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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-07-2024, 12:40 PM
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I tried out a handkerchief on Tira this morning. I think she looks good in green!
But she prefers brown. :(
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-17-2024, 12:28 PM
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We've had some spotty rain this weekend. Spotty enough this morning to have rain and sun at the same time, which is quite a treat for any photographer.
Tiramisu doesn't seem to have much of an opinion on rain. She's always happy to chase the ball, rain or dry.
Maverick likes to stay dry if he can help it. There's a sunshade over the picnic tables, which is enough to keep off light rain, too.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-18-2024, 11:16 AM
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This weekend, Tira got to run around with Duke, her cousin: a purebred Malinois. They have the same play style and get along pretty well. I've known Duke for years, but I never thought I'd ever have a Malinois (half, at least) myself.
Schneider Super Cinelux 60mm f/2
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-10-2024, 07:05 PM
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You could probably post that in the "selfie" thread, too. :lol:
---------- Post added 02-10-24 at 07:12 PM ----------
We got a few licks of the storm that pounded the coast over the past week. It wasn't a whole lot this far inland, not enough to really flood the park, but the dogs made the most of what we got. Especially Zoe.
Jupiter-8 50mm f/2
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
01-16-2024, 07:52 PM
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I got a dog DNA test kit for Tiramisu for Christmas, and the results just came back this week. I was completely sure she was at least half Belgian Malinois. That was always the breed that came up when people took a guess. The other half was less obvious. Something with a short coat and a big nose. Her ears are erect, but thin, and fold easily, so I figured her other half had floppy ears. My best guess was Doberman. I wasn't expecting such conclusive results from the test, but I turned out to be exactly right. She's only two breeds, maybe an "oops" dog from a breeder: half Belgian Malinois, half Doberman.
Mom got a test for her own dog, Grizzly, at the same time. We had guessed golden retriever and border collie. We weren't wrong; those breeds were in his results, and golden retriever was top match, at a whopping 13%. That was followed by a list of 21 other breeds, including everything from Australian cattle dog, to Dalmatian, to Norwegian elkhound.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-28-2023, 04:23 PM
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Thank you for the kind words, Ted. Tira has done much better on the trip than I expected, including two days and a night my little car, sharing the backseat with Tasi. She hasn't chewed up anything at all in my parent's house, and she even got to visit Grandpa at the skilled nursing facility he's at now.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-27-2023, 10:06 PM
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I drove Tira up to Oregon so she could interfere with Mom and Grizzly's fetch games. SMC Takumar 85mm f/1.8
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-30-2023, 06:49 PM
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How right you are. She's a work in progress, for sure... :o
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-24-2023, 01:50 PM
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After Skippy died in June, I knew I was going to get another dog eventually. I just wasn't sure when. Well, the day came two weeks ago. I took an afternoon off of work and visited one of the two Maricopa County shelters. This county is bigger than several states, and even some countries (such as Wales). The two shelters process nearly twenty thousand animals a year, or more than fifty every single day.
They have so many hundreds of dogs, I deliberately put off looking at the listings on the county website until the morning before I visited the shelter. Otherwise I could spend weeks obsessing over it. I picked one out who caught my eye and sounded promising. Sixty-one pounds, one year old, ambiguous shepherd mix. She had been at the shelter for just over a week, after they picked her up as a stray on Halloween. When I gave her ID number to the front desk and they brought her out to a meeting pen, I could not believe how calm she was, a near-puppy who had spent the last week in what must be a madhouse of an animal shelter. She was comfortable and easy on the leash with the handler she had never met before. She gave my face one lick (she smelled terrible) and calmly explored the outdoor meeting area. They spayed her the next morning, and I brought her home that afternoon.
At first, she was hurting from the surgery, and afraid of Tasi. She was not housetrained. She refused to do stairs, and I live on the third floor. Her energy returned long before it was safe to let her run around, and she chewed my shoes, my couch, magazines, boxes... just about anything she could get her jaws on. She still smelled awful, and bathing is not allowed until ten days after surgery. We walked for hours each day, and she still had more energy.
We finally started going to the park after a week, a little earlier than recommended, but she just had so much energy! She was frightened of the other dogs for all of five minutes, and then she was running around, having a blast.
