Recalls

Last week at the park, I was reminded of a time, years ago, when Koira wouldn't come when called. It wasn't that she never came when called, but that she often would simply choose not to, or choose to come most of the way but not close enough to catch.

I had taken Koira for a walk down to the local park in the morning before heading to work. We were about 1/3 of the way through our walk when I spotted a large black lab standing in the middle of the field we were walking past, with no human in sight. So I went over to see what was going on. Most of the time, in cases like this, the human will pop out of the tree cover or something and I just keep walking. This time, a car pulled into the parking lot and the woman driving rolled down her window and let me know that this was her dog and she just couldn't catch him. She'd tried getting in the car and driving away (just out of sight) to see if she could catch her dog that way. No dice.

I actually spent the next 45 minutes or an hour or so helping her try to catch her dog. He was smart to all of the classic tricks. No food was going to lure him in. No game of fetch would bring him close enough for a grab. No other dog on a leash would entice him within reach of a human. He was wise to being cornered. Sitting/laying down brought no response. I eventually left and continued on with our walk. I'm not sure how that story ends. I assume that she caught her dog at some point and made it home, but since she had been at the park for two hours already by the time I met her, I am not sure if she made it home before dark 6 hours later or not.

As I talked to her (we tried everything to catch this dog, even walking down to a part of the river that dead ends in an attempt to corner him), she said she really didn't want to use a shock collar on her dog, but didn't know what else to do when he acts like this. I gave her a few suggestions, and a story of personal experience. Because years ago, Koira wasn't much different from this dog.

We would go down to the park for a walk, have a great time, and when we got back to the parking lot area, I couldn't for the life of me catch Koira. She would stay just out of arm's reach and no treat or toy was enough to lure her in. I often had to have someone else catch her, and I was lucky that she would let other people close to her. But I could see that if it continued, she would start dodging all humans. We easily could have been this owner and her black dog.

I fixed Koira's recall problem in the same way that I recommended to this exasperated dog owner. First, the dog doesn't get to be off leash for a while. A long line is invaluable, and can be made super cheap with lightweight cord and a leash clip. Knots tied every few feet down the cord give you something to grip by stepping on the long line if needed. The long line temporarily prevents the dog from performing the undesired behavior while giving you a chance to do something about it. Long lines aren't training, though, and can be annoying to use long term.

While using a long line on a walk or while playing fetch, I often stopped and grabbed Koira's collar, gave her a treat, and then continued our walk or our game. The idea was to stop her from thinking that every time I touched her the fun would end. Since Koira's issue was specifically at the parking lot area of the park, I made a point of changing out walk route so that we walked past that area multiple times, so she would learn that not every time we were in that place did the fun end. Throughout the walks, treats were given for voluntarily checking in, and for coming when asked to.

When she was reliably doing this on a long line, I took the long line off and did the same thing. Instead of just doing a collar grab while giving a treat, I started clipping her leash on for a second, giving a treat, and then taking the leash off again and letting the fun continue. Sometimes I would keep her on leash for a little while, sometimes I would take it off immediately after snapping it on. Putting on a leash does not equal the end of the fun. This whole time, I made sure we walked back and forth past our problem area (the parking lot) over and over. Sometimes we would walk straight past with no leash clip. Sometimes she would get called over and get a treat and then we would keep walking. Or clip the leash on, keep walking, treat, and then back off leash to play. And when it was time to leave, I didn't always wait until we were near the parking lot to leash back up. I would make the last 5-10 minutes of our walk be on leash sometimes, so that she knew that being on leash didn't mean the fun was over.

I was lucky in a few ways. Koira is naturally interested in working with me, and she is easy to convince that a game is fun. That worked in my favor. I got good advice on how to fix the problem from the start, so even though I let the problem behavior happen for too long before starting training for it, I knew what to do to fix it. And I had a lot of free time. I worked a ton of part time jobs, but they were mostly flexible, evening, or part days, so I could afford to go to the park for a few hours almost every day. Being able to spend plenty of time there made the training go much faster than if we only went to the park once a week. And I suppose our park is a big benefit too- it isn't fenced, but it does allow dogs to be off leash on the trails year-round, and in the sport fields in the winter. So while that initially caused the problem, it also allowed me to work through it.

