Gone to the dogs

Another week with lots of dog activities. I've been to the vet with one of my own boys, trying to sort out why he is drinking so much water of late. We've done the physical work-up and sent various samples off to the lab see if anything definitive comes up, but failing that, we'll just keep on keeping on and stay watchful for any changes. My Boxers are in their tenth year, and are considered "seniors" now. Because of the high rates of cancer and heart problems, the breed average lifespan is only eight years, but averages are never very indicative of anything, and I've managed to get all but one of my past Boxers into their early teens. With any luck that will hold true for my current boys as well. One thing you learn as a Boxer owner is not to "wait and see" with these dogs. If you notice anything out of the ordinary health-wise, you get it looked at ASAP.

I had a couple of very entertaining dog photo outings over the Easter weekend. Outing number one was to a nice area about a half-hour north of the city on the riverbank. This was for the Dogue de Bordeaux shoot with Ammo, who was featured in this blog almost exactly a year ago when he was just a puppy. He's still far from a mature adult at age one, but he has grown exponentially. He weighs in at around 120-30 lbs/55-60 kgs now (can't remember the exact weight but that is the ballpark) and he has the most enormous head. It's kind of like a small planet on its own. Luckily for all concerned, Ammo is a very easy-going and calm fellow, both with people and with other dogs. I was going to say others "of his kind" but really, most other canines aren't quite "of his kind".

Shot one shows Ammo waiting in his "Mom's" car, outside my daughter's house where we met before heading off to the country. You can see what I mean about his head!

Shot number two was taken from the site of the photo shoot. Most of the ice is off the river and the fields are clear of snow. Geese and ducks were constantly flying in and landing on the water of the river. Things are a little muddy on the sheltered trails, but soon all will be dry. We could actually make use of some spring rains any time now, but so far no prospects of additional moisture for the moment. Just upstream from where I took this shot is a ferry crossing for cars in summer, and apparently an ice-road crossing in winter. Just now, though, you can't get there from here. Not enough ice for driving across, and too much still floating down the river for the ferry to operate safely.

Shot three shows Ammo and my grand-dog Arrow having a bit of a discussion. As I mentioned, Ammo is very low-key with other dogs, but as a youngster he still likes to play, and his size and enthusiasm can get him into trouble. Arrow isn't a girl that takes inadvertent bumps and playful hits without giving notice that she is displeased, as you can see here. No actual contact on her part was necessary. Giving "the look" does the job for her quite nicely.

My second dog photo outing of the weekend was on Saturday, when I went south of the city to get shots of a very cute (what else could they possibly be?) pair of Boxer siblings. I don't get to do puppy shots of any sort very often, and Boxer puppies in front of my camera are few and far between, so I like to make the most of the chances that come my way. These two are littermate brother and sister. The big one on top would be brother, and he really will have some serious size to him if he lives up to the frame he is carrying as a puppy. Not quite Ammo-size, but he's going to be a big solid boy as Boxers go. Little sister seemed to be on the bottom in most of the shots I got, but having owned both male and female Boxers in the past, I would predict that she will be well able to hold her own against him and he'd better be able to deal with it. Such a pleasure to see young pups rolling and running outdoors on a spring day.

The puppies were playing in an area adjacent to the horse pasture, and all the activity of people and playing dogs (there was an adult Boxer in the mix as well) got the young Warmblood gelding fired up, so I had the bonus of some horse action shots as well. This youngster still has a bit of his winter coat to shed out, and also will be shedding a few extra winter pounds once he gets into light training again, but still and all he looked pretty darn nice. I was trying for some trotting shots as he has a spectacular light and airy big trot, but we mostly had either standing still snorting at us moments, or wild gallops. Not that I'm complaining! Having a dog photo session morph into a horse one works for me.

April 1st saw the most recent online show go up on the Canine Art Guild site. Rotating shows are the norm for this group, but my participation in most of the recent ones has been sadly lacking. I did manage to get two images done for this show, and you can check it out here. My images are the bottom right ones on page 2 and on page 4, but you'll definitely want to take your time with the whole show as there is a wonderful variety of dog-themed art to be enjoyed.

The images are all clickable for viewing in a slightly larger format. My image on page 2 is quite complex and doesn't really show well in the small size, but not much to be done about that.