Wednesday, May 9, 2012

University of Dobermans

Java went to campus with me while Eric was in his orientation for the summer semester.

Our Doberman forum has a monthly calendar contest. This month's theme was "Spring Dobes." I'd been keeping an eye out for a nice flower field for a while, to absolutely no avail.

Imagine my delight when we got to campus and I found a patch of flowers that was...eh, probably 30 feet by 40 feet. Not exactly a field, but easily shot to look like one, just a day before the submission deadline.

Imagine my delight when we got these pictures about, oh, four seconds before a torrential storm let loose and we went fleeing for a covered group of tables.




Now imagine my dismay when I got home and remembered that submissions had to be shot horizontally and yep, I shot every single one vertically.

I ended up cropping down the one that was shot from farthest away and submitting it. It was not at all my favorite. I really didn't even like it. Fail.

Once sheltered from the storm, we set up shop with several dog training books (and, of course, the camera), and I saw an opportunity to work on desensitizing Java to different textures surfaces and being off of the ground. I aspire to do therapy work and agility with him, so both are useful. He remained patiently in a chair for twenty minutes. At that point, I could tell from his shifting and fidgeting that he wasn't comfortable - though to his credit, he remained patiently in his stay - so I released him, and he laid down by my feet, calmly waiting out the storm and watching quite a number of students go by - lots of students. Old, young, male, female, bearded, black, tall, wearing hats and hoods, on bikes, you name it. Piper had qualms with tall men, bearded men, people on moving objects, and black people. Embarrassing when your dog (your black dog, no less) is racist, so I want to get Java used to every possible demographic.



 

3 comments:

  1. What fantastic pictures you got in the flower field, that looks like a picture for the wall to me :) xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree, looks like a great picture to print and hang! Java is a cutie!
    Love Gia.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gorgeous photos as always, especially in the flowers. I always enjoy hearing about any training you do with Violet and/or Java. Keep it coming! :D

    ReplyDelete