Today, Koira has a great recall, and a natural inclination to check in. Since working through this problem thoroughly all those years ago, she has never tried to dodge when I want to catch her. I haven't had to ask anyone else to catch my dog. And I haven't had to be that person at the park with the totally untrained dog. But I was there. I can't judge anyone else in that position, because I was there. I was that person. I just have to hope that because I was there, and managed to get through it, and now have a dog who is often complimented at the park for her great recall and attention to me, that I can help the other owners who are suffering through it now.

I don't know if the black lab's owner will take my advice. Along with giving her basically the same advice I wrote here, I gave her the name of a great local dog training place that actually has a class that is specifically for training a reliable recall. I have no idea if she will take any of my advice, or if she will decide to take the easiest-for-right-now method of using the shock collar she is reluctant to use. I hope she decides to go with positive methods. Her dog will be happier, she will be happier, and she will be able to develop a great relationship with her dog through the training that will last for years to come. I hope that next time I see them at the park, her dog will be happy to be caught, or will be on a long line working through it.

And I hope that, because I was friendly and helpful, that she will think of positive training methods in a positive light. I know too many people who, at the first mention of a shock collar, would have started talking down to this dog owner, or verbally attacking her, or telling her all the ways she is wrong. And I know that, had I started out that way, no other advice or help I tried to give would be likely to be well received. No, I don't approve of using shock collars. I think there are much better methods for training something like a recall, and that these better methods create a dog who is happy to be with you. So while I hope that this specific owner does decide to take the time to train a happy, eager recall, I also hope that if you are in the same situation, where you see an owner struggling and they mention using an aversive (shock collar, prong collar, or whatever), you don't attack them. Most of the time, they are at the end of their patience and they don't know what other options are available to them. Don't turn them off from positive methods by giving them a negative experience.

Fit Friday: Disc

Koira loves playing disc. She goes totally bonkers for it. But wet, soggy, slippery ground is too dangerous to play on for a dog who will push through anything when motivated, so we haven't played in quite a while. Luckily for her, the sun came out for the past week and dried everything up enough that we could play disc a bit at the park this week.

She bounced this one off her nose and then scrambled to grab it again.

I knew we hadn't played in a while, and even though we have tried to stay active this winter, it isn't the same as what she does while playing disc. There are some things you can, and should, do to help keep your dog safe while playing disc.

Early drop throw, it hit the ground before she got to it.

To try to keep the session as safe as possible, I did a few things. One, I worked a few years ago on improving my throws without Koira there. Throwing consistent and safe throws is essential to keeping your dog safe while playing this game. I have heard of more torn ACLs from bad catches/landings playing disc than any one other incident. The best throws for dogs are long and low with a good bit of lift, so the disc isn't traveling super fast and isn't diving straight into the ground. Dangerous throws are the ones that go high and cut to the side or drop abruptly, causing the dog to change directions suddenly or leap in ways where they can't land properly. And some dogs do really bad with "floaters" which are throws where the disc is super slow and lets the dog outrun and get underneath it. It is a delicate balance of having it slow and low enough, but not TOO slow and low. Everyone has bad throws sometimes, and you can't control a sudden gust of wind, but you can greatly improve your dog's safety in this game by practicing without your dog until you can pretty consistently get throws that are going to be safe to chase, catch, and land for your dog.

Since we hadn't played in a while, I also made sure to enforce breaks. We would do a few throws, and then do some downs, some posing for the camera, etc. In the middle of this disc session was when we did our photos for the Zukes Z-Bones we reviewed earlier this week. The short breathers helped keep her from getting tired and sloppy and increasing her risk of injury.

