DoggiEvents: Quite A Few, Really

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Adam Lang

Wow, lots of dog goings-on in the next few weeks.

Sunday, May 19th: ‘Animals on Broadway‘ Walnut Creek, Broadway Plaza. Pet walk, adoptable dogs, best-dressed pet contest, owner-pet lookalike contest, vendors, and so forth. All for a good cause: fundraising for Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation.

Thursday, May 23: ‘Marina Pooch and Pinot‘. San Francisco, Chestnut at Laguna, Moscone Playground, behind the bleachers. Meet and greet for dog lovers in the area.

Sunday, June 2: The ‘Million Dog March‘ which I have already mentioned. No dog owner should even dream of missing this. (Seriously? The biggest dog walk in the world is about to happen in your back yard. How could you not want to get in on that?)

Posted in DoggiEvent | Leave a comment

Dog of the Day: Cricket the Irish Setter

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Adam Lang

Our second Irish setter! Cricket (I love that name) is just barely ten years old, and still zipping around.

Dark Red Irish Setter

They really are beautiful dogs.

Dark Red Irish Setter

When I was younger, I had mid-back-length hair, and the wind used to blow it into my mouth. I can only imagine what it’s like to have the wind blowing your EARS into your mouth.

Dark Red Irish Setter

I’m adding ‘Cricket’ to my list of possible dog names. Too cute.

Posted in Dog of the Day | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Dog of the Day: Baobao the Handle With Care Pomeranian

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Adam Lang

I did some shipping last week, and, naturally, the way I choose my store is ‘the one with the awesome dog’. So I was happy to meet Baobao (Chinese for ‘treasured one’), the resident Pomeranian at the ‘Handle With Care Packaging Store‘ on University Avenue in Berkeley.

Fluffy Orange Pomeranian

My first glimpse of Baobao. That is a piece of decorative packing tape on his butt… you’ll get a better look in a second.

Fluffy Orange Pomeranian

Baobao immediately led me a merry chase, while the shop owner watched me with a sort of bemused fascination. Which I’m quite used to.

Fluffy Orange Pomeranian

All the way around the shop… and then right behind the counter.

Fluffy Orange Pomeranian

Baobao (which I persist in typing as ‘Bapbap’) really likes this perch.

Fluffy Orange Pomeranian

Silly tongue shot. Almost as good as a dognose closeup.

Posted in Dog of the Day | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Dog of the Day: Ollie the German Shepherd/Labrador Retriever Mix

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Adam Lang

Have I mentioned that y’all are awesome? So far we have three donations and two purchases from the DogBlogStore in support of the Benefit for Glenn Farr. (Which, for a blog of this readership, is pretty good! I’m not expecting to be the next Bill & Melinda Gates foundation.) Please do consider a small donation or purchase if you haven’t already.

Ollie! Ollie is an adorable happy rescue dog who happens to be owned by a dog walker named Matt, owner (and, with one other person, operator) of Matt’s Mutts. They do dog walking (and cat visits, I guess?) in many of the neighborhoods that Autumn’s business (SF Pup Scouts) doesn’t cover, like the Mission and the Sunset and parts of SOMA. So I can mention him here, since he’s not a competitor, right?

German Shepherd/Labrador Retriever Mix With German Shepherd Coloration and Down Ears

Saw this pup outside a SOMA dog park. He was being very obedient but was clearly sad that he couldn’t join in the play inside the park.

German Shepherd/Labrador Retriever Mix With German Shepherd Coloration and Down Ears

This changed as soon as someone looked likely to pay attention to him. (Dad was a little distracted scrubbing poop — from someone ELSE’s dog — out of the back of his car. The hazards of being a dog walker.)

German Shepherd/Labrador Retriever Mix With German Shepherd Coloration and Down Ears

This pup makes a great ambassador for the business.

German Shepherd/Labrador Retriever Mix With German Shepherd Coloration and Down Ears

…as long as you like smooches.

Posted in Dog of the Day | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dog of the Day: Simon the Chinese Crested

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Adam Lang

Not only is this our second Chinese crested, he’s actually best friends and next-door neighbors with our first Chinese crested, Mr. White, even though I ran into the two of them in entirely different parts of town. And, if you take a look at Mr. White and Simon, it’s hard to believe the two are the same breed. I’m told that if you know the two of them well, they act amazingly similar, though. And if so, then I’m willing to grant Simon provisional ‘awesome’ status, because Mr. White is fully awesome.

A big thank you to the people who have donated to the Glenn Farr Fund, and the couple of you who have even bought my blog products. They will be shipped out shortly, and as mentioned earlier, the profits go to help a musician who has had some terrible luck. If you haven’t donated and/or bought a tee shirt (or whatever), please consider doing so… any purchases will continue to go to Glenn until the end of May, at least.

Tan and White Powder Puff Chinese Crested with a Little Bit of Black

I have seen a few Chinese cresteds of the powder puff variety, but never one with such a gorgeous, uniform coat. NEVER would have guessed the breed. (Autumn, of course, did.)

Tan and White Powder Puff Chinese Crested with a Little Bit of Black

They have got super-soft fur, too.

Tan and White Powder Puff Chinese Crested with a Little Bit of Black

They are definitely not a timid breed.

Posted in Dog of the Day | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Birder-Day Supplement: House Sparrow

Posted on May 11, 2013 by Adam Lang

First of all, if you haven’t already seen my post regarding the fundraiser and the new tee shirt design, please check out that post.

