Dog of the Day: Moose the St. Bernard

GOOD NEWS: The photography contest deadline has been extended to June 30th!

How embarrassing. I forgot the deadline of my own contest, which was supposed to have been this last Monday. To be fair, I was out camping at a music festival last weekend and frantically preparing for it for a week beforehand. But that’s no excuse.

Anyway, I love you guys. I have plenty of submissions for the contest, in the ‘dogs’ category (which, let’s face it, is the most important one, given the nature of the site), and they range from the awesome to the awesomer. I admit, I had been afraid that I was going to have to go out and cadge people on other blogs (and on reddit) to submit in order to even make the minimum of five submissions to vote on. Instead, I have my work cut out for me choosing just five!

At the same time, I only officially opened the contest to cats in the last week, so I have very few submissions from them, and I only have two submissions for the San Francisco category too! Come on, guys, I know you can do better than this, now that I know you’re paying attention. So I’m going to leave the contest open until the end of June. (Autumn goes out of town a little before then, too, which means I’ll have enough time on my hands to set up the infrastructure for voting on the finalists and such, which also helps.)

But thanks, everyone who has submitted so far. Sometimes it really does feel like I’m shouting into a well, and it’s really great to see that people really are paying attention, and are even willing to put in a little work to participate.

Now, on to today’s dog: Moose is a 7.5-year-old St. Bernard. I would have guessed at 3 years old. He’s huge and happy and cuddly and energetic (when it suits him) and he is welcome to put his head on my knee at any time, drool or not.

Saint Bernard

Those paws. Huge-mongous!

Saint Bernard

Don’t lie: every time you look at him you picture a little brandy cask under his chin, don’t you?

Saint Bernard

I wish the lighting weren’t quite so bad, this is a super-cute expression.

Saint Bernard

That’s mom. Yes, Moose almost certainly outweighs her… by a substantial margin.

Saint Bernard

Yes, mom told him to get in. Unlike the other dog I posted in the fountain, who took off and leapt in the fountain immediately after I started taking pictures of him. Which was pretty hilarious… to me at least.

Saint Bernard

Fountain in the background, drool fountain in the foreground.

Saint Bernard

Huntingdon Park fountain. The guy in the background is exercising/stretching, not break dancing.

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Dog of the Day: Miles the Rhodesian Ridgeback

Miles and miles of ridgeback! This pup was actually named after Miles Davis, apparently because his wrinkly forehead reminded mom and dad of the wrinkly forehead in a famous poster of Miles Davis. Anyone know which one they’re talking about? Is it this one?

Photography contest continues apace. Need more San Francisco pictures! San Franciscites, get cracking!

Rhodesian Ridgeback

I always forget how big ridgebacks actually get.

Rhodesian Ridgeback

Ah, there are some forehead wrinkles. Probably not his full set though.

Rhodesian Ridgeback

Can almost sort of see the ridge in this one.

Rhodesian Ridgeback

Someone looks serious.

Rhodesian Ridgeback

There's a good shot of a very prominent ridge.

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Dog of the Day: Yoshi the Hopeful Corgi

This sweet pup was seemed very optimistic about his chances of getting some of the bagels that mom or dad was inside shopping for.

The photography contest is really starting to pick up steam. Thanks, everyone, and feel free to keep the submissions rolling in. Since I now have three entries for it, I am officially opening up a new category for felines, with its own t-shirt (which may even be a caturday supplement custom t-shirt!) and runner-up dog-or-cat-bandana. (Warning: cat may not like cat bandanas. Not responsible for scratchiness.) The San Francisco category is low on submissions right now, so please submit more!

Edit: Ran into this pup on my way though the city today, and it turns out his name is Yoshi, and his dad is a photographer! Check down in the comments section for some adorably awesome pics of this pup by a pro.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi

He looks a little down, but he was really staring fixedly into the bagel shop…

Pembroke Welsh Corgi

…until he noticed me with his finely-tuned ‘sucker radar’.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi

He really wanted to meet me.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi

Spotty nose! He has spotty lips too.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi

SQUIRREL! (Actually, I think it was CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT but that doesn’t scan.)

Pembroke Welsh Corgi

Aww. Puppydog eyes.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi

None of the ‘dog mood’ guides I’ve read have ever listed ‘one ear up and one ear back’. Perhaps it means ‘I am a goofball’.

Pembroke Welsh Corgi

Look at that haunch. What a great word: haunch! Haunch haunch haunch.

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Dog of the Day: Another Pomeranian

I was gone over the weekend, somewhere with no Internet, cell phone service, or indeed electricity (well, not that was easily available to me, at any rate) from Friday noon until Sunday at about 11:30 PM. Fortunately I queued up Friday and Saturday, but didn’t get Sunday posted. Ah well.

