Today, class, we will be examining the English Springer Spaniel.
The English springer spaniel is truly a magnificent example of doghood.
Note the ridiculous ear floppage. This allows them to amuse everyone in viewing distance when they run.
Note the ridiculous spotty muzzle, and perpetual sad expression. The happier an English springer is, the sadder it looks. Well-known fact.
See? This dog is deliriously happy. Can't you tell? (Typical English.)
An old friend, who I’m pretty sure has shown up on here before. Nevertheless, with this amount of foofliness and ridiculositude, I predict that this will not be the last time, either.
Also, what on earth is that thing? It’s like an oblong tennis ball!
One of those dogs that you just want to walk up, bury your face in the fur for 30 seconds, and then continue on your way. 'Fuzz Therapy', a la Calvin and Hobbes.
Every once in a while, I find a dog whose pictures speak for themselves. I’m going to try not to get in the way, except to say that before I met Mr. White, my ideas about Chinese crested dogs were formed largely by the ‘world’s ugliest dog’ competition. After I met Mr. White, for the rest of my life, my ideas about Chinese crested dogs will have been formed by Mr. White. Needless to say, that marks a huge improvement.
My 'dogs with clothes' attitude does not apply to these guys. We don't want ANY dogs freezing to death in San Francisco.
Aww... love the hairflop over the eye. Don't be sad, emo puppy! We love you.
I wonder how many dogs have cow spots like that, but you can't see them because they're under the fur?
What an expression.
The plouf on the end of the tail is really something.
Their fur is super-soft, too. And the skin, is, well, skin. Nothing exciting.
Another thing this guy made me wonder: do all black-nosed dogs have a splotch of black under the fur near the nose, and around that, pink skin? Weird!
Goodbye, Mr. White. I see a lot of dogs, but I'll remember you. And next time I see you, I'll have a treat for you.
Ran into these guys on lunch a couple of weeks ago, and then saw them again today, and was reminded just how awesome the pups were. The Aussie is the mom, and the other four are still growing. They look quite similar to flat-coat retrievers, and have a lot of the same energy and goofy nature, too.
This is about as close as they managed to get to 'family portrait'. Hey, more than half of them are facing the camera, and all o them are in the frame. That's not bad.
That's a better pic, but missing one. Such pretty dogs. The one on the right looks a little derpy though.
Mom has a bit more of an attention span than her pups, huh?
TWO-HEADED DOG MONSTER! They noticed that I was holding my lunch in my non-camera hand and suddenly became a lot more attentive.
Okay, I lied, I did get one more family photo. I like to think the guy in the back is intentionally making a face at me.
There really are a lot of pit bulls in San Francisco. And you know what? I don’t mind a bit.
So cute. Gorgeous grey eyes. Goofy soft semi-floppy ears. Yay!
Betty was shy around people, but liked dogs just fine. This is a young doberman she made friends with.
Doberman tails are so goofy!
No idea who the ball actually belonged to, but these two shared it surprisingly well.
You can tell they're moving fast by the ridiculous ear floppage.
Aww. Puppy hugs!
Another Australian cattle dog mix, this time with German shepherd. What an unexpectedly gorgeous combination.
Betty is a rescue dog, and pretty skittish around new people. Poor pup.
When I got within five feet, she didn't take her eyes off me. And eventually went and hid behind dad.
On the other hand, she would obviously do anything for her dad.
See? Very attentive. Even moreso when food or a b-a-l-l is involved, I bet.
What a gorgeous dog. Someone ought to paint her.
(Pronounced ‘Hay Den’.) Half Australian Cattle Dog, half Australian Shepherd. So he likes sheep, cows, balls, his own tail, and everybody.
The blue merle pattern on the fluffy coat? Gorgeous.
The fur is super-soft, too. This guy would make a good dog to bring with you when winter camping.
The camera took a little collateral 'lick' damage here, always a hazard when photographing dogs.
Sorry for the short post: having some technical difficulties. Trying out an EyeFi card, which is a SD card that offloads its photos via WiFi, and can also do geolocation on them based on the WiFi networks that are nearby.
The card itself is a marvel of engineering. It works flawlessly, and I’m really impressed.
The software that interfaces with it appears to be written in Adobe Flash, believe it or not. And is completely, comprehensively awful. I could write something more useful to me in about six or eight hours, if I had documentation. I could write something more useful to everybody in six to eight weeks.
On the other hand, I could go six centuries and I could still not write a program that was as useful (and adorable!) as this dog.
He looks like he's always up for cuddles, wrestling, or a quick nap.
Poor pups, tied up outside a yummy-smelling restaurant.
They were tied up right at the door, where they could nuzzle the ankles of everyone going in or out.
That might just be the expression they call 'the hairy eyeball'.
Just after I finished taking their pictures, these two swapped places, and resumed their guard duty, one looking in, the other looking out.