New to the list...

[agileaction]

Hello,

My name is Leslie, and my husband and I are currently in the process of transitioning from "dreaming of building a TTT," to "designing/building a TTT."

I'm a certified dog trainer, who competes in a sport called dog agility. I travel the country giving K-9 performance sports training clinics. I also write dog training articles for several major K-9 performance sports magazines. I retired from my corporate job about 5 years ago, and haven't looked back since.

My husband is a district manager for an electrical wholesaler. In his former life, and while putting himself through college, he was a finish carpenter for a high-end luxury home builder in central Oregon.

We enjoy traveling with our dogs, and doing home remodeling projects.

We both have a disease I call AR-itis. It's an affliction that creates an obsessive compulsive need for perfectiion in any project... If I'm completely honest, I would say that I, the wife, am the only one affected with this condition. I happen to have an adorable, and understanding husband who has the skills to turn any project into a work of art, with what I refer to as "musuem quality" results. I thank God for him, for without him, I'm sure I would be institutionalized from project anxiety!

We are now embarking on a journey to build our own TTT. We have acquired plans from more than one person, and have decided that the only way to get exactly what we want is to design our own plans, which we have done, and are currently refining.

We have built our trailer in our minds about 2,000 times.

We are having our frame built as I write - this was one area we felt was best left to the professionals.

It took a long time to make sure that we fully understood every step before we made the choice to go forward. We feel (maybe naively so!) prepared for this journey.

We look forward to the experience, and are extremely grateful to all of you on this list for posting some truly wonderful information, which I have been absorbing with the obsessive ferver of an AR-itis sufferer...

Leslie & Cliff (and our dogs) in central Oregon

[Miriam C.]

Welcome Leslie and Hubby. I'm afraid the good news is there is no cure for the addiction and you have a seriously advanced case. Might as well just do it.

I guess I needn't tell you about the pictures as you have been looking around and know how very helpful and entertaining they are. (that's a hint) We'll look forward to seeing your plans in action.

Enjoy

[b.bodemer]

Hi Leslie,
Welcome................................

Looks like we have something in common, training dogs and travel trailers.
Enjoy the whole process. I find I'm almost done and will be ready for my first outing in the spring and it won't be complete unless my cowgirl is along for all the fun.

It's fitting that my teardrop theme is Life is Good!


Barb and Ocoee

[Arne]

Well, okay then.... one of my biggest uses of my tear is attending sheep dog trials east of the Mississippi.....

[agileaction]

I have taken up herding recently, and love, love, LOVE it. My dogs think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread...especially the one I didn't think would have any instinct.

I have Shelties, and they move the sheep more with their voice than their eye, but one of mine is quite good.

We are currently trying to control his bowling and flossing tendencies. He's young, and he's learning, but control is our biggest bug-a-boo at this point. It's just a hoot, and the dogs really enjoy it. Fun to watch them do what they were bred for.

Leslie

[Mary K]

Welcome Leslie,

You will find LOTS of Dog lovers here!! And A TON of info on TD building.
These folks here are great as you will find out.

Keep us posted on your build !!

Check my build pic link, you will see my fuzzy helpers.

Mk

[agileaction]

Thanks for the good wishes and the welcome. We're actually building a TTT vs. a tear-drop, and working with the welder to get the frame just right. Thankfully we have someone who is very knowledgeable, and willing to cut us a break on costs - that helps.

Seems the frame is the biggest expense, given we can make/build everything else ourselves.

If only we could weld...alas we cannot. We spend too much time competing with the dogs. I guess we could shelve that and take up welding, but I need my dog 'fixes' so the welding will have to be done by someone else.

We will be taking lots of pictures, no worries. My husband is in the process of converting the garage into a workshop. The cars will be going through withdrawals, but we will be building in the summer, so they'll live...

Thanks again!

[Italia]

Hi Leslie,
Welcome to the group. You will get a lot of helpful information here.

Happy Camping,
Italia

[Ira]

Welcome, Leslie.

I used to have a huge collie (80 pounds!), and when my wife and then baby in the stroller would go for a walk, he (Sinbad) would constantly go to the left and right of us--in essence, herding us together.

When he saw a group of children playing, he would perk up and get all anxious--just DYING to get over there and herd them all together.

What's amazing is he didn't come from a line of working dogs. We got him from a breeder of show dogs, but I guess that instinct is really bred in.

Also, when my boy at the time started to walk, Sinbad would always position himself between the baby and the perceived "danger," blocking his way.

He passed about 2 years ago, in the care of some wonderful friends whom we gave him to when we moved to Florida. (We were forced to, moving first into a small aprartment down here.)

[bobhenry]

Thanks for the good wishes and the welcome. We're actually building a TTT vs. a tear-drop, and working with the welder to get the frame just right. Thankfully we have someone who is very knowledgeable, and willing to cut us a break on costs - that helps.

Seems the frame is the biggest expense, given we can make/build everything else ourselves.

If only we could weld...alas we cannot. We spend too much time competing with the dogs. I guess we could shelve that and take up welding, but I need my dog 'fixes' so the welding will have to be done by someone else.

We will be taking lots of pictures, no worries. My husband is in the process of converting the garage into a workshop. The cars will be going through withdrawals, but we will be building in the summer, so they'll live...

Thanks again!

" Seems the frame is the biggest expense " ....... Hold onto that thought !

It's a lot like home remodeling where do you quit ? WHEN YOU RUN OUT OF MONEY !!!

[agileaction]

Well, my very best herder, and I'm training him for competition, is a conformation bred dog, he just got too big. Lucky for me.

He's turned into a wonderful herding, agility and obedience dog. We are training in all three disciplines, and will be competing in all three, if the planets all line up just right.

We had a 27' travel trailer for 5 years, and towed it everywhere in pursuit of our dog hobby. After my husband totaled our Expedition in an unfortunate collision with 5 semis, we decided to replace it with a Subaru. Since our other vehicle is an '06 Dodge Grand Caravan (which replaced the '05 that we lost in a collision with an elk!) we sort of were outta luck when it came to towing the big trailer beast, so we let it go, and are now planning a TTT build.

It's all very exciting, to say the least, but a little scary, too.

Thanks for the welcome.

Leslie

[agileaction]

Thanks for the good wishes and the welcome. We're actually building a TTT vs. a tear-drop, and working with the welder to get the frame just right. Thankfully we have someone who is very knowledgeable, and willing to cut us a break on costs - that helps.

Seems the frame is the biggest expense, given we can make/build everything else ourselves.

If only we could weld...alas we cannot. We spend too much time competing with the dogs. I guess we could shelve that and take up welding, but I need my dog 'fixes' so the welding will have to be done by someone else.

We will be taking lots of pictures, no worries. My husband is in the process of converting the garage into a workshop. The cars will be going through withdrawals, but we will be building in the summer, so they'll live...

Thanks again!

" Seems the frame is the biggest expense " ....... Hold onto that thought !

It's a lot like home remodeling where do you quit ? WHEN YOU RUN OUT OF MONEY !!!

Oh, no...!

[Mary K]

Welcome, Leslie.

I used to have a huge collie (80 pounds!), and when my wife and then baby in the stroller would go for a walk, he (Sinbad) would constantly go to the left and right of us--in essence, herding us together.

My Aussie, Cori, does this too with our other dog. When we are throwing the ball for them, we have to make her (Cori) stay when we can throw the ball to Boo or she will out run him and get the ball before he does. When he gets the ball she runs out there and herds him back. It's funny because Boo can not stand it.


Dogs are great aren't they??

Mk