White Dog and White Dog

For several weeks people at Norm's have been saying to me "we saw Blanca walking with someone else".  No way.  Finally last week the mystery was solved.  We met Kiva.  It is easy to understand how people thought it was Blanca.  They look amazingly alike.  Kiva has a little more color, mostly grey, she has a black nose, and her eye rims are not as pink as Blancas. Kiva has more hair, and it is curly.  But what is more amazing than that they look so similar is that they move and act so much the same.  Even I and Kiva's peep must take a second look to see who is who. Amazing.  We are so happy that we finally were able to meet Kiva.

I tried, I really tried, but this is the best I could get of them standing next to each other.  It does give an idea of their similarity.  Kiva can hear, at least in one ear, so she moves her ears more.  Blanca keeps her ears back all the time, they never move.  I have more pictures to post, but I am quiting for now.  Come back, I will try to do it tomorrow.

Boys Having Fun Fun Fun

Simon and Finnegan.  Simon walks with his peep Pat, and has been our friend for a long time.  This day he met Finnegan for the first time and it was interaction time from the get go.  Their energies were well matched.

 

They played like this the whole time we were walking around the Island, a good hour and a half. We probably had some really pooped pups that day.  It was a joy to watch.

In Pursuit

Best Friends

We started out taking Little Big Man, Finny, with us just on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Then we added Wednesday, then Saturday.  Finally we decided we really liked The Little Man and we would stop off and get him every morning.  He predictably is looking out the window as we drive up to the house.  It took a while, but Chocolate finally accepted LBM and they have become great buddies.  Choco even defends Finn from bigger dogs, though Finnegan needs no protection, the reason we call him LBM.

 Little Big Man.  Finny and I get along really swell.  He comes when I call, and he has been doing a really good job of not jumping when I yell for him to not do so.  It is complicated keeping him from jumping, because the little man likes to dance, Linda has taught him, so he has gotten used to being on his back legs. He is quite the dancer. I need to get a video up of him.
Finnegan's mom was a Sheltie, his dad was a Schnauzer. He has energy in abundance.

 Blanca liked Finnigan the first time they met.  They are great buddies, and keep us entertained for hours with their shenanigans. The love to wrestle and play the mouthing game.

Ranger, Mr. Energy . . .

Ranger walks everyday at the Island with his peep friend Robert.  Everyday, unlike wimpy me that stays away on the really cold days.  Ranger is a Labradoodle, and is the best looking one I have seen.  He is a perfect size, just a little bigger than Choco-Blanca, with great color.  He is very much Mr. High Energy.  He is even too much for Finny.  Ranger plays well with Brisbane.

 Makes one wonder if he can see where he is going.  Finny has the same problem, and he has been known to run into trees.

Ranger with his buddy Brisbane.  They are a good match.  Brisbane has the energy and the body mass to keep up with Ranger. Go guys.

Ranger is one good looking dog.  He is big on sticks.

Luke on a Cloudy Day - Much Better

Luke is a beautiful boy.  We have been seeing him quite often and as he gets used to our group he has been learning to join in.  At first he was hesitant.  After all, we are a bunch of dogs, and a very tight knit group.  We often see Luke when we are with Brisbane, and they get along famously.

I love Luke's coloring.  Great ears.  He is very compact, and energetic.  He and Finny should be great playmates, but so far they are tentative.

 

Luke photographs much better on an overcast day, like this day.  Choco and Blanca were playing their circle chase game, and Luke is watching.  We posted a photo of Luke a couple days ago, but it was from a sunny day, and not as good.

Going Chocolate

Lucas

We have been seeing Luke at the Island regularly as of late.  A beautiful Blue Healer, with a nice way about him. He walks with his friend Amber.

I will put more photos of Luke up.  What I need right now are snow picture, but I am not going out there, no way.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow it is supposed to be warmer and overcast, sounds good for photographs to me.  Luke would photograph better if it were overcast. He is naturally a very high contrast dog, hahaha.

Walter

We met Walter yesterday.  He is a very nice fella, friendly and outgoing.  He was walking the Island on only the second day with his new Peep, who had found him listed on Craigs list. Amazing that someone could let this beautiful boy go.  Walter is two years old, and it looks like he has a very good new home. Welcome to Billings and the Island Walter.  Hope to see you often.  I apologize for Blanca's behaviour, she does not like to share me, you just got too close.

