My name is Diana Dickinson. I live in Portland, Oregon. I have a husband and four parttime jobs, some of which pay. My two children are gainfully employed (my daughter put together this website for me), despite being recently out of college; I’m obscenely proud of both of them. I knit, I scuba-dive, I bicycle, and I compete in dog agility, which is how I spend many waking hours.

I suppose I could be described as a “cancer survivor” but I hate the phrase. I’ll only be a cancer survivor when I die from something else. I had a low-grade chondrosarcoma (bone cancer) removed, and there’s no reason to think it’ll ever come back, so I mostly try to forget about it.

I have two poodles, Dancer, and Rush. My poodle Elly, who started me in agility, was born on October 1, 2003 and died September 18, 2012. Dancer was born on June 3, 2006, and Rush was born May 11, 2011. We compete in dog agility, which is the only sport I know of where the dominant competitors are middle-aged women, many of us carrying a few extra pounds. I like to write about my dogs, AND I have opinions about agility training, especially with poodles, all of which will show up in this blog over time. Elly had a wicked sense of humor, and Dancer is just as sharp. Rush is Dancer’s nephew, the progeny of her sister Nickel and a white poodle from Russia named Stoli. He’s an agility superstar.

Elly’s full name with titles is:

Moonstones Elinor CL-1 CL-2S OJP OAP OFP NA OAJ OF EAS TN-N NCC OJC HP-N WVR-N (NADAC Novice Versatility Award)

The first two are CPE titles (all of level one and level 2 standard); the next six are AKC titles; the last five are NADAC. Elly was bred by Kim Koopman (Moonstone Poodles) in Keizer, OR. At this point, I’ll note that Elly had numerous genetic issues, including inflammatory bowel disease, hip dysplasia, and allergies.

Dancer’s full name is Alchmys Magic Star Dancer. Her titles are listed under the TITLES tab at the top of the page. She was bred by Vikki Kauffman (Alchmy Poodles) in Seattle, WA. Rush was also bred by Vikki, and his full name is Alchmys Absolut Pleasure. Like Dancer, his titles can be found under the TITLES tab.

All material in this website is copyrighted and may not be copied without permission. In the interests of complying with the law, I’ll point out that some of the links in this blog are to commercial sites from which I derive some income. Thank you.