Was fun, but I’m still recovering. Have another Pom in the mean time.

Pomeranian

Mm, chocolate and vanilla squirrel... uh, I mean swirl!

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Dog of the Day: Pomeranian Stuffed Animal

This can’t be a real dog, can it? This has to be some Japanese ridiculously-cute stuffed animal toy.

Pomeranian

I can't believe I stopped (and even got a picture of) mom and didn't get the name of this fine pooch. Shame on me.

Pomeranian

Oh my god there it is. As Meg Frost would say, 'REEEE-DONKULOUS!'

Pomeranian

Thank goodness she's a responsible mom. I would hate to think what would happen if this amount of cuteness fell into the hands of despicable people who would ruthlessly exploit it for page hits. (Er... wait.)

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Dog of the Day: Monkey the 2-Month-Old Miniature Schnauzer Puppy

Monkey! Monkey! Monkey!

(If you have a dog (or a friend with a dog) that you think is as awesome as Monkey, enter it into my photography contest! If you have a dog but you don’t think he or she is as awesome as Monkey, shame on you! Every dog should have an owner who thinks he or she is the greatest dog ever! And submit pictures anyway.)

Miniature Schnauzer Puppy

Sing it with me now: People... people who have puppies... are the LUCKIEST people in the world...

Miniature Schnauzer Puppy

I really love the two-tone thing Monkey has going here.

Miniature Schnauzer Puppy

If your day isn't going well, lean a little closer to your screen for a virtual puppy smooch.

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Dog of the Day: Lucky the Australian Shepherd Mix

This 2-year-old pup has recently moved to San Francisco from North Carolina, and is experiencing a bit of culture shock. I’m sure he’ll be in the swing of things in no time, though.

Australian Shepherd Mix

I think this may have been where the term 'hangdog expression' came from.

Australian Shepherd Mix

He's definitely skeptical about this whole 'city' thing.

Australian Shepherd Mix

My favorite shot.

Australian Shepherd Mix

I don't think I managed to win Lucky's heart.

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DoggiEvent: Maddie’s Adoptathon!

Just to let everyone know, this weekend is Maddie’s Adoptathon. That means free (no-fee) dog and cat adoptions at dozens of places in and around San Francisco. The San Francisco locations are listed here, and I’m sure you can find the other locations with a bit of poking around on their web site.

Their goal is the adoption of three thousand pets this weekend. Autumn and I already know someone who is probably going to adopt a dog (he’s been thinking of it for months, but this is pushing him over the edge). Maybe you know someone who needs a furry friend, and this will be just the ticket to get them to do it?

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Dog of the Day: “Ellie the Pony” the Belgian Malinois/Rhodesian Ridgeback Mix

I love it! She’s named ‘Ellie the Pony!’ I must admit, though, that ‘pony’ wasn’t the first thing I thought when I saw her, not with those ears. (Psst: don’t tell her, but I thought ‘donkey!’)

(Incidentally, I notice it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned my photography contest. I have four intrepid contestants so far… I need more!)

Belgian Malinois/Rhodesian Ridgeback Mix

I like this picture, not only because of the doggie grin, but also because it finally answers that age-old question, 'how many joggers can dance on the head of a dog?'

Belgian Malinois/Rhodesian Ridgeback Mix

Yes, those are some pretty ridiculous ears.

Belgian Malinois/Rhodesian Ridgeback Mix

I am a total sucker for canine grins.

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Dog of the Day: Muji the American Eskimo Dog

Muji is Japanese for ‘uh, something, I’m not sure what, but it’s a Japanese word’. Amazing language, Japanese… such an incredible amount of information can be squeezed into just two syllables! 🙂

American Eskimo Dog

Muji is 2.5 years old, and is more or less the sweetest thing ever. Not protective, not shy, just super-friendly.

American Eskimo Dog

And, like every American Eskimo dog, she has fur that you just want to bury your face in.

American Eskimo Dog

Another random factoid about Eskies: for some reason they seem to smell less 'doggy' than other dogs, even other cold-weather breeds. So if you bury your face in their fur you won't even regret it on that score!

American Eskimo Dog

"Fwip!" go the ears.

American Eskimo Dog

Good sense of balance, too. There is, of course, a treat involved in this feat, but that doesn't make it any less impressive.

American Eskimo Dog

American Eskimo dogs were apparently originally 'German spitzes', until WW2, when anything with 'German' in the name was strictly verboten. As it were.

American Eskimo Dog

The bent paws do it to me every time.

American Eskimo Dog

Not sure what kind of treat that is... kind of flat, isn't it?

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