Jumpers

It’s been a while since I set the dogs up and did some old-fashioned jumping pictures. Fortunately, Andy was with me, which makes setting the shots much, much easier.

And we got two good ones, both in the same pass. Not bad.

Lush Puppy

Today I went up into Massachusetts to see Jill’s Copley compete in a dog show. I remember Copley from teeny puppyhood, but now he’s a grown dog. Afterwards, Jill and I went for a walk with the dogs (Copley had to stay with his handler, alas), and I got to meet Lush, the new puppy.

Like Copley, Lush comes from an impressive show pedigree, and with any luck, she’ll have quite a future in that venue. She’s certainly gorgeous in puppyhood (though what Golden puppy isn’t?).

She’s also one of the best conditioned puppies I’ve ever met. She kept up with us pretty impressively for such a small thing.

And, last but not least, Lush is already well advanced in her training, due in no small part to Jill’s skill. Watching a pup so small sprint back to a handler with such exuberance, in expectation of the affection more than the cookie, well it’s a lovely sight to see.

Finding the Thread Again

This entry is actually being written in July. I completely fell off the Puppy Tao wagon this spring. I’ve gotten very serious about taking better care of my health, which meant upgrading from dog walks to dog runs. The bulky camera was the tradeoff.

But one thing I’ve learned about projects is that even if you lose the thread, it’s more important to find it again than to berate yourself for dropping it.

These pictures are from the birdfeeder next to the place where I love to run. This fellow is a White-breasted Nuthatch.

What was fun about this particular nuthatch sighting is something that a sharp-eyed birder will already have noticed: we had two kinds of nuthatches in the same tree. This one is a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

I believe both of those Nuthatches were males, but the gender differences are pretty subtle. Not so with the Northern Cardinal. The females are less showy than the males, but beautiful in their own way.