Dog of the Month: Cecilia the Siberian Husky

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Adam Lang

Meet Cecilia. I only had maybe a minute’s exposure, but in that minute she completely swept me off my feet. I firmly believe that if I had been lucky enough to adopt this pup, my life (and, of course, Autumn’s) would be changed forever. Full of a lot more warm summer days, a lot more goofing off, a lot less stressing out. A life with the same problems, I’m sure… but maybe a life with less worrying about those problems, and more appreciating what we’ve got.

So, to the woman I found walking this dog: congratulations. You seemed to know what a special dog you had. I hope you two have a long and happy time together.

Two more pictures after the break.

Goofy husky

I didn’t write this down, so I’m just depending on my fallible memory, but I think I heard that Cecilia is two years old.

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Double Dog Day: Hazen and Mike, the Not-Whippets

Posted on July 31, 2010 by Adam Lang

These two are the stars of their very own web site: http://www.imnotawhippet.com/

And, as you might have guessed from the title, they aren’t whippets. It was the first thing I came out with, too, and in punishment for my mistake (even though I immediately corrected myself: they are Italian greyhounds!) I was ferociously licked. Also forced to post them. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t get any great photos… they moved around a lot. There are better pictures at their site, though, and how could I not post a pair of pups with their own web site?

Since there are only two pictures, one for each of them, I’m sticking ’em both on the front page.

Whippet in urban camouflage

This is Mike. I guess urban camouflage is the latest thing in canine fashion.

Italian greyhound in urban camoflage

And this, if you can't tell by the collar, is Hazen. And Hazen, if you can't tell by the posture, is a sweetie.

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Dog of the Day: Unknown Mix

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Adam Lang

I really don’t know about this guy. He’s brindled like a pit bull or a mastiff, but doesn’t look anything like either of them. And, although it only shows partly in this picture, he’s almost like an inverse corgi: he’s got short-ish legs, but he’s nearly as wide as he is long! And it’s not that he’s fat (or, at least, not just that he’s fat)… he’s broad. If a pug is a barrel with legs, he’s a quarter-barrel with legs.

No more pictures on this one, I’m afraid.

Unknown mixed-breed dog

Ah well, there's a place in the world for funny-looking dogs. This guy made me smile for fifteen minutes after I saw him.

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Double Dog Day: Gigantic Newfoundland and Stunned Standard Poodle

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Adam Lang

I love these two. As far as I know, they’d never met… they were sitting at separate tables at the same outdoor cafe. But I can’t help but take the expression on the poodle’s face as some sort of commentary on the Newfie.

Two more pictures below the break.

Newfie and poodle

Newfies are awesome, but I think I like the astonished look on the poodle's face even more.

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Dog of the Day: Golden Retriever

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Adam Lang

Someone plumb ran out of wag today.

(Two more pictures after the break.)

Golden retriever

Poor guy. Wonder how long he'd been out there? He looks so... deflated.

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Dog of the Day: Sidney the Australian Cattle Dog

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Adam Lang

I’m feeling a lot better today, thank goodness. So it’s time for a bigger post: Sidney, an Australian cattle dog that I ran into last week. Unfortunately, most of my pictures of him turned out badly. Fortunately, Andrew, Sidney’s dog-guardian (as opposed to a guard-dogian, which I guess would be Sidney) was happy to make up the difference. I have hidden Andrew’s pictures below the fold, both so that they don’t make the rest of the front-page pictures that I took look terrible in comparison, and to tempt more of you to look at the rest of the story, and maybe comment.

So yes. Six pretty amazing pictures after the jump, and one pretty mediocre one before. And thank you very much, Andrew, for permission to post the six.

Australian cattle dog

This ACD seemed a wee bit OCD. During the short time I saw him, he literally never stopped staring straight at his ball.

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Dog of the Day: Miniature Schnauzer

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Adam Lang

Sorry for the low-effort, one-picture post, but I have been totally run down all day today. No idea what it was, but literally nodding off when doing things, falling asleep on a bus and missing my stop, etc. And then when I lay down to take a nap: not a chance. NO SLEEP FOR YOU.