Something else I have been working on is getting rid of the crazy bonkers part of Koira's response to discs. It is great that she loves the game, but it is not great if she body slams, grabs discs while they are in my hand, goes after someone else's disc, etc. And those are things she always used to do. Luckily, keeping her from going after other people's discs was an easy fix, and was mostly just reinforcing her recall and leave it when she was excited. Now, we can go walk the paths through the disc golf course without her even looking at their discs. In fact, we had disc golfers playing through this field the entire time we were there, and she never once tried to go for their discs.

I've had these discs for something like 4-5 years and they have barely a dent in them. They are these Hero Discs.

As for the rest of it, we have been working on a lot of impulse control in various settings. Having her down before she gets to have a toy thrown, heeling while I hold a toy visible and within reach on that side (we do an off-side heel, so, on the right). She likes to lunge for the toy that is within reach, but we've managed, over time, to reduce that to almost nothing, though she will occasionally still try a snatch if she is really really up. Teaching her an off side heel gave her an alternative to body slamming or circling manically trying to get to the toy. I can now walk her to the park with a ball or disk or chuckit in my hand without issue.

Practicing down-stays as a means of taking a break between throws

The one thing that we still have problems with is her drop when she is excited. So we play with two discs, I throw one for her, and then have another one ready to throw when she gets back. When she naturally drops the first one, I give her the drop cue (out), and I have some hope that by reinforcing her dropping the disc by throwing the next one, it will help reinforce that cue even when she is in a high state of arousal.

Working on our down stays benefits in multiple ways. She takes a break so she doesn't get tired and sloppy going solid, she gets to work her brain a little and come out of hyper arousal states, and we get to take adorable pictures.

All of this said, we stayed at the park too long that day. When we finished up and headed home, Koira had a very slight limp going on. That night, she was pretty stiff. I have some vetprofen on hand for when we do a lot of activity and she needs a little bit of an anti inflammatory, mostly during flyball weekends. By the next day she was fine with no signs of a limp, but it reminded me that even if she acts young, she is 8, and she does have a lot of old injuries that can flare up and cause soreness. We took it easy the next day, and then did a shorter disc session, with more breaks for heeling and stay work and trick training in between throws, the day after that, and had no signs of soreness.

A tired dog is a happy dog.

Wordless Wednesday: Sprinklers

Koira playing with the sprinklers during our walk last night.

Spring is Upon Us

Our famous Oregon rain finally arrived this year. Our winter was weirdly dry and sunny, which was enjoyable in the moment, but made everyone worry about drought. The past few weeks now, though, we've been trying to make up for the rest of the dry winter. Between the sun to make things grow and the rain to green things up, Oregon is pretty officially in spring now.

Stoic faces

The park we like to go to has gravel and dirt trails through the woods, as well as a paved path through the sports fields. As of the beginning of April, the sports fields are off limits to off leash dogs. Baseball, softball, soccer, and other sports are starting up, and they both don't want dogs interfering during practices and games, and don't want irresponsible people with off leash dogs letting their dogs poop on the sport fields and then not pick it up. I totally understand, since I wouldn't want to be running to catch a fly ball and slip in a big pile of dog poop. But the long and short of it is that if we want to walk off leash, we have to hit the trails.

The vegetation everywhere has been growing like crazy, and greening up with all our rain. This path was mostly dead and brown even just a couple weeks ago (though I hear that dead and brown in Oregon is still greener than a lot of places in the world).

"Okay"

When we go off leash to the sports fields in the winter, the dogs spend a lot of time running, chasing each other, and wrestling. Pallo loves to roll in the grass and grunt. Sometimes we bring toys and spend some time playing fetch in the open fields.

The trails are different. With the exception of one trail, they are all pretty narrow, lined with heavy woods, and mostly covered by trees above. Instead of running and wrestling, the dogs tend to spend time trotting down the trail, sniffing in the brush, and looking for squirrels. I feel like it takes longer to get the dogs tired this way, but that when we do get back to the car, they have worked both physically and mentally, what with all the sniffing and squirrel hunting.

Pallo was too busy sniffing to come back when I stopped for a picture. 

