Operation Bonnie Fetch

Things are a'changin in our pack.

Given the recent harmonious dischord between Beth and Bonnie I have had to make some changes.

One change has been in how they are exercised. I have been splitting them up for their runs on the river.  What I have seen is a complete change in both Bonnie and Beth. 

Since Bonnie was a puppy she has had no interest in toys.  Really...none.  She would play with the other dogs, tackle them, wrestle, imitate a wild hyena in my living room, but the minute the toys came out - poof she was gone.  Beth took over. 

When the dogs played at the river - Bonnie chased them, bit them, ripped them, herded them...uhh you get the picture.

My focus the past couple of weeks has been to redirect Bonnie, hopefully changing her bad manners while playing.  We have been working very hard on this, trying to remove the incentive for Bonnie to herd the other dogs, rewarding her for focusing her attention on the ball or toy vs another dog.

We have had a break through!

Behold...Bonnie has a ball in her mouth!

She stalks the ball

She retrieves the ball

 She prances around with the ball in her mouth like it is a prized gem.

Oh yeah, she has the ball groove goin' on

Is this a happy dog?  A relaxed dog?  A dog having fun? 

Or a dog being encouraged to mindlessly chase an inanimate object?  Wasting her brain and her life?  Like a dog on drugs?  Nah... She is happy, joyful and content. 

Yesterday I felt the need for some beach time.  Just me, my camera and a dog - getting away from the insanity of the holiday.  Bonnie loves road trips, she loves being with me and I love the beach.  I thought it would be a good way to put to test her new found love of fetch.

When she realized where we were....she started yipping, barking and dancing in the seat.

I opened the car door...and whoooosh...she was out.  Then I looked, she was standing 20 feet away looking at me with a look I am so familiar with on Beth's face.

THROW THE BALL CAMERA FACE!

YEEEEE HAW!

And throw it I did

In the water

 

In the sand

Lots and lots of sand, much of it in Bonnie's mouth

 

Into the water again, let's get the sand out of the chops

Ugh, Mom, I forgot what that tasted like...

"Bonnie, GET THE BALL!  It is getting away!"

"Uhhh, Mom, that is a wave, I don't do waves..."

Good Girl!

She is quite pleased with herself.

She should be...I am

After Bonnie was good and tired, we sat on a log.  Enjoyed watching the sun set over the water.  The kites flying over our head.  Soaking up the peace, happiness and contentment that is the beach.

Ahhhhh...that felt great.  

Earplugs Anyone?

While going through scads of pictures files I found this little video.

We live 3 blocks from the Carbon River.  When we take the dogs down to the river for off leash runs it is easier and quicker to just pop them into the car than leash everyone up, grab the chuck it & tennis balls and manage walking 4 dogs to the river - without one of them wrapping the leash around my legs and dragging me down the road in front of the neighbors.  I am lazy like that, I like the car.  Besides I hate schlepping the leashes and crap around with me on the levee.

The dogs know exactly where they are going from the minute I put my shoes on.  Drives me nuts.

Evan shot this video ... this is a typical three block drive.   I giggle every time I watch it. 

 

Photography Mutterings

NOTE: Due to one nasty person  - I feel the need to put in a quick note. This 'pond' is not part of the river. It was frozen solid and only 6- 18 inches deep. There was no chance of the dogs falling through or being lost under the ice. Also, the ice was covered by a thin layer of sand that offered quite a bit of traction. Additionally if you look carefully at the pictures you can see that we were GENTLY tossing the ball - which did not cause them to run break neck after it - we also stuck to the end where there were small round rocks sticking up - giving them more traction. After reading some of the kind emails from people nicely sharing with me thoughts on the dangers this may impose - looking back on it I wish I had not taken the risk with my dogs ligaments, tendons etc - I truly did not think they could be hurt. While the pictures are fun - but this is not something I would do again in the future.


I have been having a blast going through all the pictures I shot this weekend.  One thing about having a camera that shoots 8 frames per second - you get a HUGE amount of pictures. .

Then when you forget to change your camera settings and accidentally leave it the settings on the highest quality of RAW + Jpeg (two files per shot) guess what happenes to your computer when you down load them?

Yep, you guessed it....the computer was very unhappy.  Slow, slow, slow editing. 

Helen (remember my camera's name) has been kind to me and tolerated my tinkering and screwing around with her well.  She has the coolest button in the menu that I have utilized several times.  "REMOVE ALL CAMERA SETTINGS".  This is a good thing - because I can go back to the beginning and undo what I did - especially helpful when you don't know what the h*ll you did.

I am learning about aperature, shutter speeds, ISO and how they all work together to create pictures.  I have had some lucky shots, but most are spectacularly awful shots.  But hey, at least I am learning what NOT to do.  Post processing does not offer much hope either.  The software I have cannot adjust exposure - so I am making do.  The only edits I do are adjusting the color saturation, sharpness and cropping.  I can't wait to get started in my photoshop class.  

Here is a series that made me giggle & taught me something...

I  learned a lesson about shutter speed (exposure).  The higher it is set, the darker the pictures.  Even if you crank up the ISO - it cannot compensate for the shutter closing so fast.  These pictures were shot using

Exposure: 1/8000, Aperature f/5.0, focal length 70mm, ISO 6400.

