dog

As the 4th of July weekend approaches, so does Buddy's adoption anniversary date.  As of next weekend we've had this beautiful, gentle giant for one year.  At a now healthy 90 pounds Buddy has come a long way since that day, a year ago, when we first met him.  He was a dirty, scrawny bone rack of 55 pounds, half starved to death and living in 6 inches of feces with 38 other dogs - all in bad conditions.  Happily all animals were seized and re-homed or fostered.  And Giant Dawg is now content with his full belly, his sheltered home and his new family. 

This is also the photo I chose to enter for the I Heart Faces Photo contest.  It's a recent one but also one of my favs.    Check out the link for tons of other adorable photos!  

Project 365: 92/365

This is my beloved Rudy who passed away a few years ago of canine lymphoma.  He was the best dog!  He was almost  a year old when we adopted him from the Animal Care Society,  a local no-kill shelter, and we think he was likely a lab/chow mix.  We adopted him so Hardy would have a buddy to play with while we were gone at work. They were like two peas in a pod and got along great.  Rudy would follow Hardy anywhere and Hardy quickly taught him the ropes.  The biggest problem we had with Rudy at first was his separation anxiety.  He generally was crated when we were away as he became quite destructive if left to roam the house.  We once came back from Thanksgiving dinner to find the innards of our couch all over the living room.  He did that to two couches, actually.  But we still loved him anyway.  :*)

Here is the original photo:

Jenn of The Artist's Eyes creates these awesome ECO friendly pet portraits and they are, obviously, stunning!  Check her out!

Project 365: 85/365

Yesterday we went to view a couple of properties we were interested in.  This was the one we were really hoping would work out, but in the end result it didn't.  The cleared 6 acres was ok, the barn was great and the pond was awesome.  But the remaining 11 acres of woods was horrible and unusable.  They were a huge drop down to the creek below.  If it was gently rolling it would have been perfect, but it was almost cliff like, so we had to pass on it.  We looked at another one but it appeared that it had already been purchased even though it was still listed.  The sign was gone and some work was being done, though I don't think we would have been happy with that one either.  So the search continues!

Project 365: 84/365

And this is just a goofy photo of Lois.  We wanted to see what she would do if we sat her in a box.  She just sat there and looked at us like "what are you doing?".  Fun with dogs!

Lois Lane decided to take all the blankets when I got up off the couch - guess she was chilly, too!  Sorry for another dog shot, but I'm not feeling up to par tonight and she was just looking too cute.

If a dog's prayers were answered, bones would rain from the sky.

Buddy's favorite activity...loafing on the couch.

Guess I should have done Dog Project 365, eh? Ah well, it's been a busy week. Busy weeks = lots of pup photos.  And I've made it through January with the project thus far so one month down, 11 to go! If you can handle a lot more future dog photos I just may be able to get through this. Once spring and summer arrive I'll have a lot more interesting subjects such as bugs, flowers and landscapes.  Hang in there with me!  ;)

Lois Lane was my test model on the new SF-3000 slave flash that finally arrived in the mail today.  I only had about 10 minutes to mess with it, but for the $15 it cost me, I think it's gonna come in really handy, especially photographing fast, little, black dogs!  (Told you Lois Lane was next!)

Poor B. Dog. He messed up his back again and is on vet ordered cage rest for 10 days. He is none too happy about this outcome. But it sure beats the 6 weeks of cage rest he required when he ruptured a disk.  We're not really sure how he did it, but I believe it came about after a good round of rough housing with Buddy the Giant Dawg.  Then the next morning he jumped off the bed, yelped and started walking funny and all hunched over so it was off to the vet for a diagnosis of a severely pulled muscle.  Poor guy.  All in time for our first snow too.  We're supposed to be getting 3 - 5" tonight - so much for Blue's playtime in the snow.  However tomorrow's photo may be quite festive and seasonably snowy!

Today was Furminator day for Buddy. Giant, hairy dogs, Furminators and winter time static do not go well together, thus I got a smaller pile of hair off of him than usual. Giant Dawg loves to be brushed, but Giant Dawg doesn't dig static.  (As a heads up, you can expect to see quite a few dog shots during this project.  ;) )

I don't often write of book reviews, but this one truly captured my heart!  "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein is utterly amazing!  Particularly if you are a dog lover, as I am.  It's a story from a very intelligent dog's point of view who's goal is to be reincarnated as a human.  It deals with love and loss, family trials and tribulations, and most importantly...love and acceptance.  It makes you think twice about your life, about what you have and what could be, as well as the faithfulness of our wonderful canine companions.  I urge you to read this book!  And if you have or if you do, please comment and share your theories.  I don't want to say much more for fear of ruining the book....but I highly, highly recommend it!  This one will definitely be on my re-read list.