As a plus side, the trees over the trails makes it easier to walk there in the rain without getting totally soaked. These photos are from our walk earlier this week. This particular day had rolling thunderstorms. It would be clear and sunny for a bit, then the heavy clouds would come in, and it would pour. Then it would clear up, then the clouds would roll in, and it would pour, rinse, repeat.

Classic Oregon greenery and trees

If you look close in the photo above, you can see that where Koira is standing in the sun is also being rained on. It stayed sunny for the rest of our walk from this point, but it kept raining. But that's okay. I've always said I live in Oregon for the green, and the price we have to pay for that is rain. I'll pay it gladly. A little rain never hurt anyone.

Conditioning Progress Report

Well, it has been a week since I first posted the fitness conditioning plan for Koira. I'm hoping to get her into great shape for our upcoming flyball tournaments at the end of the month.

Our first week went great. Friday we went to the park for a while. The dogs ran and had a good time, as planned, followed by a rest day on Saturday. Saturday was a rest day more because I was scheduled for double shifts than because the dogs really needed a rest, but it worked out.

Sunday we took off to the park again for some more free running. The dogs had a great time and we ended up spending a few hours walking all the way to the far end of the park and back. We also spent some time walking through the wooded trails there, rather than just walking through the main fields.

Monday was another day of double shifts for me, but I didn't want to make it yet another rest day for the dogs. Instead, I made sure to get in our ball work in between shifts while I was home for a few hours. I cleared out the house of extra stuff this past summer, including the exercise balls I didn't use much. I just kept one egg shaped one. It is smaller than the ball I used for the dogs most of the time, but is the one I use myself, so I kept it. Since it is smaller, it took Koira a lot longer to start feeling steady on it compared to the larger ball. I think she got a great workout doing simple stand, sit, and down on the ball.

Tuesday was my birthday, and I had plans to spend the day at the beach. That is exactly what we ended up doing. It ended up being my mom, me, and the dogs out at the beach for the day, but we all had a total blast. We found a few whole sanddollars and some awesome agates and fossils and the dogs had a great time running around and playing on the beach. It was a little chilly in the morning, but became a gorgeous blue skied day in the afternoon.

The dogs and my mom walking on the beach

Wednesday was scheduled as a 20 minute walk when I originally posted our weekly plan. On the advice of a friend, I cut that down to a 10 minute walk and did extra stretching, since the beach and park and ball are all pretty intensive. I do stretching and massage on Koira almost every night before bed, but I made extra sure to really work on her Wednesday. Her shoulder is still a bit tight, but she seems to enjoy the body work.

On Thursday we woke up to about 3 inches of snow on the ground. By afternoon, we were up to 8 or 9 inches. I was still determined, though, and headed out to the park with the dogs for their run time. Instead of driving to the park, we walked there. This particular park is a good 20 minute walk away, so we often drive to give the dogs more time at the park itself. There was no way I was driving in the snow for something that silly though, so me and the dogs all bundled up and headed out. I think we were gone for a total of 3 hours or so, walking to the park, around the park, and home.

Walking to the park

At the park shortly before starting our walk home

Overall, I think we have been doing really well. The dogs are certainly napping a lot! Scheduled for today is some flirt pole fun- we'll get to see how the flirt pole works with 10 inches of snow on the ground. One week down, three to go!

Black and White Sunday: Sunset At The Park

FitDog Friday: FitBit Happy

You may have noticed in the past few week's worth of pictures that Koira has a weird black box attached to her collar. At first, I had it on her actual collar, and had her wear her collar all the time. Now, I have switched it over to her tag-keeper collar along with her antler name tag.

That weird black box is a FitBit. Specifically, it is the FitBit Zip, the cheapest of the FitBit product line. Back in November, I purchased a FitBit Flex for myself. It is basically a pedometer that you wear as a bracelet (meaning you don't forget to put it on in the morning, which has always been my problem with pedometers). Automatic syncing with my computer lets me keep track of my movement throughout the day using the Flex, and the Flex also tracks my sleep at night- how long it takes me to fall asleep, how many times I wake up in the night, and how much total sleep I got compared to total time spent in bed. Basically, a cool little gadget.

