Trick of the Week - sort of (again)

Dog Blog Post #290: The good news is that Real Life has definitely fallen back to normal chaos for this time of year, we (the boys and I) are currently working on three (yes, 3!) tricks, and that all are coming along well.

The bad news is that the first one to be finished is so much like one of the previous tricks that I didn't even bother to take a picture of it. That is, we have...

Shake (with the other paw)

Huh?

You see, the first time we did the trick, it was my right hand expecting Henry's left paw. This time, it is my left hand expecting Henry's right paw.

Why bother?

Because the CGC (Canine Good Citizen) test requires the dog to allow the tester to pick up both front feet, and teaching a dog to offer the paw that matches the offered hand, makes this particular item of the test about as easy as it's going to get!

While he will perform the remaining two tricks fairly reliably, I wanted to get a bit more polish on them before producing them as a finished product. Yes, I know, that still leaves me 2 tricks behind (sigh) but we're working on it!

On to The Daily Shoot....

Make a photograph from an unusual point of view.

Ah yes, remember when I faced this assignment last time?

Ok - couldn't really expect to top that, so I decided to go for simplicity. A dog, a paper bag, and the camera with a the timer set lying lens up in the bottom. I figured I could drop a cookie in the bag, tell Zachary to "Leave it!" and -presto- instant "hang dog" look.

A great idea, no?

Well, it might have been, had I actually tried it, which I didn't. I did manage to get Henry up on the sofa for some blurry, dreary toned shots of him looking down at me at lunch (yawn) but I didn't have time for more than that and so I shelved things until later in the afternoon...

... which turned into much later in the afternoon, which caused that lovely beam of sunlight to come pouring through my favorite sunny window. With bag and setup instantly forgotten, I grabbed the nearest dog (Henry), the camera, some cookies (note to self, "running low") and scrambled to the sofa.

"Henry, hup!" (waved cookie to get Henry on sofa in the sun beam.)

I then sat on the sofa and raised the cookie high to get a shot under his neck, hoping the bright sunlight would turn the background black.

Rats.

Sunbeam isn't streaming high enough, so I had a lovely (not!) shot of a legless, headless dog. Tossed a cookie to Henry and Zachary, anyway, and slid down on the sofa so that Henry wouldn't have to stretch so high.

Rats.

Sunbeam still too high. Tossed a cookie to Henry and Zachary anyway and slid down so far I looked like a fried egg dropped on the edge of the table.

Still no joy. Got off the sofa (more cookies) and got Zachary into the beam of sunlight on the floor (still more cookies)...

Now I'm sitting on the floor, ducked down below the the level of the sofa seat (to stay of the sun beam) waving cookies to get Zachary's  head up while peering through the little LCD on my little compact camera (totally washed out by the sunlight) praying there is at least some piece of a dog in the shot. (Meanwhile, Henry is sitting about 4 feet away, laughing at mom doing the Limbo while snarfing up cookies for doing absolutely nothing.)

The final result is the shot up top. Whew!

Editor's Note #1: Ah ha! The mighty Daily Shoot vortex has claimed another victim, as houndstooth admitted in the comments just yesterday that she uploaded something. Alas, as she cleverly refrained from including a dog, then deviously failed to mention her screen name, I'm left to wonder what sort of picture it was.

(sigh)

Editor's' Note #2:

Doe-eyed Slinky, Greyhound fair
Fleeter than the running hare
To the south, a Golden pair
Are smitten by your beauty, rare

Though they run not near as fast
(And their sleeping does not last)
This just means you'll not be passed
When you race on by, full blast

© 2011 BZ Training - All Rights Reserved