Got plenty of sleep last night, plenty the night before. Feeling totally fine otherwise. No idea what’s going on. Hopefully ten hours of sleep will cure this.

So, yeah. Have a ridiculous-looking schnauzer.

Schnauzer with erect ears

I can't decide whether this guy looks so goofy because he's been so thoroughly shaved, or because of those ridiculous ears. I guess I'll just have to say 'both'.

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Dog of the Day: Basil the Dachshund/Labrador Retriever Puppy

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Adam Lang

Well, the fella I found walking this little guy was sure about the dachshund part of him, but the other half was unknown. And since I only got a couple of decent pictures (all the rest were spoiled by a lousy camera and a hyperkinetic puppy!) Autumn had a tough time with him. She finally hazarded a guess that he might be half Labrador retriever, though, and since that was the first thing I came up with (but had a tough time believing, size-wise), I’m going with that.

That said, though, it does raise a couple of intriguing questions. First, how big is this guy going to get? A standard dachshund actually isn’t all that small a dog, really: they average 15 to 28 lbs. And a lab is 55 to 80 lbs on average. Is this little guy really going to grow up to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 pounds? Alternatively, if he’s really half Lab, and he’s going to be little (20 lbs or so), doesn’t that make him more probably half miniature dachshund, half Lab? And if so… how? The mind boggles.

One more picture, after the break. (PS: I love the name Basil… Basil Woofbone, maybe? Rawfbone?)

Half-dachshund, half labrador retriever puppy

Wiggly puppies are the best kind. And they don't get a lot wigglier than dachshunds, or half-dachshunds in this case.

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Dog of the Day: Boxer

Posted on July 24, 2010 by Adam Lang

After yesterday’s post, DoSF is back up near the top of the rankings on Google, under the search term ‘slightly late‘. Search Engine Optimizers, eat your hearts out! (Note: this might be because nobody ever searches for ‘slightly late’ on Google. And, really, why would they?)

So anyway, it’s Friday night and I’ve had a long week, so here is a dog who fits my mood admirably. He was out in front of the Apple store on Chestnut Street on Thursday. He was there for at least 20 minutes, and in that time he did not change his expression, his position, or his apparent mood at all. He wouldn’t even sniff at my hand, although when I scratched his neck just right his hind leg twitched a bit.

He’s either the most highly disciplined and patient dog I’ve ever seen, or really, really depressed. Or possibly both.

Second picture after the break. Of him in the same position. But at least it’s a different angle.

Very serious boxer mix.

Look closely at the collar. He seriously looked like he'd been a saggy-skinned dog, and someone had pulled his skin up and bunched it around his neck and then tied it off with the collar to make (the rest of) him look more presentable.

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Dog of the Day: Hunter the Flat-Coat Retriever

Posted on July 23, 2010 by Adam Lang

Hunter is only our second flat-coated retriever: this was the first. (Said posting, bizarrely, appears to have been the reason that DoSF was #3 in the google rankings for the search ‘slightly late’ for a couple of days, a few months ago. Maybe I should be late more often!)

I love looking at the interplay between dog and owner guardian. (Hey, it’s apparently the new term in San Francisco.) A lot of people (guys in particular) who would never show affection to their girlfriend/spouse/kids in public will cuddle and wrestle with their dog with unabashed glee. (And no, I’m not saying that the guy in the picture is like that; I don’t know him, and didn’t see him with anyone but his dog. I just know he really liked his dog. Which is only fair, since his dog is one of the most awesome dogs I’ve ever met.*)

That kind of dichotomy seems a little odd to me, from a purely biological/behavioral standpoint. I wonder how many animals are more comfortable cuddling up with a different species than they are with their own? I guess the ‘in public’ part doesn’t really apply, though… humans may not be the only species that is self-conscious, but it certainly is the most comprehensively embarrassable.

(*) As are all of the other dogs I’ve met.†

(†) Well, almost all.

Two more pictures after the break.

Black flat-coated retriever, head shot.

A reverse from the normal shot: here's a human gazing adoringly (or at least happily) at his dog.

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