Radical Canines

Last week someone on my toss and fetch team asked mean what my logo stood for. The double reverse Rs permeates throughout both my disc dog logo(s) and the RadicalCanines logo. There’s so many pieces and reasons why I love the double reverse R and in particular my main disc dog logo.

Every dogs I’ve owned and named, since I was 10, has had a name that starts with R. Rusty, Riley, Ryder, Rumor, and Rugby. Admittedly, I didn’t intentionally pick a name that started with an R until after Rumor, so Rugby was the first to meet the criteria of having to have a name that started with R. While my name is Sharayah, I have gone by Rae for about 7 years and Rayah was a common nickname amongst my softball teammates prior to that. The two R’s represent me and my dogs, whichever dog I’m working/competing/playing with as well as every other dog who has played a part in my life.

The orientation of the R’s themselves are backwards or reversed, but however you describe them they are not “correct”. We can do things our own way and they can be beautiful and extraordinary without being perfect. They are also flipped so one is right side up while the other is upside down. As a result whether you look at it right side up or upside down the image is always the same. They are a team, and the two have become part of a one, a relationship and understanding I aim to have with my dogs. My goal is to work with them as a team, whatever we are doing. I also love the way their orientation reminds me a bit of cattle brands, where simple lines, shapes, and letters are put together to create something unique. I’ve always found the brand designs used by ranches in Texas interesting and often quite appealing in their simplicity, so being able to incorporate that into our logo was important, especially being from Texas. I loved living there and I miss it regularly but I don’t if/when I’ll ever move back.

The dog featured with the double Rs fluctuates. For the blogs logo I feature all three of my current boys. The dogs I’ve owned as an adult who have taken me on a fantastic journey and introduced me to people and hobbies that are easily among my favorites. On my discs, I have a silhouette of Rugby based off a picture taken of him at our first USDDN World Finals. My first freestyle dog, my first year competing in freestyle, culminating in that trip. Ryder and Rumor each played a little bit of UpDog and Ryder had done minimal training in some of the common freestyle tricks prior to Rugby, but Rugby is the one who really sparked the passion for freestyle that I have. He was my true introduction to the sport. I also have stickers of both of my logos, in addition to one that features Rumor stretching for a disc from a picture taken at a qualifier in 2019. The dog I least expected to play disc, let alone accomplish half of what he has.