One thing our miserable experience has taught me is what exactly it means to get hundreds of folks reading your blog every day.  I have gotten emails from folks who I've never met.  Today I discovered my blog is read widely in the Maine horse and dog community, very widely.  Frankly, it's a little scary.

Not that I really worry about what I post here, just that the audience is much more diverse than I expected.  I knew, for instance, that the "Vermont Public Library" daily reader is a GSP owner, I've met him personally.  Hi, Dan!  Glad you read what I write.

I blogged about Cabela's and got a hit from Cabela's's computer on THAT post.  (Recap:  You never realize how non-local a Cabela's store is until they build one just up the street from you, especially when they are in Maine instead of tax-free New Hampshire or mostly tax-free Massachusetts to get some of that famous Maine hunting aura splashed on the corporation.)

I have some blog entries that are top 10 on Google, and I'm proud they are the only non-corporate discussions on the topic that come up that high.  Full disclosure:  we own remnants in an investment in Pfizer.  Turns out it's worth much less than we charge for a puppy.  (Recap: Convenia is safer and more effective than anything else on the market.)

I really had no idea that non-hunting folks pay attention to little ol' me.  I hope they understand I don't think they are automatically bad people in my eyes, just because they don't enjoy the most wonderful sport on Earth.  I have refused to make an exception in my "No Hunting dogs to Non-hunters" rule for a friend, and in retrospect, I think it was absolutely the best decision for her and the pup.

I hope folks involved in dog fancy read this and get something out of it.  At least start thinking about their breeding programs.  Folks might agreed or disagree with my methods.  I write often about the ethics of dog breeding; I hope that had an effect on other folks. 

I hope that folks see that I allow others with differing opinions to post here.  Keep in mind that every comment is here because I allow it and pay for it to be here.  I may be inflexible in my thinking, but I am not narrow-minded.  I am quite broad in my thought process; although I admit I keep coming to the same conclusions over and over again.

Anyway, to the audience I have been serving, without really realizing it, here is your formal welcome.  I invite you to tell me I'm a jerk from time to time.  I honestly respect that show dogs are bred for a purpose, and that some folks are actually engaged in breeding programs that bring them closer to that purpose.