WW- And a 1, and a 2, and a 3...

The Mom Cone of Shame

I am a horrible blogger and an even worse dog mom.

We went to Pet Supplies Plus to buy a cone of shame for Zappa who got a scrap on his nose from Brut after they went crazy over a critter.  And that's not the bad part.

The bad part is Zappa went into a store for the first time and I didn't have one photographic device on me to the capture the awesome moment!

I know, I know, what century am I living in?  Minus two points for mother of the year award.

Zappa even wore the cone of shame around the store.  (It was a good blocker for grabbing treats.)  bol! He did really great for his first time, like he'd been doing in all along.  I don't think his nose knew what to do being surrounded by so much food!!  In fact he thought he hit the mother load when he found some spilled food on one of the shelves.  Talk about a bonus!

We were basically the only ones in the store and Zappa was the only dog.  Which was a great first time advantage.  He was digging it.

I've only had to use the cone a few times.  We decided to try one last thing that we hoped would work first and got the cone for a backup.  We used a liquid bandage.  It's a spray on protective and is working really good.  Zappa is finally starting to scab.

So while I don't have photos of Mr. Boo-Boo or our first in-store experience, just imagine a happy dog surrounded by stacks and stacks of dog food, aisles of toys and goodies and being the calm, cool and collective dog that makes Zappa, Zappa.

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Why I love Blogger!

I don't know about Wordpress, but I have a blast with changing the look of my blog on Blogger.  Especially the blog background.  The background you see here is Zappa's fur.  I had to lighten it order to read the side bars which took me a while to figure out because his color is so beautiful and I've been trying to find a way to use on the blog.

I also use Picasa 3 for my pictures where you can make collages, which is what I do for most of my headers and then you can add features to make it look almost anyway you want.

I personally couldn't deal with a white background, as an artist I hunger for color.  And since my eyes are so sensitive I am always looking for colors and mixes that are easy, yet pleasing to the eye.

So how do you like the look of 24 Paws of Love?  Do you use or have you used Blogger?  What about Picasa 3?  What are your thoughts on them?  What other programs do you use for your blog?  

Look at our Progress!

Now for those of you who don't know, the Back Pack has been an on going challenge to get a picture of all four of them together.  With Brut being such a bossy pack leader and major issues with food it has been a slow work in progress.  The three dogs, Fiona, Silver and Zappa are all cautious when food and Brut are together, but especially Zappa.  So getting him in close is pretty difficult.  I started by working with them in pairs in the house over the spring and summer for our yogurt breakfast, then gradually let them mesh at their own comfort levels all together.  We still practice this and the results are getting amazing!

So I decided to up the ante a bit and try it outside.  Here's the results of three different days at least 2-3 days apart.  The first two days I used dry kibble and the third day with yogurt.   

Day 1

First shot, everyone w-i-d-e spread.  So wide even Zappa (by lawn chair) was in shot.

Now were coming together.

Brut is so relaxed he decided to lay down.

Then so does Fiona and Silver 

and Zappa.  And this is the closest he will get for this day.

Final shot for this day:  all a little bit closer.

Day 2:

Zappa is still far out, but look, everyone else is closer to him!

Day 3

All four dogs lined up!!

It's been a pretty amazing journey so far and I really hoping to get some good shots for Christmas cards.  :)  We'll see!

Black and White Dogs for Black & White Sunday

Cuddle time between Mother and daughter

Have a Happy Sunday!!

From:  Silver and Fiona and the 24 Paws of Love

Monday Memories-Snap! Silver the Photographer

Monday Memories-our little trip down memory lane.

  Whenever my husband's mom used to change a baby's diaper, she would baby talk, "Are you taking my picture?"

So since Silver sleeps on her back most of the time, my husband thinks she is taking everyone's picture. 

Silver snapping away at 7 weeks old

Lots of shots of the kids while she was nursing

Warming up the camera.

Smile!  You're on Silver Camera!!
BOL!!

Has anyone else heard of this phrase before?

And last but not least-Blaze and Chance

Every cat or dog we have owned has had their photo on this Tigger tree skirt when I realized I didn't have any with the "puppies" on it and we decided to continue the tradition.  We haven't had a full size tree since Brut was young and these little table top ones fit perfect with 6 dogs.  :)

Thanks  for sharing in our Christmas portraits.  These two were pretty tuckered out from an earlier photo shoot.  They were so great letting me take these few shots.  

Stick around because you won't believe what is happening tomorrow...

Black Beauty Silver

One of the reasons that people give for not wanting a black dog is that they do not photograph well, especially their faces.  While it can be difficult, if you just snapping that little box with a little help from nature, you can share in a true Black Beauty.  

Never have I been able to capture the velvety smoothness of Silver's fur like this before.
Simply beautiful.

Eight years to get a picture like this, without even trying.
What a rare gem Silver really is.

Lessons in Photography

We are working on designing a new header, so I decided to try and get some shots of the dogs.  I started with Zappa and Fiona, because my chances of getting all four Back  Dogs in a shot are about as good as winning the lottery.  So I figure I will start with the pairs.

These turned out pretty good, except I couldn't get either to look at the camera at the same time.  Then I had it.  The perfect shot.  Zappa was sitting down and Fiona was lying in front of him...I had it except my perfectionism played tricks with me as I fussed around trying to center the picture around a bucket on the ground that could have been cropped out when Zappa move and the moment was over.  I'm still kicking myself for that one.

We are working on designing a new header, so I decided to try and get some shots of the dogs.  I started with Zappa and Fiona, because my chances of getting all four Back  Dogs in a shot are about as good as winning the lottery.  So I figure I will start with the pairs.

These turned out pretty good, except I couldn't get either to look at the camera at the same time.  Then I had it.  The perfect shot.  Zappa was sitting down and Fiona was lying in front of him...I had it except my perfectionism played tricks with me as I fussed around trying to center the picture around a bucket on the ground that could have been cropped out when Zappa move and the moment was over.  I'm still kicking myself for that one.

So then I took a wild gamble and tried for all four Back Dogs together.  I couldn't believe it, they were all together in one spot.  Nobody was moving, Brut didn't know if I had treats or not, I had their attention except for Fiona. Just keep shooting, she'll turn around.   Moments like this don't come along every day....INTERNAL MEMORY FULL!  WHAT??  You've got to be kidding me!!  I didn't have my SD card and I couldn't move to go get it. ...NOOOOOOOOO!!  I couldn't believe it.  It was the best shot I've ever seen of the four of them together and I only got two shots.  All I could do was give them their treats and watch as everyone scattered.  The moment was blown and there was no going back.  I tried a few more times to get everyone together, but it just wasn't going to happen.  :(  Maybe tomorrow?

One last chance for a good shot with my trusty Front Dogs, Blaze and Chance.  I think this photo says it all of how my photo shoot went:

  Did you say play dead??

Monday Memories-Christmas photo shot

Merry What???

This was practice shot for our Christmas Cards for 2006.  Brut was about 10 weeks old and as yes he did eventually grow into those huge ears.   Neither Silver nor Alex were particularly fond of this set up.  Yes, that's Alex glaring at us.  He was probably thinking he is getting much too old for these shenanigans!!  It was our last Christmas with him.  Silver just pouted.

Do you see the ducks?

Our two ducks at the time on top of the couch in the cage. 

We only have the white one left.

Luigi will be 10 years old next April!

He may outlive the dogs!  Pet ducks have been known to live 20 years or more.

Somehow we managed to get a shot with Daddy and I holding the cats, the three dogs and the ducks.  

It was the last Christmas card photo we took with everyone all together.

It is still one of our favorite photos.