One Specific Detail

Dog Blog Post #235: As a postscript to yesterday's Big Needle post - don't let that big needle keep you from getting your pet micro-chipped! I had my hands on Henry when the needle went in and I swear he made no reaction what-so-ever.

(We know return to our previously scheduled show, in progress...)

... Daily Shoot assignment is:

Tell the story of a subject today in a photograph by photographing one specific detail of it.

I tried the Daily Shoot the first time on a whim, figuring it would be fun to see if I could take a picture to match the assignment that day, perhaps a chance for some real application for training skills (or an excuse to improve training skills with a real application.)

And then I did another.  And then another.  And somewhere along the way I got hooked (quick, save yourselves, before it's too late!) I got hooked for the very reasons that I started doing it - the challenge of not only "just" taking a good picture, but trying to take a good picture that met a predefined condition and included my dogs.

What's good? I don't know, it's a subjective thing. My good could be your birdcage liner.

For me, good is that little flutter I get in my stomach when I cue the dogs to do something and they do exactly what I asked for, and do it even better. It's how that flutter grows after I shoot the picture and I stare at the LCD on the back and say "That's it!" because it either met or exceeded whatever picture was in my mind. It's when I hurry back to the computer and my hands are shaking a little as I pop up previewer to see if it's going to be clear, devoid of things that shouldn't be there, and including the things that should. Often, I am disappointed in the end.

Anyway, today I took a picture of the first thing that popped into my head (dog nose - see above) but since I had the sun, a couple of willing dogs, and extra treats, I figured I could take a few more...

... and that's when I noticed Henry's tail.

Hmm... a tail is a very defining thing for dog (be it short or long) and regular readers will recall I've focused on Henry's tail several times in the past.

And so I used my nose magnet (aka cookies) to get him into my sun beam (no small feat, that, as I needed  him standing and the beam is only 18" wide) and gave my "freeze" cue (closed fist) and snapped a few shots.

And that's when I got that flutter, that grew when I popped it up on the computer, and practically flew away as I added the caption on flickr...

My baby boy is growing up, as evidenced by the emergence of one a Golden Retriever's crowning glories.... the tail feathers!

Compare to just 2 months ago on their blog: http://bztraining.blogspot.com/2010/12/oh-deer.html

And even just one month ago: http://bztraining.blogspot.com/2011/01/telling-tails.html 

And there you have it!