Oops

The ice was in the shade and the dogs were moving fast.  So in my uneducated brain I thought I needed to crank up the shutter speed to catch the action, and jack up the ISO so they would be lighter.  I figured out much later in the day that I could lower the shutter speed significantly 1/1250 (lets in more light), and lower the ISO (less noise) and get much nicer shots.

*bangs head on desk*

What would you have used?  I would LOVE to hear any suggestions - because I am a dolt with an camera that is way over her head - I need help.  Think of Helen, spare her the misery.  Spare my children the exposure to the swear words and screams of agony as I see how many shots I toasted. 

Here Ranger is in the sunlight, which is lighting up his eyes, but overexposing his white fur. The shutter speed was fast enough to catch the ball and his movement, my focus was in the wrong place, on the ice, rather than the dog. 

Now he has slid into the shade.  But it still makes me smile - because he is apparently having fun.

Now I am not so unhappy about the focus being on the ice - it captured the reflection.  You can also see how slippery it was.

What kind of a evil demented person throws a tennis ball on very slippery ice for dogs to catch?

*waves hand*     ME!  *insert evil maniacal laughter here*

I love the reflection of his behind, but wish I could have gotten it all in the frame. 

My favorite, even though there are so many things wrong with this shot.  The reflection is cool.

Happy dog, check out her nails gripping the ice.  I didn't have to clip their nails this weekend.  The ice nicely wore them down.

I started playing with the settings and managed to get this shot.  Bonnie is back lit so I was surprised I got it.

Another one I liked

I need to get gutsy and take their collars off one day so I can get shots without their tags hanging down.

Why didn't Bonnie's tongue get stuck on the ice?

Another back lit happy dog shot

I love my camera.  I love my dogs.  Loving my teenagers is a daily struggle.  Two out of three ain't bad.

Today I am going to spend my afternoon trying to rescue the pictures I shot of the juvenile bald eagles playing together as they flew over our heads.  Say prayers please.  Thank you.

When I am feeling down I can just look at this picture

Ice Ball

NOTE:  Due to one nasty person out there  - I feel the need to put in a quick note.  Please look at the picture below.  See that this 'pond' is not part of the river.  It was frozen solid and only 6- 18 inches deep.  There was no chance of the dogs falling through or being lost under the ice.  Also, the ice was covered by a thin layer of sand that offered quite a bit of traction.  Additionally if you look carefully at the pictures you can see that we were GENTLY tossing the ball - which did not cause them to run break neck after it - we also stuck to the end where there were small round rocks sticking up - giving them more traction.  After reading some of the kind emails from people nicely sharing with me thoughts on the dangers this may impose - looking back on it I wish I had not taken the risk with my dogs ligaments, tendons etc - I truly did not think they could be hurt.  The pictures are fun - but this is not something I would do again in the future.   


The temperatures have been bitterly cold.  When this happens the river level drops as the snow melt in the mountains decrease.  Large pools of water on the river are cut off from the flow and freeze beautifully.  Slick, smooth and solid.  Perfect for skating and hockey (once you get away from the rocks on the edge).

When we first found this frozen section - the dogs ran out then started slipping and sliding around.  They did not avoid  it and seemed to enjoy playing on it.  Safety First:  We checked the entire 'pool' determining it was a safe enough thickness for a adult to walk on.

Then Grace threw the first ball....thus, the creation of

ICE BALL!

Ice, Ice ball baby

Ooomph...

Aghhhhhhhhh.....

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....

Whoops...where did it go?

Can't stop...

Yo camera lady...watch out....INCOMING!

Lets try this again...

 

Uh oh...competition

 

BACK OFF, IT'S MINE!

(click picture for larger view of Ranger Rage)

 Bonnie asks herself  "Is that what I look like when I am angry?"

 

 Dumb girls are cramping my style.

A dog needs to fetch his ball in peace.

 

ITS MINE - I SAID BACK OFF!

What do we have here?

Is that Bonnie....FETCHING A BALL?

GO Bonnie, GO Bonnie

Did you see me Mom, I GOT THE BALL!

We love ICE BALL!

WATCH OUT!  LAND SHARK!

(click on image for larger view)

 

 Lets get a closer look at Bonnie Jaws. Doesn't it  look like the blast of air from Bonnie's mouth is flattening the side of Brynn's face.

*SIGH* Bonnie...KNOCK IT OFF!

 

Beth is such a good girl - see her in the back ground - staying out of it?

I am a good girl, but my feets don't stay where I puts them

I got my legs wrapped in stuff, because I keep skidding in the rocks and ripping the backs of my legs up.

We are all doing much better playing nice (except for Ranger Rage and Bonnie Jaws)

The girls are starting to relax around each other again. 

It helps that mom keeps us too tired to care about fighting

Mom is the most impressed with me.  She says that I have made the biggest change of all.

She is proud of me.

Mom is even proud of Mr. Spit Head

Enjoy more pictures of the dogs playing Ice Ball. View the slide show on Flickr

CLICK HERE FOR ICE BALL SLIDESHOW