Kristine Gunter, Dog Photographer

I’m thinking that at $12 each, I should probably go buy a couple more of them (there was a variety of colors to choose from) and have one for each dog. Of course then none of the would sleep in them…

Rugby has never been a huge fan of toys–he much prefers food rewards to any toy. A couple of years ago I found a toy at a dog show that I thought he might like–it’s a real plastic water bottle wrapped in soft fuzzy cover. I gave it to him right after I bought it and he was mildly amused with it. I had forgotten all about it until this week when I was cleaning up the basement. I took Rugby outside to see if he still liked his “K-9 Water” toy and he played with it for several minutes. It gave me the opportunity to snap some pics of him while he was distracted enough to not notice my camera.

So there I was out shopping when I come across this super cute pink dog bed–and the price was really good so I HAD to buy it. I had it mind for one of my three dogs–little Miss Girly-Girl herself, but apparently Rugby, secure in his masculinity, found it more appealing than Zoey did. The clash between the orange fur and the pink bed is almost too painful to look at.

Thursday night was such lovely weather for our weekly flyball practice. Not too hot, not too cold and the lighting was superb for photography.

I can’t help but stare at Cooper’s curls–they amaze me. I am thinking I might need to start a new dog breed: Irish Water Corgis. Wouldn’t Zoey look adorable with ringlets of hair cascading down her forehead?

Cooper, Irish Water Spaniel

Clyde, Aussie

Frankie, Weim

A gallery of pics from practice are on my website HERE!

I spent yesterday evening shooting pics of three very handsome Aussie boys: Dash, Clyde and Bernie. These boys were a RIOT! They were like three toddler-aged boys running around, egging each other on. They would chase and wrestle and run and only reluctantly lay down to rest

This is handsome Dash-man standing still for a brief moment:

And this is Dash and Clyde, not standing still:

Just be forewarned if you are prone to motion sickness, you may not want to watch for too long…

…is that they live in the moment. Every day they take whatever life throws at them and they make the best of it.

Meet Nigel, a member of the X-Fidos flyball team. Nobody ever told Nigel flyball might be a little harder for him than for other dogs. He just goes out there and plays his heart out. He runs, he jumps and he does a beautiful, “three-paws-on-the-box” turn. He’s just living in the moment, appreciating every second of life…

10 years ago today, Riley (then, “Andre”) was born. Carolyn wrote the following to me just a few days before we went to pick him up:

“I believe that your pup will be “Andre” who is the loviest pup in the litter. He’s the one who would rather sit on your lap and give you kisses than eat his breakfast.”

And, indeed, Riley has fulfilled his role as the loviest dog in my household. It should be noted that when I first asked Carolyn about a puppy, I didn’t request a specific sex, color or age. I simply told her I didn’t want a puppy, “like Rugby”.  And for those of you who know all about my ‘issues’ with my little red-headed boy, you’ll understand why Carolyn chose to give me a sweet, cuddly puppy.

It’s hard to believe he’s ten years old now. Where does time go?

He’ll be getting as many ‘goodie-ships’ (cookie dispensing toys) as he wants today. Chances are that will be 20 or 30 of them. He has about ten different treat toys and when he decides he ‘needs’ me to fill one up, he’ll usually bring one to me and bark at me until I fill it (he has me so well trained).

The other day he was upstairs in our bedroom and I was downstairs reading. I heard something come crashing down the stairs and ran to look. Riley was on the top landing, tossing his empty treat toys at me. The message was pretty clear and I obliged by filling them up for him and delivering them to him upstairs.

I make no apologies for spoiling my sweet boy.

Our team’s first outdoor practice session was tonight–the weather was almost perfect (just a tiny bit too humid) and the dogs seemed to enjoy the change of scenery. We normally practice indoors at a doggie-daycare facility and at times it can get a bit cramped. Tonight there was plenty of room for everyone.

One of the things I enjoy about flyball is the diversity of dogs that participate–there truly doesn’t seem to be any one breed that dominates the sport.

I don’t know how many Irish Water Spaniels there are running flyball, but I know of at least one…