Old Dogs

The old adage states “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks”. I don’t agree. We have a four year old German Shepherd – Australian Cattle Dog mix named Bailey we got from a rescue shelter. When we first brought her home, she was so afraid of everything she would not even go out the door of the house. Though she is still a little fearful, with a lot of patience and training, she is a well behaved and loving dog. Part of her training involved walking on and off the leash at my left side. However, a couple of summers ago my hips, especially my right hip, became very painful. It turns out I have FAI, (Femoroacetabular Impingement), which was aggravated by some heavy physical activity. This resulted in my using a cane to help me walk properly. Unfortunately, I held the cane in my left hand. This made it difficult to walk Bailey on leash on my left side. It took some time but eventually I she learned to walk on and off leash on my right side. Though she is just four, she learned, with patience and persistence, the new trick. I think even an old dog can learn new tricks given enough time and a persistent trainer. So, what does this have to do with my writing?

I am an old dog. I will turn 70 in less than a month and am having to learn the new trick of building my own website. I attended several writers’ meetings and looked at various websites and blogs all indicating the importance of writers having a website. Since I work with computers on a regular basis, I decided to try it. I receive periodic emails from Jerry Jenkins (jerryjenkins.com) one describing how to set up a website in less than 30 minutes. I followed his instructions and this site is the result. Unfortunately, being an old dog, I was unable to complete the setup. It has been approximately one month and in the last post, I asked for comments but didn’t provide a contact page to facilitate readers commenting. I think I have that fixed now. I know I still haven’t learned the new trick yet, but again I will ask for comments. Please let me know your thoughts and insights. Also, sign-up to receive notifications of new posts using the pop-up box. Thank you for your patience.