Guest Photographer Michael E. Garcia

We have another owl on the Island.  The same one?  Whoooo knows.  He/she has taken up residence a little further west than the owl we had last year. Owls do not build their own nests, but use nests built by other birds. We have not seen any nesting so far. It is a Great Horned Owl.
This photograph is by our friend and Island regular Michael E. Garcia.
Great photo Mike, Thanks.

Happy New Year From Our Gang!

Our Friend, Brisbane

Here he comes. Blanca, Chocolate, Finny and I, walk with Brisbane and his peoples Steve and Bronwyn quite often, sometimes several times a week. I seldom am able to get very good pictures of Bris because, well, he is a fast moving ball of fur.  But today I worked on it and got some good ones.

Bris is a big boy, weighing I think 65 pounds. Chocolate is 54. He must be part Clydesdale, like Choco. Look at those big feet.

Good looking boy. I would like to get Brisbane with Chocolate for a group portrait, but they ignore each other. Or worse.

One of Brisbanes favorite activities is guarding the edge of the river or the ditch so that whoever, especially Finny, is down by the water cannot get back up. Ha! On Guard!

Oh, poor little innocent Finny.  Don't be fooled, these two energetic boys are the greatest of friends.

Is Finn trying to get Bisbane's Christmas scarf?  Finn can be seen returning the the biting favor quite often. Finny is an instigator. Well, so is Brisbane. Quite the pair. They have a great time together. Fun to watch.

Clicking on any of these photos will open them bigger in a new, very nice viewer that Google has provided us with.

Wow!

Wow! We were playing at what the regulars are calling "New Dog Beach" and I hear a rushing sound, look up and directly over my head is this bald eagle.  He circled once then headed west, but he stayed about long enough for me to get this great photo.  I was zoomed out to 200mm, and he takes up about a third of the frame, 200 being pretty short for bird photography, so he was pretty close. Wow!

Christmas Day

Happy Holidays Everyone.  Finnegan is on guard to fend off any grinches and grumps, as you can see.  Stand alert Little Big Man.

 Great photograph of my girl Nina Blanca . . . Go girl . . .

 because here comes our boy Chocolate . . .

I also photograph people, on rare occasion;

We tried for more dogs in the picture, but they said "No Way, it is a people picture."  This is Steve, hey! where's Bronwyn? Steve and Bronwyn's family.  They are favorite dog walking friends for my kids and I, the reason they made it onto the weblog. Finny loves Brisbane, their tricolour Aussie. Steve is on the left and Bronwyn is hiding in the back on the left.  I do believe it is Bronwyn's sister second from right, and I know that is Katie in the middle, purple vest.
I barely got this photo exposure wise, it took some serious photoshop manipulation to get this to be workable. But there it is. I vastly overexposed. Bad timing. Should have used flash.

German Shorthair Pointers

The Wild Bunch.  I took this photo several years ago.  Got lots of mileage out of it. 

Today at Norm's I was walking with Missy, Emma, Finnegan, and my kids and we met a couple that had with them a baby Shorthair.  We were amazed at it's small size and wondered if there were such a thing as a miniature German Shorthair.  The guys in this picture I believe were 8 weeks when I took the picture, but after today I question that.

This is my first post in a couple months.  I am going back in history just to get something posted and see if I can get myself to post on a much more regular basis.

Napoleon, For Our New Friend Missy

Napoleon is one of the coolest dogs about town.  I met him when he was a young pup, this picture was taken in December of 2008.
I post this today because this morning we met a really cool woman, and I hope a new friend, Missy, and she likes French Bulldogs. Besides, it is about time that Napoleon made an appearance here on the weblog, since I hold him in such high regard.
A truly beautiful boy.

We Had Fun at Wine and Whiskers - Great Fun!

Linda and I had a fantastic time last evening at the Rimrock Humane Society's Wine and Whiskers.  I took many photographs, and have posted them on their own page. For those interested in purchasing larger sizes and better quality than can be had by right clicking and downloading them from this webblog, please contact me, all proceeds will go to the Rimrock Humane Society.
I have created a separate page for the photographs:  Wine and Whiskers Photographs
I just discovered that if you click on the first photograph on the Wine and Whiskers page, the photographs will open big in a viewer.  A new feature in the ever evolving world of Google.

