Fall Dog Photos

I took this picture of our canine crew during the fall of my first year in Oregon. This is Winnie, Devo and Tigger. Tigger is the oldest one in this picture and he is the only one from this cohort that is still with me.
I was very please with how well this picture turned out and I tried to take some similar fall pictures of the critters this afternoon. The light was beautiful and the leaves were thick. I got some nice pictures of the cat and I will post them separately. Here a few I took of Tigger and Shine. I didn't pose them together since Tigger is either up and moving or laying down.








Here is Shine. Perhaps I shouldn't have played ball with her first? But it was such a beautiful day! Big tongue=happy dog!














And here is Tigger. It is hard to get a good picture of him but I like the way this one turned out!

I went down to California the weekend before last for the Northern California Greyhound Club's fall specialty. I had a blast! The best part is always hanging out with my friends but I also really enjoy checking in with my puppy. What puppy? Well, this requires a back story so bear with me here.

This is my Winnie. I lost her in May of 2007 and I still miss her every day. Her breeder, Helen, is someone that I did not know before I got her. I am grateful that Helen was willing to send a puppy to me in Kansas from California having never met me before. Fortunately, since then, Helen has become one of my best friends.

Winnie was a show dog. We did conformation, agility, tracking, obedience and lure coursing. We had a lot of fun together. Although, it wasn't the original plan, Winnie did produce this little muffin before we lost her.




Helen sent some of these old photos to me today and they are so cute, I had to share! It is hard to believe how fast she grew. I remember when this little girl was the size of my hand, she was a little bean bag. Now she is big and she is rambunctious and she has Winnie's personality times ten!

When she was this little, we called her Panda. It took some time for Helen to decide on a proper name. Eventually she settled on Whisper.

I'll share a few more super cute photos and then show you what Whisper is like today.















This is Winnie and her brother and sister taken in 2006. Her brother, Apollo (in the middle), still lives with Helen but we lost her sister, Spirit, earlier last year.


Let me show you what Whisper is like now.



Not quite as small now, is she?

But the best view of what she is like can be seen on this video on YouTube. Click here to go to that page.

Whisper has a lot of drive and a lot of desire to work. She and Helen have worked hard and have developed into a good team. It's a pleasure to watch them work in the agility and obedience rings. Although, I must admit, I just enjoy hanging out with the Whisp and enjoying her zest for life!

My Heart

This is my old man, my heart and soul. I got Tigger when he was 6 months old. He has been with me for over 14 years. I remember looking at his cute little face wen I was bringing him home and thinking that this was the face I was going to see every day for the next ten years. I never imagined that I would have him this long. We have had a quite a journey together and he has seen me through many hardships and challenges. He has never left my side. I think that every dog has a lesson to teach and his is loyalty. He has outlived all expectations. The greyhound lifespan is typically 10-12 years. Yet here he is.

He had a ciliary body adenoma in his right eye about four years ago. We took the eye out when the tumor started to cause him discomfort. He was already blind in that eye from the tumor so it wasn't a big deal. But it did take some time to get used to his permanent wink.

This is a picture of him with his favorite toy, his Ty ball. He still loves to come "running" into the living room to attack it. He also likes to use it for a pillow.


Other than that, he has had very few health problems. He does have arthritis and is getting pretty crippled in the rear. He has lost most of his muscle mass. I took him for a walk around the block tonight and some folks in their yard stopped what they were doing and watched us walk past. I wonder, did they think I was starving him? Did they think that there was something wrong with him? Or, did they recognize that a grand old gentleman was passing and did he perhaps remind them of some other grand older dog that had graced their lives?



For his age, he looks great! He is alert and curious. He still likes to carry his frisbee around the yard, I just don't throw it anymore. He still wants to be trained. I sometimes send him through the jump uprights with the bars down and then tell him what a great dog he is. He will come to heel, I just don't expect him to sit. He does his nose touches and grins whenever he hears the clicker. He makes me smile every day.

Trouble comes to visit

Our friends Trouble and Emily came to visit. We canned some tomatoes and played with the dogs and talked and talked. It was a great visit! Trouble and Shine didn't become bosom buddies but they learned to tolerate each other.



Despite his name and reputation, Trouble turned out to be a wonderful guest. He and Emily are welcome back any time!