In a drugged state after dental surgery (which involved semi-sedation due to dental anxiety issues), I decided it would be a great idea to purchase FitBits for my dogs as well. I ended up getting two FitBit Zips on Ebay for a decent price, and once I had them, I figured I should use them. Unfortunately, I only got one clip to hold the device, so I have only been able to use one so far. I am still figuring out how to attach the other FitBit to Pallo- possibly inside of a collar made of tubular webbing? In any case, ever since then, Koira has been wearing a FitBit on her collar 24/7. The battery only needs to be replaced every 3-4 months, so I can pretty much just put it on her and forget about it. But the device still automatically syncs with the computer and I can easily track how much activity Koira is doing each day. 

Now, obviously the FitBit isn't meant for dogs. The algorithms that determine how far you walk based on the number of steps you take, which is based on an accelerator in the device, are all way off for dogs. I fixed it a bit by inputting Koira's custom stride lengths for a trot (put in as walking stride length) and for the run. I also put in her shoulder height and her weight, but I am unsure how accurate the calorie counter is for her.

Of course, there is no real purpose to having these devices, for myself or for my dogs. They are not magical things that make you be in shape just by owning them-nothing will do that. But, they are a fun way to track your (or your dog's) activity throughout the day, week, month, and year. It really lets reality set in when you have been skipping one too many walk, or cutting it short. And there is something extremely satisfying about seeing the little dots light up or the little widget on the FitBit dashboard turn green and smiley face when you hit goal (10,000 steps/5 miles per day). It doesn't work on its own. But if you let those little things motivate you to walk another block further or go take an extra walk before bed, it can make a big difference in your life.

*Disclaimer: I purchased my FitBit Flex new on Amazon, and two FitBit Zips used on Ebay. I was not asked to post a review or provided with any compensation or free products for doing so. FitBit has never heard of me. I just enjoy this product as a helpful tool for getting in shape and staying fit, and wanted to share in case others of you out there are similarly motivated by the little things in life.

Our Week So Far

I kept my promise to the dogs and we got out and to the park on Tuesday. 

On Sunday, we had flyball practice in the morning, and I worked in the afternoon. We did a little bit of trick training Sunday evening, but called flyball practice good for their daily exercise.

On Monday, I was planning to head to the park with the dogs since the sun was finally out (we have been buried in a bank of fog for the past week). But instead I got to wait around the house all afternoon after work, waiting for a plumber to come by and fix my leaky sink. We did some trick training, but that was about it.

Tuesday we got back out to the park. It was bright and sunny, the sun once again having broken through the clouds. It was still really cold though, just barely above freezing. I bundled up and put Koira's sweatshirt on her and let the dogs romp. 

Running in the setting sun

Sunset is so early this time of year that it really makes it hard to get out and play for very long. By the time I get off work, we only have a couple hours of daylight left. I should just be thankful that I get off work with any daylight left at all, I guess.

In her pink sweatshirt, FitBit attached to her leather braided tag collar along with her antler tag.

 All of these pictures were taken with my new camera and new lens. I don't think I've mentioned on the blog yet, but I got a new camera a few months ago. I also purchase a new lens for a steal on Ebay and have been playing with both of them quite a bit.

Pallo in the sunset haze- you can see the cloud of his breath in the cold air

My fingers basically froze despite my gloves, but the dogs played and ran and kept busy enough to stay pretty warm. I think Koira even wanted her sweatshirt taken off at one point when she ran so much she got hot, but I think she ended up liking staying warm as sunset got closer and the temperature started dropping.

Pink is such a good color on her

 There was no ball playing on this park visit. I don't bring balls along to the park most of the time. Koira won't go play and run if she knows I have a toy, but will instead stay right by me pestering me the entire time. I am fine with them playing fetch with other people and their dogs, as long as they are all okay with it. But, with no fetch, that doesn't mean the dogs didn't run. These two are great playmates. They play a crazy game of chase, wrestle a bit, go and sniff, repeat. No matter what else may be true about Pallo, he really was a great choice as a playmate for Koira. That role he filled, and continues to fill, extremely well.

