Sunday, February 10, 2008

Ready for your closeups, Washington Tykes?

I spent some time with Max in the park and the run this morning, and I went to some pains to get some nice closeups. Dogs are, as is well known, incredibly charismatic photographic subjects--but not always the most cooperative when it comes to holding still. I was more determined than usual, because I need more closeups for the slideshow.

I wanted just one more of Duke with his football


Jack is being very cooperative and holding still for the camera. Atypically cooperative, in fact. Because he wants one of Max's balls. That I'm holding up in front of him. Which I will not give him. All's fair in love and photography.



Storm's person is getting ready to throw a ball for her and Jack.


Max and Xocha

Xocha: the closeup

Tender

Butch--I'm such a sucker for Shepherd Mixes


Butch with Storm (getting a good closeup of Storm will be a real challenge--I get in close enough, she thinks I want to play and starts jumping around)


Ben--I see Goldens every day, and he remains the handsomest I've seen. I still don't feel I've ever done him full justice. I'll keep trying.


Smarties


Sabatu is a Shiba Inu--hadn't met him before. One of my favorite breeds--hope to get a picture of him and Chester (another Shiba) together sometime soon.


We've been meeting Lucy at the run for over a year now, on and off. So many English Bulldogs I see are stifflegged and slow--buoyant spirits trapped in awkward bodies. Lucy seems to be much more soundly bred, fluid and energetic in her movement--more like a French Bulldog, except Frenchies generally love to play with other dogs--Lucy is more focused on rolling her beloved blue plastic bowling ball all over the run.

Mooshu is something decidedly out of the ordinary--a pit/sharpei mix. Yes, I also wonder how the hell that happened. But what a face!


Kathy is a Chocolate Lab. Nothing unusual in that, right? But the closeup doesn't tell the whole story.

Her owner assures me Kathy is a purebred Lab (he brought her up from down below the Mason-Dixon line), but did you ever see a Lab with a body like that? She's every bit as fast and graceful as she looks. The Labrador Retriever has been bred so extensively, you can probably find endless variations on the same basic theme


And finally Taro, a Bernese Mountain Dog. That's Mooshu behind her. Damn, I'm getting hungry for Asian food now.


I'll be laying off the big photo spreads for a bit (they do eat up a lot of storage space), but I'll try to update a few more times this week.

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