CORGI WEEK: Triple Cardigan Surprise

I’ve been putting off having a ‘corgi week’ for too long. I thought I was going to wait until I designed a tee shirt and tote bag that were corgi-related, but honestly the schwag hasn’t been selling enough to get me to put any more time into it, and I can’t sit on this kind of cute forever. So here you go… an entire week of adorably ridiculous (and ridiculously adorable!) dogs.

Three Cardigan Welsh Corgis, Two Blue Merle

Ran into these guys at the fair, where they were ‘breed ambassadors’. There were actually four, but the fourth one kept circling around behind me and sniffing my ankles.

Three Cardigan Welsh Corgis

I like this guy a lot. He seemed quite happy to meet me. So I guess that makes him a good breed ambassador!

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Multi-Dog Day: Some More of the Ugly Dogs Contest

We are coming to the end of our ‘ugly dogs’ posts, not because I’m running out of pictures but because I have something else planned for this coming week, and I don’t want to belabor this point too hard. So I’m just going to dump some of the better pictures in here and call it a year. More next year, barring any sudden changes in address, of course!

Chinese Crested Dog

I’m not sure this pup (who I can’t identify) was having quite as much fun as mom was.

Chinese Crested Dog

This one, whom I believe to be ‘Spam-o-Rama’, was having fun for a while… and then got a little overwhelmed.

Chinese Crested Dog

Yup, it sure is. Spam-o-rama looks the same as he did when he entered in 2010, but his companion looks quite a bit different!

Chinese Crested Dog Sticking Out His Tongue

Aw. You can make it, pup. It’s only one day a year.

Chinese Crested Dog

I really like this picture. I think the dog is ‘Icky’. (No, that’s not a value judgement, that’s his name.)

Chinese Crested Dog Making a Goofy Face

And I think this one is Josie. She looks a little sad.

Grinning Pug With a Ridiculously Long Tongue

Penny is a bit of a one-trick puppy: sure, she has a yard of tongue, and she’s a pug, but you need more than that to compete in a contest like this.

Chinese Crested and Chinese Crested Mix

The closer of the two is Isaboo, and I can’t identify the other one. I personally think he without the mohawk… which, I guess, was probably the point.

Chinese Crested Dog with Mohawk

Isaboo again. Awesome.

Chinese Crested Mix

Can’t identify this pup either, but I’m impressed. With those bulgy eyes I wonder if he’s Chinese crested/Chihuahua?

Chinese Crested Dog Mix

I don’t know who this one is, but she’s definitely got her own personal style.

Chihuahua and Unknown Mixed Breed

The one in the back is Scamp, a contestant. I like to think the one in front is his manager.

Various Dogs

The pre-contest pep talk. I wish I’d gotten more pictures back there, it was quite impressive being surrounded by those dogs.

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Otterday Supplement: Aquarium of the Bay is Ottrageous!

So, Aquarium of the Bay just opened their new river otter exhibit yesterday, and Autumn and I were there to bring you the finest in otterly ridiculous otterage.

Incidentally, a little bird told me that the Aquarium is going to be raising their membership prices any day now. (In fact, membership is already more expensive at the door, but their web site still has the old prices.) If you want to join, now would be a really good time.

North American River Otters On Display at the Aquarium of the Bay, San Francisco

Apparently they played all morning, and slept all afternoon. So grumpy-looking!

North American River Otters On Display at the Aquarium of the Bay, San Francisco

I promise I didn’t wake them up. I was quiet except for the clicky-click of my camera.

North American River Otters On Display at the Aquarium of the Bay, San Francisco

We were there near closing, so we got to see their trainer cajoling them into the back room for the night. This was her first attempt to get their attention. (Adam needs to invest in a polarizing filter!)

North American River Otters On Display at the Aquarium of the Bay, San Francisco

They sleep in a bedroom ‘behind the scenes’, in OTTER HAMMOCKS.

North American River Otters On Display at the Aquarium of the Bay, San Francisco

I am going to see if I can score an interview, and get some pictures of otter hammocks. For you, dear reader, for you.

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Sad Dog Day: Rest In Peace, Dasja the Bernese Mountain Dog

Some sad news: at somewhere between nine and ten years old, Dasja, one of Autumn’s first and most floofy customers, has passed away. She will be missed; even though Autumn and I only knew her in her later years, when she’d slowed down quite a bit, we both really liked her.

When I was dog-sitting for the two of them, it was sometimes difficult to peel Jemma (her younger sister) away from my side, but when I could, and Dasja was willing to let me pet her for a while, and give me a wag or two and a doggy smile, I always felt blessed. So, goodbye, Dasja, and I’m glad I got to meet you.

