August?

The goddess, Athena

Isn't August supposed to be hot and dry? It's been hot, for sure, but the grass is wet, the ground is muddy, and I can't keep up with the mowing. It was really too wet to mow today, but it wasn't raining and I had to do it when I could. The grass in the dog yard was out of control and the pasture is growing like it's spring. It was a rough cut, at best, but it was better than nothing.

Prince

Max, Theo, Athena, and Prince came out to keep me company. It was hot enough that no one did too much running, but they got enough exercise to sleep soundly tonight. Theo was disappointed that we didn't play ball, but I'll make it up to him another time.

Mad Max with a toy in his mouth that I haven't seen in ages.
He found it out in the pasture.

Theo the Great (front) and Mad Max (rear)

Max was in and out of the water so much that the tank
was half empty when we finished.

Prince stuck around really well. If he was out
of sight, I called, and he came.

Athena's tongue isn't as long as Penelope's and it's mostly
in her mouth most of the time.

Prince prancing along the fence line.

Athena and Max

Theo was disappointed that we didn't play ball.

The grass was almost tall enough to hide the Dane when she
laid down in it.

Prince Charming

Prince and I had a full afternoon. First we went to meet Berta's cat. The cat greeted us at the door, Prince took one look at her and went to see Berta instead. I pushed him into a couple more nose-to-nose meetings and his usual response was to look away. I suspect he's had a run-in with a cat or two in his past and has developed a proper and healthy respect for them. That's a good thing, a very good thing.

Prince is a perfect gentleman, always
offering his paw.

A horse with a good temperament and
pleasant countenance is said to have "a
kind eye." I think the expression can be
applied to Prince as well.

x

Shepherd ears, but his muzzle does
look like a Dane's in this picture.
I had been told he was a GSD/Dane
mix and that may be true.

The next stop of the day was the vet's office. He needed vaccines, heartworm test, and the basic exam.

I was sweating the heartworm/Lyme/Erlichia test because this guy has always lived outdoors, but he must have been living under a lucky star because everything was negative, even the fecal test.

That's great news, the best possible news really, but to top it off he was wonderful with the vet and all the vet techs and everyone loved him.




















































Our third and final stop for the day before returning home was to meet a potential adopter. Prince once again lived up to his name and title. He was gentle with the cat, preferring to look away whenever they were close. He was gracious with the adopter, offering his paw and then just settling down at our feet as we talked.

I couldn't have asked for anything more from him. He's a solid dog, both physically and mentally. The only thing I'd like to change is his propensity to lift his leg and mark everything he passes. I hope he will get over that quickly.

The visit was a success and I anticipate that he will be going to spend the weekend at least, to see how he gets along.

Prince in the crate in the back of my van on the way home. It was a good day. 

A Tale of Two Danes

Gigi

I've been wanting to get Athena and Gigi together for a photo session for some time now. Athena will be getting adopted soon so I figured I'd better do it before it was too late. Athena has always been ready and willing, but Gigi, well, that's a different story.

My idea of the two of them posing in the garden
quickly evaporated because Athena never stood
still long enough for a picture.

Gigi is about seven years old now, I think, so she's getting to be a senior Dane. Athena, on the other hand, is only nine months old and still very much a puppy, although she is remarkably well behaved for being a pup. Still, Gigi hasn't had much interest in socializing with her or indulging my desire to have pictures of a well matched pair of Danes posing together.

You can ask Gigi to hold a pose and she will
do so. 

This is as close as I got to a posed picture of
Athena (under the crepe myrtle), and I only
managed this shot after the pasture run.

Although Athena is more than happy to go out and play with Gigi, she isn't much for posing. Gigi knows how to work the camera; Athena just knows how to run. Between taking a lot of pictures and careful cropping, I got a few good ones today.

Once I gave up on the idea of the garden setting, we went
out to the pasture to try some action shots. This is Athena.

Athena running in one direction but looking in
another. This resulted in running into Gigi at one point.

Athena with jowls flapping.

She could strike a pose, but it didn't last long.

Athena is a beautiful girl.

Gigi wasn't in the mood to play.

Athena (left rear) and Gigi (right)

Athena's ears are natural (floppy), but they look cropped
in this picture because she was bouncing around.

I did get some pictures of them playing together, but
Athena was doing most of the playing.

This picture is begging for a caption, but I've got nothing.

You need to fix this

Maya and Vince

Thunderstorms are not fun at our house and the one we had this evening was quite unwelcome. There are generally a couple dogs at my feet at all times, but during a storm that number grows to five or six.

Trooper and Vince

I knew we would be having a storm this evening because Vince wouldn't eat his dinner and it was still clear, hot, and dry at that time. We had a lot of lightning and thunder from this one and it seemed to be centered on our house for quite a while. The power flickered a few times, and the breaker that powers the computers and everything else in my office was tripped. Eventually the internet service came back, but not to my computer. This happened several weeks ago after a nearby lightning strike and I was without my computer for a couple weeks. They replaced the internet adapter or something like that and it wasn't expensive, but it took forever because they lost my name and phone number. I'll have to take it in again tomorrow, but at least this time it's a known problem. Apparently I need to replace the surge protector that the computer is plugged into. That's an annoyance but I do still have my work computer, although it doesn't have a photo editor, so my blog pics will be pretty much just as they come from the camera.

That's Gigi sitting under the desk, as close as possible.

Samantha doesn't hear so well anymore
but she's not completely deaf and beside
this thunder could be felt as well as heard.

The dogs don't care about my internet access, they were convinced that the world was ending and kept looking at me as if they expected me to do something about it. Trooper has been known to bark at thunder, hoping he can scare it off, I guess, but the thunder this evening as too loud and too close. He just wanted to hide under my desk along with Vince, Gigi, Samantha, and Maya. Maya is not particularly scared of storms, but she's usually at my feet anyway and she was concerned that Trooper was upset and I wasn't doing anything about it. Athena also didn't seem really scared, but she stuck close because that's what the others were doing.

This is Athena, pushing her way in for her share.

I used to enjoy a good thunderstorm, but I jumped at a couple of the thunder cracks and felt like doing the duck and cover move myself. I had been planning to mow part of the pasture this evening, but that obviously didn't happen.

Trooper and Vince have the worst storm anxiety of
our current pack.