The shelter identified her as a Rhodesian ridgeback / German shepherd mix, which seemed plausible enough to me, at first. I abruptly stopped believing it this morning after a fifth person independently told me that she looked like "one of those Belgian... somethings." Her generally calm demeanor threw me off at first - Malinois are absolute fireballs - but she does look - and act - a lot like a Belgian Malinois. Not purebred, for sure, but her lithe build, shorter hair, wide-set eyes, and complete lack of a black saddle all point more towards a Belgian, rather than a German, shepherd. As for the alleged ridgeback heritage, she has the super-short hair and whip tail, but those dogs are even more muscular than German shepherds. She's no lion hunter.
The shelter had given her the name "Magic," which just didn't work for me. I asked my sister for help - she's far better at this kind of thing than I am - and we chose the name Tiramisu, or Tira for short. Because she's so sweet.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-18-2023, 01:24 PM
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We had our first serious downpour since March this morning. Tasi decided to just bask in it for a bit.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-22-2023, 01:44 PM
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I hardly ever see Frenchies at the park, so I was shocked to learn that they are the most popular breed in the U.S.. Not Siberian huskies (#21), or golden retrievers (#3), or even German shepherds (#4). French bulldogs, #1. Crazy. I don't know where people are keeping them all. Inside, I guess.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-22-2023, 12:35 PM
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We met the young coyote again on our walk to the park, together with her parents, I think. She didn't offer to play with Tasi this time, with Mom (pictured) keeping such a close eye on her.
At the park, we met Aspen, the elusive Welberian corgsky.
Some Frenchies, too.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-14-2023, 12:57 PM
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Strange morning... another canine joined us on our walk to the dog park. She kept coming close, doing a play-bow and wagging her tail, but never came closer than a few feet. Once I thought to take the camera out, she shied well away. This is a drastic crop.
Once we got back, I was trying to vacuum, wondering why the heck it was so dark in the middle of the morning. Then, I saw the shape of the light coming through the leaves of the tree out front, and I remembered what was supposed to happen this morning.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-06-2023, 05:42 PM
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Always good to see her (and you) out and about in your gorgeous part of the country. :)
How old is Luna now? I feel like I've been admiring your pictures of her for a really long time.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-02-2023, 06:11 PM
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After 8 years together, Tasi's blue right and brown left eyes look normal to me - it's just her face - but if I see another heterochromatic dog with the opposite pattern like Mochi there, or even Tasi reflected in a mirror, I get the same unsettled feeling I'm sure most people feel when they see her.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
10-01-2023, 12:33 PM
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Husky Fetch
Step 1: catch ball
Step 2: gloat
Step 3: keep away
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
09-24-2023, 07:16 PM
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Charli's owners disagree on what colors she should wear. She used to have a red harness, which was suddenly replaced with a flaming pink one with matching collar earlier this year, much to one owner's annoyance.
I have to side with her other owner: I like the pink.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
09-10-2023, 09:21 AM
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Athena the shepsky cools off on the last morning of the year (we hope) that doesn't drop below 90°.
And Mango, the cairn terrier / teddy bear mix.
Schneider Super-Cinelux 60mm f/2
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
09-03-2023, 03:15 PM
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Tasi finds a corner to wedge herself into in a Las Vegas motel. She smelled like Fabuloso for days afterward.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
08-24-2023, 08:39 PM
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Tasi and Griz got a little salty today.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
08-22-2023, 05:15 PM
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Mom & Griz on Marys Peak today. They've been together for three years now.
Pentax-FA 77 Limited
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
08-13-2023, 10:29 AM
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Trucks
Schneider Cinelux-Ultra 95mm f/2
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
08-06-2023, 10:48 AM
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Lots of happy doggies today! They opened up the other half of the park, so they all had a brand new mud hole to play in!
Pentax-FA 100mm f/2.8 Macro
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
08-05-2023, 01:09 PM
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That was before she jumped in the canal! :p
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
08-05-2023, 10:32 AM
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The half of the park with the hose you can use to rinse off is still closed, but Tasi was more than happy to detour to the canal on the way home. Now she smells like algae, but at least she's not muddy.
SMC FA-77 Ltd.
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