Ours for a Year: dog portraits

Deb is a realtor that I met at the dog park. She's a lot of fun, always talking loudly and gesticulating and yelling at her dogs. When my husband came to the dog park with me the other day, I introduced Deb as our new realtor--not that we're looking to buy or sell a house right now! But if we ever do, Deb is our gal.

I took these photos of Deb's dogs a couple weeks ago, just for fun. I'm so pleased with how they came out that I decided to post them.

Sadie is a BALL DOG. Yes, those words need to be capitalized where Sadie is concerned.

This is Sammie, or Sam-Sam. She's a feisty cairn terrier who likes to jump up on people, but if you try to pet her, she runs away. A couple weeks ago, though, I managed to get a hold of her and gave her a quick little deep tissue massage. Now, she no longer runs away from me. Just call me Magic Fingers.

Here's Katie, an adolescent Brittany Spaniel. I see that teenaged defiance in her eyes, don't you?

I couldn't decide which photo I liked better, so I decided to post both.

And here, in non-sequitur fashion, is the top of Cabana's head. Around Christmas, Cabana got bitten by a tick (even though she gets Frontline every month, how disconcerting!). I didn't remove it very well, so the head of the tick stayed embedded for a few days, until it finally fell out. But it left this little bald patch that seems to be taking forever to fill in! When will it finally grow back?! Until it does, my husband's new endearing name for Cabana is "Tickhead". Lovely.

Recently, my husband bought me a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens for my camera (Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR). At just under $100, this lens is reputed to have a lot of bang for the buck and is a favorite of many professional photographers. Personally, I don't know much about photography or lenses (it might help if I'd actually read the manuals). But I do enjoy taking my camera to the dog park for the challenge of trying to get at least one or two good photos in a batch. I'm sure we're all familiar with the blurry motion shots, the canine pile-ups where the dogs all look deranged, or the ubiquitous butt shots. Wouldn't it be nice if the dogs would actually stand still and cooperate!

But here are a few of the more successful pictures I've been able to get. Which one is your favorite?

Look at German shepherd, Beau, majestic in his dominant stance over Cabana. If only Cabana didn't look so goofy with her her jowl stuck comically in her teeth. Beau has no awareness of his tremendous size--he's a little dog in a big dog's body.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, here's Rowdy, who thinks he's Big Man on Campus. He struts onto the field and announces himself with a stream of barks, meaning, "I'm here, everyone take note of my presence!"

Talk about in your face! Jack the pug, being sniffed by Cody, the rusty red Golden retriever.

Two pairs of Australian shepherds--from the left, Cooper, Peanut, puppy Naavi, and Gus. The puppy Naavi is Cooper's uncle, while Peanut and Gus are littermates. (This photo was taken with my little Kodak EasyShare, which may account for why the grass looks SO unnaturally green.)

Another shot of Cooper with his long and glorious coat.

Cabana doesn't care that Bernese mountain dog Bayla is twice her size. Bayla is a sweetheart who loves to romp and run with everybody at the park.

We've only met Shenzi a couple times, but I'm captivated by her gentle face and the way one ear flops down while the other stands straight up.

Sweet Odie is part Great Pyrenees and part something else. Odie's owner says he got Odie from the breeder for the discounted price of $50 because the breeder wasn't quite sure what the "something else" was.