.

I am excited, though.  Because this whole blog started with, really, one mission - to give you all access to some very practical information about Natural Dog Training, and how to apply it to your relationship with the dogs in your life.  I believe that these DVDs will help you all take your work to the next level, to get to the point where you really feel like you can trust your own instincts when it comes to this stuff.

Enough rambling - it's back to work for me!  But I did want to take this moment to share the good news.