We stopped to talk to some people for a while, and Pallo was whining. When he gets really upset and impatient, he does full open mouthed whines and little mini barks.

No pictures from Wednesday, but we did take a nice long walk in the afternoon. A friend of mine recently moved just a few blocks away. We've been trying to get out and take walks together a few times per week. That sort of fell apart with the holidays, but hopefully we will be getting back on track with it now. About halfway through our walk, my FitBit threw a party for me for reaching 10,000 steps (the goal to reach every day). By the end of the day, I had over 15,800 steps, which is really pretty good for a day that was spent half at work.

Oh, and I started a new Facebook group to help remind each other to get our dogs' nails trimmed every week. The group is called Thursday Nail Trims. The idea is to have a community that will help remind each other to stay on top of nail trimming. It is so easy to forget and let it slide sometimes. So far everyone in the group is pretty great- plenty of reminders to get the nails trimmed, motivational posts as people get their weekly quota done, and some great positive reinforcement when you get it all done. Of course, there is some teasing and mocking of those who forget, but it is very much in the way of friendly banter. Feel free to join the group if you think it would help you get nail trims done regularly!

Wordless Wednesday: My Stick

Dis my stick

Why you want take my stick?

Black and White Sunday

Park

Reality check. Pallo is fat. 

Now, he isn't super fat, not yet. But he could stand to lose a few pounds for sure. His endurance (and Koira's, for that matter) isn't all that great right now. So, we need to work on this moving forward.

We went to the park yesterday. I realized while there that we haven't been to this park in a month, which means the dogs haven't had a long off leash walk in that long. Poor pups. 

 I tried to both give them a good workout and not over do anything, since they haven't run this hard in a while. I think they had fun. We saw a few new dogs, like the merle they are greeting above, and a few of our older park friends, like Manny in the next picture. They ran and played and fetched.

There may also have been some barking when the toy didn't get thrown quickly enough.

And my dogs may have been toy hoarders. Poor Manny has short little legs, even shorter than Pallo's. He couldn't get the ball from my guys even with faking them out and giving him a head start in the opposite direction. But I think he liked chasing them with the toy even better than having the toy himself. A good time was had by all.

Before heading home I got out the flirt pole for my guys. We didn't flirt pole for long, since they had already done some serious running playing fetch, but they both love the flirt pole. Koira gets rather loud and demanding with it which is why we can't really play with it at home. I don't want to annoy the neighbors with the shrieking barks she can make.

Overall, I think the dogs had fun. I just need to step up my game. After I got injured at work a year and a half ago, I couldn't really take the dogs to the park much. I couldn't throw a toy far. I couldn't even really take them for walks without hurting a ton just being vertical. It is easy to stay home watching movies or tv or messing around on the computer when you hurt if you leave the house. I tried to keep most of my injury nonsense off the blog, but I'm here to say, it definitely had an affect on my dogs. The habit of taking them to the park every single day, rain or shine, really fell apart then. And I can't beat myself up for the fact that I really couldn't do it. But I'm as much better as I will ever get, and my dogs need this.

So over the next few months I am going to make myself take them out- we have fun once we are out, it is just so easy to procrastinate going out, checking email, checking facebook, reading blogs. Once the habit is lost, it becomes so much harder to get it back. And my dogs need this.

Rawr

Its just a beat-up-Pallo kind of a day, I guess.

Snarls of fun

Good thing Pallo has plenty of loose scruff on his neck

Black and White Sunday: Pause and Motion

Pause

And Motion

Self Portrait... Kind of (and a how-to)

I find that I have a ton of pictures of my dogs, and very few pictures of me with my dogs. This comes a lot, I think, from the fact that I live alone and so am always the one with the camera.

The other day, I decided to try out using the self timer feature on my camera. I've pretty much never messed with it before. Of course, I forgot my tripod, which made for a very limited use of the timer.

This picture was snapped while I was setting up and focusing the camera, and figuring out how to put it into self timer mode.

