Tasha got to track two deer last night. The hunters both shot straight and we were able to recover both of the deer. These were two very nice bucks. - Cliff Shrader, LA

It's 17 hours since the buck was shot. It's 10:45 AM. Odie hits the cold trail. He sniffs here and he sniffs there, just like he always does. Alecia says 'Odie, let's go this way.' After 30 minutes of cold tracking Odie begins pulling his leash harder and harder. Odie then begins barking. Something is getting ready to happen. The buck jumps. He crosses a field, then a highway, then a cotton field, then another highway and into a thicket. Stan, Alecia and Odie catch up with the deer. Angelo is back yonder somewhere. Odie jumps the buck again. The deer is worn out and eventually Stan puts the buck down. Look at Stan and Angelo. This is why it is important to make a good shot the first time. Odie is a tracking wonder dog. There is not a dog any better anywhere in the world.  - Angelo San Fratello, Falling Creek Outfitters, NC

Amy LaDew was the first person to give me a number and it was 5. Wasn't going to participate but I enjoy reading what others write so changed my mind. Here's five things. Or maybe it's 25, I like details.

1. Born in Bavaria, Germany, came to the States the first time when I was six and did not speak English at the start of 1st grade.

2.Went to 3rd and 4th grade in Germany and 5th grade in Italy (pictured, age 11). When I started 9th grade, it was my 8th school. A down side to growing up like that is not only that kids don't really learn to bond, they actually learn not to. An up side is that being a globetrotter by the time you're a teenager is adventurous, exciting, and feels like a great privilege. At least these things were true for me.

3. I grew up with dachshunds and German shepherds. We got our first standard longhair in Germany when I was eight and I have had them ever since. Sometimes someone asks if I will get another breed. I say that I have no desire to. There is nothing I want to do with a dog that I cannot do and do well with the dogs I have!

4. I was a Medical Laboratory Specialist in the US Army for four years and began hiking the Appalachian Trail a month after discharge. Had never backpacked a day in my life before and have never backpacked since! 

5. If you would have told me when I was 30 that I would become both an RN and a Christian, I would have said you were nuts! In my mid 30s I graduated nursing school and also became one of those religious right-wing nut cases. You know, like the idiot extremist Bible thumpers who founded the United States of America, not to mention most of our universities, hospitals, and charity organizations. What I was thinking the morning I walked up the stairs, knelt by my bed, and prayed to God for relationship and forgiveness, I don't know. I only wish I had done it much sooner.

ABS5 FC Annie Ochre von Dorndorf TDX CGC and I winning our very first field trial placement in Addison, Michigan.  - Laura Knoll, MS

Not long ago, I had a conversation with a couple of women at a pet blogging convention where the majority of attendees tilted in favor of shelter and rescue dogs. Many had come with their own reclaimed dogs, and of them I thought, “Good for you!”  In my estimation, the majority of shelter and rescue workers do God’s work, and the people who take in these dogs are angels. But I've also learned that with the exception of people affiliated with breed clubs, most in the shelter and rescue world are woefully misinformed, if not ignorant about the world of the purebred dog owner and breeder.

Where do you think you are going with that rat box?  - Viljo