Cowboy and Tess are great dogs and really quite photogenic. A Christmas photo of the two of them? No problem, I thought.
Wrong.
Most pets seem to notice the change of pace as the holidays approach: distracted humans rushing in and out of the house, coming home with packages and shopping bags. Soon, the house fills up with some very strange things, indeed -- a tree (!!!), lights, fake greenery and flickering (fake/battery-operated, in my case, thanks to the new cat) candles. And, sometimes, this frantic seasonal activity can result in a few missed walks or dog park trips, further throwing things out of whack for our pets.
And then. The owner wants a picture.
When I got word this week from
Border Collies in Need that they were seeking "holiday-themed" photos of the dogs that have been adopted from the group (for their seasonal card and web page going up shortly) I wanted to participate, so I went to work.
Ah, not so fast. The dogs weren't exactly onboard with this scheme.
While easy-going candid shots of dogs or cats are one thing, posing multiple pets in front of a particular background is, in my experience anyway, not at all easy in the best of situations. Add into that the environmental chaos and stress of ongoing Christmas preparations with visitors and upside-down schedules, and this became one tough assignment.
Tess and Cowboy were clearly uneasy as I tried to coax them to sit nicely, right in front of the backdrop of the garland-draped fireplace mantel.
No go.
And with the (brief and misguided) appearance of the doggie Santa hat prop, all bets were off.
There also is a nano-second delay on my camera phone, making capturing that exact, ideal moment tricky.
My deadline was short and I was trying to squeeze this in around shopping, gift wrapping, card writing and a series of visits and outings with friends and family this past week while I was on vacation.
Wisely, I quickly decided to scrap the Santa hat.
Let's not make this any more complicated (or humiliating for the dogs, as some of my friends would argue) than it needs to be, I figured. My idea of getting a picture of the two of them together also was abandoned as utterly unrealistic.
I would settle for one shot of each of them with some Christmas lights -- or anything red or green, really -- in the background. So I grabbed a bag of tasty dog treats for bribery purposes and tried to lure them into the picture-perfect composition.
This, however, became the most familiar sight in numerous photos I tried taking of Cowboy (who hates having his picture taken anyway).
I titled it the "Butt Blur" (see right-hand corner). There were several rather artistic variations on this theme. (Yes, that's a border collie "statue" next to the fireplace -- my former dog Pilgrim did a double take after seeing it for the first time, convinced the dog was real.)
Now Tess's misfired photos were really quite interesting, in a ghostly, Amityville kind of way.
?????????? Boo!
Yikes. What kind of animal is that? I like the ant eater-like tongue at the end of the nose.
Perseverance, however, eventually paid off.
I finally got 2 shots that were semi-OK. Not great, too blurry and the background could have been a lot better. But I was out of time & they were the best I could get under the circumstances:
Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.
Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.
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