A little nervous laying down on brick with me so far away

I was working on putting Koira in a down stay while I set up the camera. This gave me something to focus the camera on as well as eliminating my need to get both myself and my dog into position quickly. Luckily, practicing Rally-O moves such as down and walk around really helped Koira understand that she was supposed to stay in position even as I was moving around.

Here was our first try with me in the picture.

"Hi, Mom!"

At the time, I didn't like that she was looking up at me. Looking at the picture now, though, I adore it. In any case, I decided the next time to try tossing a treat towards the camera to see if I could get Koira to look in that direction.

Down stay? What down stay?

And apparently we need to proof our down stays a little more around food... Regardless, while she did stand up, she stayed with me rather than running off after the treat. I even ended up liking the final picture well enough, even if it wasn't my goal.

One last time, I put Koira in a down stay. (I released her from her stay between every one of these shots, by the way, and showered her with cookies for being awesome.) I set up the camera, dashed towards Koira and stepped into position over her. Then I reminded her to stay, tossed a few cookies toward the camera, got them a bit off center because I can't throw, and just let the camera snap the picture.

There is a cookie over there, and I would like to go grab it

The sun even peaked out for this last picture, after it had been hazy and overcast all day. I'm not actually sure if it was high up cloud cover, or if it was smoke drifting up from the fires to the south. Either way, the haze actually made for awesome lighting for photos, which I was loving.

Want to try this yourself? Some how-to instructions and tips are below!

I think it is a great pose for someone who doesn't really want to be in the picture, but wants a photo of themselves with their dog. Or even just a different kind of photo with your dog, even if you aren't camera shy. If you are doing it alone, like I was, make sure your camera has a self timer setting. Mine gives me the option of a multiple exposure self timer where it snaps 6 consecutive pictures rather than a single photo, which I chose to give me a better chance of capturing the right facial expressions. 

If your dog has a solid down-stay, it will be much easier to do this. Put your dog in a down stay where you want the final photo to be taken. I went to a small rose garden in a local park (the same one with the train engine) and chose a place where we would have rose bushes to the sides and behind us, without any distracting people or cars in the background. Ideally, it will be a place your dog is comfortable laying down in- not on gravel, hot pavement, or cold rocks. Koira is used to laying down on brick or cement, but you might chose a grassy place if your dog is reluctant to lay down or stay.

With the dog in a down-stay, set up the camera and focus. I ended up using a small piece of bark to prop the front of the camera up a little bit to get a better framing. A small tripod like a GorillaPod would work well too, probably. Once the camera is in self timer mode, and focused, hit the shutter button, get up, dash over to your dog, and take your position either standing over your dog (like I am in the above photos) or to the side of your dog. Either way would look nice, I think, and it can take a good amount of training for most dogs to be okay with being stood over like this if you haven't previously worked that skill.

I recommend trying this a few times, releasing and rewarding the dog in between each session. You will get various positions and expressions, or even get something like the sun finally peaking out like I did in my last set. 

*Dog posing tip- if possible, get a photo of your dog looking up at you as well as one with your dog looking toward the camera. I ended up loving both of those photos, and they give it a very different feel.

*Human posing tip- don't lock your knees backward! Stand with your knees slightly bent to prevent your legs from looking strange or your pants from bunching weirdly. Stand solidly on both feet so you look balanced.

After taking these photos, I did edit them using Lightroom. Various edits can do a lot to change the quality and feel of a final photo, so make sure you spend time editing as well as photographing if you are wanting the best possible end result. 

Good luck! If you try this, I would LOVE to see your results!

*Would anyone be interested in a technical post about editing photos? I could do one with some of my favorite before and afters, as well as share some of my favorite Lightroom presets to use for dog photos.

Choo Choo

Pallo wants to go on vacation! And he thinks this train is the perfect thing to take him there.

On the front of the engine

He thinks it is all about the journey, not the destination. And that an old antique train is THE way to travel.

Looking ahead to the destination

I'm not sure how to break it to him that this train engine doesn't work anymore, and is just in the park for kids to play on...

Wordless Wednesday: She's Got The Whole World

The whole world

Whole world in her teeth