About Diane and the Dogs

I have been a fifth-grade teacher in Northampton, Massachusetts for eighteen years. For the last five of those years, I have had an unusual teaching assistant. Winston, my Rough Collie, comes to school with me every day as a certified therapy dog.

But this site is not about what Winston does now. It is about everything that came before. The sleepless first weeks. The training failures. The moment I called my breeder crying because I was convinced I had made a terrible mistake.

My Dogs

Winston is a six-year-old Rough Collie. He came from a breeder in Vermont when he was ten weeks old. He is the most patient creature I have ever known, and he has helped more struggling readers than I can count. Getting him to this point took two years of consistent work, several training classes, and more frustration than I care to admit.

Hazel is a four-year-old Border Collie mix we adopted from a local rescue. She is the reason I know that everything I learned with Winston does not automatically transfer to the next dog. Different dog, different challenges, different approach required.

Why I Created This Site

When I was preparing to get Winston, I read everything. Training books, breed guides, online forums. I thought I was ready.

I was not ready.

The books described ideal scenarios. The forums were full of either success stories or disaster tales with no middle ground. What I needed was someone who had been through the ordinary struggle, made ordinary mistakes, and come out the other side with ordinary success.

That is what this site tries to be. Not expert advice from someone who has been training dogs professionally for decades. Real talk from someone who figured it out as a busy adult with a full-time job and limited patience on the hard days.

What I Believe

Herding dogs are not for everyone. But they might be for you, even if your life does not look like the life described in breed recommendation guides.

I believe that understanding the genetics of herding breeds, including health concerns like the MDR1 mutation, is part of responsible ownership. I believe in working with breeders or rescues who prioritize health testing and temperament.

I also believe that first-time owners deserve honesty about what they are getting into. Not warnings designed to scare them off. Practical information that helps them succeed.

About This Site

Every word on this site comes from my own experience. The schedules are my actual schedules. The costs are what I actually paid. The mistakes are mistakes I actually made.

If you are considering a herding breed as your first dog, or if you just brought one home and are wondering what you have done, I hope something here helps. You are not alone. The first weeks and months are genuinely hard. It does get better.

Feel free to reach out if you want to share your own story or have questions I might be able to help with.