~*Shell*~

I have a feeling it wouldn't be too hard to train Zero to growl on command - he does it for a few different things when we're playing so if i clicked and treated then put a command to it, i have a feeling he would get it in time. It probably wouldn't be convincing though. As for training an unhappy dog to act happy - that's not something i would ever teach. I like having a dog that I'm able to read and find that a lot more valuable.

I didn't think that there was anywhere good for me to go either - mine was just taken on the main road where we walk every night. I thought i would take my camera and tripod with me and just see what happened. I think they turned out pretty well for having next to no forethought in them. Love the photo of the showerhead Nik - that's exactly the kind of photo I have trouble capturing! Well, that and stop motion photos of Zero when he's running!

Just a couple of quick ones from tonight's walk. Note to self: Camera + tripod + siberian husky = lots of "bumped tripod" blurry photos!

That's very cool Nik! I love it!

I make sure that Zero's ears stay pretty much hair-free on the inside. He has narrowed ear canals from multiple untreated ear infections (his old owners were abusive and neglectful) and I've found that if i leave his ears "hairy", the ear infections seem to happen more often. If you don't have a dog with a history of ear infections, I don't know if plucking will prevent ear infections but I know in my dog, it does. My grooming training (the course was terrible and seemed very old-fashioned) tells me to pluck but my vet said that unless Zero didn't have ear infections, I wouldn't have to. I used to use epi otic too but have been told not to use it because it can aggrivate the capilliaries after the hair has been plucked from them which can cause an infection. I've noticed that since i stopped using it, the ear infections have been even further apart.

Signals are very easily retaught should you run into a problem. I recently was told to change a couple of my signals to make it easier for both Zero and I. I went from using my left hand and a pointed finger to do a stand command (i started doing it when i was teaching him stand while i was still luring him and it just kind of carried over) and now i use a flat hand - Zero was confused the first couple of times but when he got it. I've also started giving him the down command with my right hand - again, a couple of moments of confusion but a strong verbal command with the new signal and he knows what I want from him. It works for other things too - rather than have him move his front feet forward when he drops, i taught him to fold himself down into the drop so if he has to do a stand, then a drop, then a stand, he doesn't move forward and get out of position. I didn't realise how much cleaner it looked until i saw it last night. A couple of goes at getting him to fold himself into a drop and now he does it that way when he drops from a stand.

I use a tripod or prop the camera up on something if I need to take something at floor level. I still have an idea for a photo I want to try out but I never get the time! I might have to try it tonight after training.

Thanks guys! My mother saw the last one (one of the women at her work subscribes to my flickr account and feels the need to show everyone in the laboratory my work) and decided that she wants to put it on canvas and put it in our kitchen . I think I might use it as a background for some editing I'm going to do for my niece's bedroom too. My niece is 3 and loves fairies (and dogs) so I'm going to crack out my graphics tablet, draw some fairies (and maybe some dogs with wings - I have a couple of pictures I've drawn for her of Zero so i could probably recreate them digitally) and then add them into the photo. I figure that it will help me to learn to use photoshop better - and since I haven't used it in months, I definitely need the practice!

Yum Kirislin! Next time you're making that you can just PM me your address and then let me know what time to turn up. That reminds me, I have a couple of photos to post here! I'll have to dig them up tonight.

Ooooo - I love this one! What happened after that Danois? Did the dog bolt?

It's the month of the seagull! I think about 5 or 6 of us have got seagull photos this month! Here are mine for today - I used to walk to this waterfall everyday since it was around the corner from my house but since we've moved, I haven't been back. Now I want to take Zero there! It was getting darker so i used a slow shutter speed (2-3.2 seconds) I think this one is my favourite: I still have another idea for a long exposure photo for tonight so I'll head up in a few minutes to get it.

That is possibly the cutest face I've ever seen Soaks make, and I've seen Soaks make some pretty darn cute faces - she looks so cuddly in that picture!!

A few I got this afternoon. Zero would never touch the plastic dumbell and suddenly he wants to work with it! From the same stride: And one of him in full flight: I'm still going to get out there and take a shot tonight so hopefully it works out well.

Wow - what a stunning dog! There's nothing quite like seeing a dobe in action.

Ooooo - I'm intrigued! I have an idea for a photo I'm going to take tonight so hopefully it's not too cold for me to get out of the house. I'm sure Zero will want to drag me out for a walk anyway! Damn sibes and their damn liking the cold!

It's probably a good thing work is so busy I can't take time off at the moment - I would come to melbourne and steal Barkly! I love the goofy face!

Wow Nik! That thing looks like a hawk - of course, I call it "that thing" because I hate mynah birds! Here's mine for today: And a panning shot I tried to capture - it's not as blurred as I would like but it looks better in the bigger version (I think you can see more of the background blur in the bigger version).

O...m...g - what a gorgeous little girl!! So now you have to tell us everything - name, weight etc. Thanks everyone - I took hundreds of photos on saturday and I liked probably about half of them (some are very similar though). Zero is so funny about birds - they don't seem to be afraid of him and he doesn't pay attention to them unless they're really big (in which case I don't think he can work out what they are so he just stands there looking at them with a funny look on his face). It makes them very easy to photograph because i don't have to hold him back.

Poor Cherry - you know what would help? More pictures!!!

Wow - everyone is really doing well this month! I love the frozen movement shots! A few from me: These signets were so hard to capture - they moved around so much it was hard to get a good angle that wouldn't cause them to blur!

The possum was at work - there's a park outside of our building and I have to walk through it to get from where I park my car to my building. I've seen the possum maybe twice in nearly 2 years so it was just lucky I had my camera there yesterday!

The treadmill puts less stress on my joints so I'm assuming it'll have the same affect on the dog. I can run on the treadmill for 30 minutes without any pain but if i run on the footpath, my knees ache for days! A friend puts her dogs on the treadmill when it's too hot to walk them (she has sibes so they get hot very quickly) and they love it.

Ooooo - i would love to see the stick figure ones!

Roxy_n_Axle - great shot! I love that you can even see the bubbles in the water as it comes out of the tap! Kirislin - your shot makes me happy! Did you use a torch? Okay - some for today! I took this one sitting in my car in peak hour traffic. This guy does laps of the street my work is in like he's driving the coolest car ever. When i saw him doing it this afternoon I ran to get a shot! And for all those who are interested, this is what my 50mm 1.8 lens looks like now: And these shots are the reason it's broken... personally, i think it was worth it: ETA: Love the Ralph shot Rocco! He's such a little cutie. I also have a dog you have to poke to see if he's still alive. The endurance photo in my sig is Zero in his natural state.

I may be able to put it back together again Kirislin - looks like it just needs some superglue. I don't think it'll be the same ever again. I got a couple of photos of it today which I'm going to play with tonight so even if i can't fix it, at least I will have got some photos out of it and the possum photos I took look great!