Dog the Day: Hank the English Mastiff Puppy

Yes, he’s the size of a pony, but he’s still a puppy: 8 months old. Gotta say: least drooly mastiff I’ve ever run into. I’m pretty sure I’ve met Hank before, at night when no photography was possible. Which is a real shame, because when I met him he was like 8 weeks old and about eightteen inches long, with paws as big as his head.

This is less than a block from our apartment, so hopefully we get to see more of Hank.

English Mastiff

The penultimate in pendulous flews!

English Mastiff

I wanna try wrestling with this guy. I wouldn't mind losing.

English Mastiff

He still has huge-mongous feet. Also the rest of him.

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Dog of Day: Boomer the Gigantic Malamute

Another dog from the Dogapalooza! There were a bunch of malamutes at the party, but Boomer was the only one the size of a pony and covered with shaggy fur and a giant mane. Go figure.

Alaskan Malamute

Boomer is foofly all over, but in particular around the neck. I can't imagine that the prong collar does anything at all, there's so much fur in the way.

Alaskan Malamute

Apparently malamutes are supposed to be between 75 and 95 pounds. If this guy was less than 130, fluff included, I would eat my hat. He was a good 6 to 8 inches taller at the shoulder than any of the other malamutes there.

Alaskan Malamute

Look at that tail. You just want to run your fingers through it. Turns out he doesn't mind.

Alaskan Malamute

Happy face. Someone was skritching his butt, if I recall correctly.

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Dog of the Day: Holly-go-Lightly the Lead Dog

Every year at Bay to Barkers they choose an awesome dog from their pack of awesome dogs, and name that dog ‘Lead Dog’ for the day. That means that dog gets to lead the big dog walk, and gets pictures taken and whatnot.

This is Holly-go-Lightly, the lead dog for 2011, and also for 2009. (The color you see on her paws was a result of the ‘paw-painting’ station, where Holly made a work of art.)

Golden Retriever/Corgi Mix

Hmm, I wonder what breed she is? Clearly half golden retriever, but the half-up-ears and that splash of white on her chest are...

Corgi/Golden Retriever

...ah. Well, that makes it easier: only corgi mixes can look that ridiculous.

Corgi/Golden Retriever and Golden Retriever

Is it just me, or does that golden in the background look a little nervous?

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Dog of the Day: Astro the Adoptable Weimaraner

Back from Bay to Barkers, and it was a blast. Dogs, dogs, dogs! I’m going to be posting things from there for months.

I promised I’d post this guy soon, though, since he’s adoptable. He’s been up for adoption for a while, even though he’s friendly, well-behaved, smart, and good with kids and other dogs. (They’re not sure about cats, but they suspect he’d be fine with them too.) If he’s so great, why hasn’t he been adopted yet? Well, he’s 8 years old, and a lot of people are hesitant to adopt older dogs.

I can understand that, but at the same time, I think it’s awfully sad. Here we have a wonderful dog who had a pretty rough life, and now that he’s older, I think he really deserves a stable, kind family.

What do you say? Anyone out there want a gently used, factory-refurbished Weimaraner? Visit norcalweimrescue.org and ask about Astro!

Weimaraner

Astro made a great spokes-dog: he interacted with a couple hundred people and dogs, and when the event was over, he was still hoping for more.

Weimaraner

Astro is displaying the bandana rule: any awesome dog is automatically rendered awesomer by a bandana around the neck. Also displayed is the famous Weimaraner deer-in-the-headlights stare.

Weimaraner

How can you resist that face?

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Dog of the Day: Bernese Mountain Dog

A quick snap of a Berner before I leave. I’m headed over to Bay to Barkers (a dog festival over in the East Bay.)

Bernese Mountain Dog

Some people just want to watch the world Bern.

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Blog Award Continued

Another ‘thing about me’, continued from last weekend. I guess this is more about the blog than about me, but close enough.

No Politics on the Blog

I’ve been doing pretty well, I think, at keeping a little rule I made for myself when I started the blog. That was well before I gave up reading political blog stuff myself, but I decided then that I wasn’t going to post anything political or more controversial than local San Francisco dog-related politics.

I know that most of the people who read the blog are from San Francisco, and so are going to tend to echo my politics. However, I always figured, and my traffic stats bear this out, that there would be a substantial number of people reading who just like both dogs and San Francisco, and not all of these were going to reflect my political tastes.

I feel absolutely no compulsion to deprive anyone of pictures of cute puppies because of their political beliefs. And I know that’s what would happen if I started talking about politics, because I feel strongly about them.

If I ever get the impression that anyone is interested in my political beliefs, then I’ll start a political blog. And record traffic statistics. Fastest way I know to disabuse yourself of the notion that anyone is, indeed, interested in your political beliefs. 🙂

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Dog of the Day: Golden Retriever/Poodle Mix

Another dog from the Crossroads Cafe.

Golden Retriever/Poodle Mix

I always kind of thought those trike things were neat, but I never thought they could be used for dog transport.

Goldendoodle

The dogs that wait like this make me feel sad. Not lying down, not relaxing, not being distracted by all the cool stuff around: just staring at the door mom went through, until she comes back out again.

Poodle/Golden Retriever Mix

Okay, occasionally they do look off sarcastically in some other direction.

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Dog of the Day: Australian Cattle Dog Mix Again

This is the guy I posted on July 20th, as a beagle mix. Turns out I had already posted some other pictures of him on July 5th. Grr. My bookkeeping isn’t perfect, but it’s not usually that bad.

I think I was wrong on breed ID though. The more I look at him, the more I think he’s an Australian cattle dog.

Oh well. I still have a couple I didn’t post, so here they are.

Blue Heeler Mix

Another reason to think he's an ACD mix: he sure seems pretty ball-obsessed. He stood there like this watching the ball for minutes at a time.

Australian Cattle Dog Mix

Hee. Ears sticky out to the sides = funny-looking. Just like an uncle I used to have.

 

Australian Cattle Dog Mix

Sometimes I wish I could shut off my brain and just chase balls for a day, and come out of it as happy as this guy. Always provided I could make sure it would turn on again afterwards, of course.

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Dog of the Day: Dogcow!

The elusive dogcow! Like any talented dog, it can do flips. Like any talented cow, it can do precision bitmap alignment.

Okay, not really. I think this guy is probably a corgi/Australian Cattle dog. But don’t quote me on that.

Corgi/Australian Cattle Dog mix

I bet he has a spotty corgi 'cow-belly'.

Corgi/Blue Heeler mix

Autumn calls that foot position 'flipper feet'. Corgis and dachshunds tend to have it, often.

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Dog of the Day: Cici the Tibetan Terrier

A little cute terrier from Tibet, for your viewing pleasure. Cici doesn’t really need her day on DoSF: she’s already famous! She appeared in print ads for outerwear and umbrellas, apparently. Hardly surprising, since she’s cute as a button.

Oh, site update: I got my camera back! It was less than two weeks, and it was working flawlessly when it came back. So whatever my old arguments with Casio, I certainly can’t fault them for this.

Tibetan Terrier

Go figure: Tibetan terriers aren't actually terriers. They're good guard dogs and apparently even pretty good herding dogs.

Tibetan Terrier

The eyes are in there somewhere, I promise. *sigh* I wonder what those new high-dynamic-range cameras are going for now?

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