Bernese Mountain Dog

“If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” — Will Rogers

Bernese Mountain Dog

“Happiness is dog-shaped, I say.” — Chapman Pincher

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(Ugly??) Dog of the Day: Mayzie Brown the 8-Year-Old Pomeranian

I’m pretty sure that’s who this pup is, anyway. And I’m sorry, no dog with a face like that is going to win any ‘ugliest dog’ competition… even if her alopecia (‘alpo-pecia’ perhaps?) is acting up more than a little.

Hey, it’s just a little bit more spotty puppy belly than usual to rub, right?

Black and White Pomeranian With Severe Alopecia And a Spotty Belly

This may well have been the happiest dog there. Possibly even including the corgis.

Black and White Pomeranian

Look at that amazing fluff.

Black and White Pomeranian With Severe Alopecia And a Spotty Belly

I gotta be honest, it’s contests like this that make me really glad dogs don’t understand English.

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Three (Not-So-Ugly) Dog Night: Two Corgis and a Basset

A ugly-dogs break, of sorts: I did run into these three at the ugly dogs competition, but they weren’t contestants, they were ‘breed ambassadors’. (Shouldn’t that be ‘ambassadogs’?)

A Basset Hound and Two Tan-And-White Pembroke Welsh Corgis

They didn’t come together, but they did seem quite fond of one another.

A Basset Hound and Two Tan-And-White Pembroke Welsh Corgis

Smooches were given and received.

A Basset Hound and Two Tan-And-White Pembroke Welsh Corgis

I got a few myself. Yay.

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Double (Ugly) Dog Day: Reggie and Cyndy Loo

Reggie is a Peruvian hairless dog mix (my guess is Australian cattle dog), and Rue is a Chinese crested. They’re best friends, and were out to take the Sonoma-Marin Fair by storm. They may not have won the contest, but sure did have a lot of fun.

Also, I think I got the name of yesterday’s dog wrong: I think that’s Addison. (Corrected it there, too.)

Peruvian Inca Orchid/Australian Cattle Dog Mix

See? Totally having a blast.

Peruvian Inca Orchid/Australian Cattle Dog Mix

Wonder what’s up with the double collars?

Chinese Crested Dog

This little gal put up with a LOT. Just in the time I was standing there, six or seven kids came up and asked to touch her.

Chinese Crested Dog

She just stood there and took the poking and prodding (and occasional petting) like a champion. Though she may have rolled her eyes a bit at one point.

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(Ugly) Dog of the Day: Rascal the Chinese Crested Dog

Another contestant from the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. Let it never be said that Rascal does not get the publicity that he deserves.

Rascal the Chinese Crested, Contestant for World's Ugliest Dog

Hey, anything to win the PR war, I guess.

Rascal the Chinese Crested, Contestant for World's Ugliest Dog

The tag, in case you can’t read it, says ‘Rascal. World’s Ugliest Dog.’

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(‘Ugly’) Dog of the Day: Sophie the Chihuahua Mix

Hmf. I almost think of this as ‘elder abuse’. Sophie is 17… even by a generous interpretation, that’s at least 102 in human years. If I’m still around at 102, I bet I won’t look so hot myself! And yet, watching her, it’s pretty clear she’s still a happy dog.

Ugliest Dogs Competition Contestant: Sophie the 17-Year-Old Cream Chihuahua Mix

Everything does look just a little… crooked.

Ugliest Dogs Competition Contestant: Sophie the 17-Year-Old Cream Chihuahua Mix

There, that’s a smile! The tail, though…

Ugliest Dogs Competition Contestant: Sophie the 17-Year-Old Cream Chihuahua Mix

There’s some definite ‘derp’ going on there.

 

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‘Ugly’ Dog of the Day: Walle the Beagle/Basset Hound/Pit Bull (?) Mix

I dropped by the ‘Ugliest Dog’ competition up in the North Bay yesterday. I couldn’t stay long, but I got some pictures of the contestants, including the winner, Walle. (I’ll be posting more pictures over the next few days.)

On the one hand, I will agree with the inevitable reaction to this: he does look pretty adorable. He doesn’t have the grotesque tongue, teeth growing in mysterious directions, patchy hair, cataracts, and so forth that have graced most of the previous winners.

On the other hand, he does have a certain something. I wish I could have captured it in the pictures I took. One judge said ‘This dog looked like he’s been photoshopped with pieces from various dogs and maybe a few other animals.’ My reaction was basically the same: ‘he looks like he was put together from spare parts, by a four-year-old’. He had a sort of hunch-back, and splayed feet, and his front legs were much shorter than his back legs, and he had muscles and bulges in places that they didn’t belong. It honestly did make me a little uncomfortable to look at him for too long.

And yet, somehow, he is also adorable.

Walle, the World's Ugliest Dog, Brown and White Beagle/Bassett Hound/Pit Bull Mix

Oh, his head is also ENORMOUS compared to the rest of him.

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