Finally, a Post from Norm's Island

Do I Love This Picture?
Hello, I am back. Sorry I took such a long break, but many reasons contributed to my long absence.  It was no fun taking photos when it was hot and buggy, it was no fun being stuck in front of the computer when it was so beautiful outside, it was a lot of fun being totally lazy for awhile.
Above we have my beautiful Nina Blanca and one of her favorite playmates, Snickers.
We have been walking at Norm Schoenthal Island again for about a month now. I usually avoid the Island in the summer because the bugs are unbearable. But for some reason they have not been bad this year.  I went out one day just to see what the Island looked like after the flood and the oil spill, Voila` I have been there everyday since.

I will make an effort now to keep the posts coming. Apologies to those of you that follow my weblog regularly. I will try to make up for it. How? hum.

Chocolate and Finnegan are always having this issue between them. Our friend Finny walks with us now officially on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Choco, Blanca and I enjoy his company, and he behaves really well, for a one year old.

I Like This But Not That

Every morning while I drink my morning coffee I look at the computer.  The first site I look at is The Online Photographer.  This morning he had a link to this: Carli Davidson - Dogs Shake

I do not like it. Interesting, technologically interesting, yes, as a science project okay, but as something I want of my dog, no.

But, I do like this :   http://youtu.be/mUCRZzhbHH0

It is a Pedigree dog food commercial. Not such a great food maybe, but a great commercial.  I love it when the wiry brown dogs feet leave the ground.

What do you think?

Dash for Dog Parks 2011

Saturday was the Second (to be annual?) Dash for Dog Parks.  It was a great great success, seemed so to me.  I got some great photos.  I have made a page: Dash for Dog Parks 2011
My favorites I show here. I had fun. Thanks to my friend Linda for her help, she made me be outgoing for a change.

Snoopy is ready for the race, but in the meantime he is curious about the camera.

It was nice for me, lots of beautiful dogs, and women too ;-)

 

The beginning of the race was awkward because the runners had to make a hard right immediately after the start shot, so those on the east side had a definite advantage to get to the best photo position. That of course is very important.

 

One, Two and Three, of the runners that ran with dogs, that was 2 k, I do believe. Apologies to the top female finisher, I was distracted by dogs in the swimming pools and when I swung about to catch her I missed. Sorry number 210.

In the rush I forgot to pass out business cards, so none of these people know they are on the web, so if you know anyone in the pictures, please let them know they are at least in a minor way, famous.

Kingston, Ragny, Bella . . .

This photograph needed to start a new post, it is a great one.

Three happy dogs. Kingston is in front, Ragny in the middle and Bella is looking over the top at Kingston. They walk together everyday, recently at High Sierra, so they are all good buddies. They are just arriving at the park so are really full of energy.

Arriving with the above trio, but staying out of their way is Milton. Milton is one of our senior citizen dogs.  He is very lucky that his friend Kelley has the patience to bring him with everyday. I am sure it makes him very happy to be out with the family. He moves slow, but he gets there.  Love the light around his ears.

Jake strikes this pose alot, but I had to take advantage of the great light and get it again. In bright sunlight it is hard to make him look good. I like him looking over his shoulder. Quite the profile this boy strikes.

Remy scopes out the horizon.  There is a group of horses that walks the fence in the distance, maybe that is what she sees. I love the light on this day.

okay

Trying to get myself back into the posting groove, and a good way for me to get started is with a photo of my wonderful happy girl Nina Blanca. Running. We had a grey day at the beginning of the week and I was able to get a few photos. It was good light.

 I love to watch my Nina run.

The Sluggish Poster

I have slowed down quite a bit in my posting, apologies to my regular watchers, I know it is annoying. We have had a really long run of really bright sunshine, which of course is great, but not so great for pictures, and the kids and I have been walking exclusively at High Sierra Park which is a very sunny spot. I will put some new pictures up today, I got some new ones I am happy with yesterday. I have been seeing the same dogs everyday now for two months, which also dulls my enthusiasm for picture taking. I will snap out of it.

Next Saturday is Dash for Dog Parks at High Sierra Park, this should generate some great photos. It should be a great day for dogs.  Keep watching.