Caturday Supplement: Geoffrey’s Cat

No, this isn’t the cat of a guy named Geoffrey… it’s kitten of a species of South American feline. And it is adorable, and tiny (the adults only get up to 10 lbs or so), and utterly fearless. The lady, part of an educational group called “Classroom Safari” (or, sometimes, “Birthday Safari”) that brings wild animals to classrooms and events for kids, definitely has her hands full with this kitten.

Not to say that I wouldn’t fill my hands with this kitten in an instant, if it didn’t require quitting my job and hand-raising it full time for a couple of months. But I would probably put on oven mitts first.

Geoffrey's Cat (South American Wild Cat)

Not going to apologize for image quality this time: it was way too dark in there, and the animals moved fast and didn't like flashes. I'm lucky I got anything!

Geoffrey's Cat (South American Wild Cat)

A little blurry, but I love the 'vicious kitty' posture!

Geoffrey's Cat (South American Wild Cat)

Faster picture, underexposed and then compensated for. Looks pretty bad, but actually I'm shocked it came out this good. In the exposure, the dynamic range of the picture is around 1/20th of the possible range for the camera, all at the low end.

Geoffrey's Cat (South American Wild Cat)

Spent around an hour on this in Photoshop. Still not great, but at least it's no longer covered with pink and purple splotches. Looked like the woman had some terrible virulent skin condition.

Geoffrey's Cat (South American Wild Cat)

One of a few flash photos. Didn't want to flash him right in the eyes.

Geoffrey's Cat (South American Wild Cat)

This one, now. This one I blame myself for. Dammit, best pose of the lot, and I cut the head off.

Geoffrey's Cat (South American Wild Cat)

This woman is a lot braver than I am. With teeth and claws like that? Yeah. I'd be wearing oven mitts, if not an entire space suit.

 

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Event: Animapalooza!

This looks kind of interesting. If you have kids, sounds like it might be fun. Hands on with some kinds of animals, and a bunch of awfully cute-sounding animals in attendance too. (Fennec fox, ocelot, etc.) Can’t bring your dogs, but hey, you can’t have everything.

$10 for adults, $8 for kids, or, if you order in advance, $2 off with the super-special secret code ‘AOB’.

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Double Dog Day: Missie and Raven the German Shepherds

Another set of pictures from ‘Bay to Barkers.’ Perhaps unsurprisingly, Missie is the white one and Raven is the very dark (for a shepherd) one. These two were very clearly old friends, in the ‘us against the world’ vein.

(I think they’re winning.)

German Shepherds

I just heard someone complaining about German shepherds yesterday, so I had to post a couple awesome ones in their defense.

German Shepherd

Looks like of like one of the varieties of Belgian shepherds, but given that (as you can see in the background) his mom and dad were German shepherd specialists, I suspect they knew what they were talking about.

German Shepherds

Never seen a white dog colored quite that way before, with the cream about the ears.

German Shepherds

You can tell the white one is a real character.

German Shepherds

I rest my case.

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Dog of the Day: West Highland White Terrier

Westies seem like such cheerful dogs.

West Highland White Terrier

This pup was utterly ball-centric. If it wasn't between his paws, he never took his eyes off it.

West Highland White Terrier

That's mom. And in the background is one of the supports for the Bay Bridge.

West Highland White Terrier

Three guesses why he's looking up at me so fixedly.

West Highland White Terrier

Good guess.

 

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Dog of the Day: Obedient Golden

This pup stuck to mom’s hip like he was stapled there. Didn’t see them walking, but from the standing-still part, looks like he’s very well trained.

Golden Retriever

Look at the toe-hawks. (Giant foofs of fur from between a dog's toes.) Awesome!

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Dog of the Day: Young Great Dane

A couple of weeks ago, I had a ‘big dog day’. Not intentionally: I just happened to run into two St. Bernards and two Great Danes (entirely separately!) in the course of a 2 mile walk and some shopping.

Well, I have to share the luck. So here’s a sadly-sun-washed-out young awesome Great Dane tied up outside of Real Foods on Polk Street. He was barking as I walked up, and damn does he have a loud bark. But when I got near him he stopped. And then when I finished taking his picture and giving him the obligatory dog toll backscratch and walked away, he resumed barking. ROWF! ROWF!

Great Dane

Great Danes: goofy dogs? Or the goofiest dogs?

Great Dane

Behind him is 'Bow Wow Meow', an awesome little pet store and dog groomer's. If I were to start taking ads, I'd totally hit them up.

Great Dane

Do the eyes look even vaguely natural? I had to touch them up a bit.

Great Dane

That one's not touched up at all. 100% all natural goof.

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Dog of the Day: Cowboy Cody the Teacup Australian Shepherd

Another of the pups from yesterday. Cowboy Cody, I have to say, seems like he might have been the most awesome of them all.

Teacup Australian Shepherd

Happy face! I just had a few minutes to watch him, but I think he probably looks like that most of the time.

Teacup Australian Shepherd

Those ears. So ridiculous. I wonder if you could braid them?

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Double Dog Day: Denim and Merle the Teacup Australian Shepherds

If I recall correctly, these people were the breeders of these ‘teacup’ Australian Shepherds. I did not build this blog to be a vehicle for my theories regarding responsible dog breeding, so I will merely say that they seemed to be happy, sociable, and adorable.

If I am deciphering my notes correctly, the red (merle) one is Merle and the blue (merle) one is Denim. But I’m not sure about that.

Teacup Australian Shepherds

Wow. Those are some truly ridiculous ears.

Teacup Australian Shepherds

Someone's been swimming. Or at least wading.

Teacup Australian Shepherd

Ridiculous schnozosity too.

Teacup Australian Shepherd

They're full grown, but clearly this one will be mistaken for a puppy all her life.

Teacup Australian Shepherd

Denim wasn't nearly as shy as this expression might lead you to expect.

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Dog of the Day: Older Golden Retriever

Depressed? Or just really, really relaxed? You decide!

Golden Retriever

Just a giant puddle of golden retriever. (And yes, I did throw out the cigarette butt after the picture.)

Golden Retriever

Yes, after I finished taking these pictures I had to stop and give her a lot of petting, and eventually a thorough belly rub. She just looked like she deserved it.

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Dog of the Day: Una the Shiba Inu

Pictures in the shade. This is the only one that wasn’t blurry, because the only time Una stopped for long enough for me to get a shot was when I found an itchy spot under her collar. (The black thing in my hand is not her collar, it’s my camera cover.)

Shiba Inu

Look at the tight curl on that tail. One of Autumn's hobbies is going around uncurling curly dog tails.

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