Dogs have been a part of my life since I was just a baby, so they have always had a huge impact for me. I cannot imagine what my life would be like if I had not had such amazing animal companions growing up. My childhood dog was a Llewellyn setter (the Welsh sub-breed of an English setter) who was the sweetest dog especially great with my siblings and I as young kids. He was very patient with us as we played with him inside and then full of energy and fun while we played outside in the backyard. We took a small break after he passed away, but the next family dog I had was a German Shepherd/German Short-haired Pointer/lab mix. He is still doing great with just a bit of arthritis at 12 years old living with my dad and I visit him when I can. He is an incredibly smart, loving and just all-around great dog. Since I was older when we got him, I was able to be a more active participant in helping raise, train, and take care of him. My favorite activity with him was always taking him on walks around the neighborhood and he had very specific routes which I let him choose which he preferred each day. Some days, he wanted to go on the trail walk, some days, up the hill, and some days, just a nice long leisurely stroll through the neighborhood. Now that he is a senior dog, he has some specific needs as to his diet and how he is able to move around with his arthritis, so it has taken some adjustments to learn how to best take care of him when I visit now that he is older. Having grown up with a setter and then a German Shepherd mix also meant that I had to get used to walking large dogs from an early age, which is why I am comfortable working with any size including the giants. As a young adult, I co-parented a pitbull/lab mix puppy who I had the pleasure of adopting when she was just an 8-week old baby. As she was my first dog as an adult, I was there from day one to help clean up her accidents during potty-training, teach her good manners when human food is around, and just overall raise her to be a happy, healthy dog. Unfortunately, I moved into a house in the city a couple months ago and was unable to take her with me, but she is happily living with my mom and has a new young Gordon setter brother to play with. Although I miss her, I know she is happy and well taken-care-of where she is and I visit her almost every week since my mom lives just a bit north of Seattle. I also dog-sit for both my pit/lab mix and for the new Gordon setter puppy quite often as well. Due to an unfortunate accident while on a walk by Greenlake, my pitbull/lab mix ended up getting stung by a swarm of yellow-jackets after she stepped in their hidden nest on the other side of a log. After this incident, she began to develop some fear-aggression with strangers or people walking by the house. As such, my mom and I enrolled her in a behavioral training program to help teach her and us coping skills when she gets triggered. Just three months later, she is doing a wonderful job listening, learning and working extremely hard. She has finished the individual training sessions and now has access to group trainings anytime she needs a refresher. After this experience, I have gained a lot of new knowledge around dog behaviors and have learned many skills to help cope with some of them when either at home with a dog or on a walk when strangers approach.