Found this diminutive gentleman on my way home from work a few days ago. He was perched right near a crosswalk, and was chirping so loudly and regularly that I thought he was the crosswalk indicator for the blind (which chirp in San Francisco), until I looked and realized that the crosswalk lights were red in both directions. This strikes me as dangerous.

Edit: I am overwhelmingly outvoted on the bird identification. In my defense, the pictures I saw of a house sparrow online did not have the lovely brown color of this guy’s back and wings (it was mixed black, tan, and grey instead), nor the same distribution of black on the throat and grey on the cheeks. Further picture-studying has revealed that (shock!) birds do sometimes look different.

Chestnut-Backed Chickadee Perched on Barbed Wire in San Francisco

I grew up surrounded by black-capped chickadees (Massachusetts). Their call (or, at least, their alarm call) is much different than the one these guys have.

Posted in Caturday Supplement, Wildlife Pics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Site News: New Tee Shirt and Benefit Concert/Site Benefit

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Adam Lang

I have a couple of announcements for this evening. First off, I have a new and exciting shirt design for the DogBlogStore: my Schauzers Gonna Schnauze tee shirt.

Schnauzers Gonna Schnauze Tee ShirtSchnauzers Gonna Schnauze Tee Shirt

 

Awesome, right?

Second, Autumn and I are helping a friend of ours get back on his feet again, in an unusually literal way. An Irish music buddy of Autumn’s took a horrible fall (more than a story, onto concrete) while trying to fight off someone breaking into his building. And then the intruder fell on top of him. It’s had some terrible effects (concussion, nerve damage, broken bones) and he currently can’t work, play music, or even stand up very well. He’s in the process of getting disability, and thankfully he is now part of Healthy SF, so he has a lot of help with medical bills, but for the moment he’s got no income, and is in very real danger of losing his apartment and ending up homeless. Which, in his condition, would be even worse than usual.

Autumn is helping to set up a benefit concert for him at The Plough and Stars, on Clement Street, on May 25th. (More details are here.) She’ll be playing there, along with a bunch of other people. I heard a rumor that there may also be some dancing and some drinking involved, but don’t tell anyone, okay?

I’m going to help out too: in addition to a donation myself, I’m going to dedicate 100% of the profits from the DogBlogStore to the ‘Help Glenn Farr Not Lose His Apartment Fund’, from now until the end of May. (Yes, this means I will be suspending my 10% donations to the SF SPCA until then.) So if you want to get a nifty tee shirt, hoodie, or canvas tote, and help out a person who is in need, please pick up something from the DogBlogStore. (Also on this page is a paypal donation link in the event that you wish to help out Glenn but a) you do not like my designs, b) you do not like tee shirts, hoodies, or tote bags, or c) you do not have a torso. Although if you fall under c), then I should probably be having a benefit for you!)

Thank you for putting up with my shameless fundraising. I now return you to your regularly scheduled dogblog.

Posted in Dog of the Day | 1 Comment

Old Home Week 4: Cooper the Labradoodle

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Adam Lang

Autumn got Cooper’s dad as a customer some time ago, and I walked Cooper a couple times because Autumn was out of town. And then his dad moved, and no more Cooper; Autumn never even got to walk him once. Which was too bad because he was a joy to work with.

An oddity: my previous post says that Cooper is a labradoodle, whereas the notes from this time say that he’s a schnauzer mix. I am not sure which to believe, because he looks like both. (So maybe he is a poodle/Labrador retriever/schnauzer mix? Who knows?)

Possibly a Black Labradoodle

He has the monster eyebrows OF DOOM.

Maybe Some Kind Of Giant Schnauzer Mix?

Autumn is so jealous. (We ran into Cooper’s dad later on, together, at a local watering hole, but Cooper wasn’t with him.)

Could Be Some Kind Of Schnauzer/Labrador Retriever Mix

I still think there needs to be a mini-Cooper to go with him. Teacup poodle? Miniature schnauzer? 

Handsome Dog, Whatever the Hell He Is

One of the times I took him walking, we went jogging instead. He is a great jogging partner.

Posted in Dog of the Day | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

DoggiEvent: Million Dog March, June 2

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Adam Lang

SF Dog is having a march for “dogs’ rights” (and pet owners’ rights, to boot) on June 2nd, from 10 AM to 2 PM at McLaren Park. Check it out! Among other things, they are going for the world record for the world’s largest dog walk.

Sounds like a good time to me. Now, if only I can find a dog or two to bring along…

Posted in DoggiEvent | 2 Comments

Old Home Week Part 3: Wilma the Collie/Border Terrier Mix

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Adam Lang

Wilma is one of the most distinctive dogs I’ve posted on DoSF, and the pictures of her and the Dane and humongous poodle (which turns out to be a German shepherd/poodle mix!) are some of my favorites. I ran into her again near the end of last year, and I am ashamed that I haven’t posted these until now.

Wilma’s dad says that she is a collie/border terrier mix. I’m not 100% convinced, but I’ll take his word for it… for now. He also says that she’s very lady-like, which I can confirm… when she’s not leaping around playing with other dogs, or sniffing butts. 🙂

Merle Collie/Border Terrier Mix

She has got that puppydog eyes thing so mastered that she can charm people without even thinking about it.

Merle Collie/Border Terrier Mix

See what I mean? She has that expression in most of her pictures.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Pug, and Merle Collie/Border Terrier Mix

Yes, that is a corgi butt. You will be seeing the rest of the corgi after old home week is over.

Merle Collie/Border Terrier Mix

I thought you had to pick ONE merle, either red or blue. But she looks like red AND blue merle.

Merle Collie/Border Terrier Mix

Bonus goofy pug grin in the background.

Posted in Dog of the Day | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment