There's a pond behind my house and consequently this spring my backyard has been filled with wildlife: baby ducks, a rabbit, a raccoon, squirrels, chipmunks, a mouse and most often, this baby goose and its parents. Just about every day in the morning the parents and the goose are eating grass in my backyard.

Kody, my dachshund, usually alerts me to their presence by asking to go outside. He's been conditioned to be fairly used to them so he doesn't bark, but he's still very interested.

Once we get outside, though, he's reserved and keeps his distance. He was taught a lesson last year by a mother goose, luckily he was not injured. When we're outside we both keep to our areas and the geese let us know to keep it that way by hissing at us.

I put Kody inside and went out to take some pictures. The geese will usually head into the water if I get too close. Which is what happened today.

Photos: Animals That Can Think

Another thing I love about having the dog trainer over is getting answers to my technical questions. I had a simple question today, what exactly is the correct process for associating a word with a behavior. I didn’t know when the word should be said during training. The answer is: “antecedent, behavior, consequence”. For instance if you know how to lure a dog into a sitting position:

• antecedent: say the word “sit”
• behavior: lure the dog into the sitting position
• consequence: reward the dog for a job well done, for instance with a treat

For some reason even after attending a training class, I didn’t get that. They didn’t explain it quite as well. It seems like a pretty important process to understand, right?

Here’s Kody giving us his best supermodel “look”. He calls this look “Blue Steel”. It’s kind of like, “Oh I know you, oops, no I don’t, or do I?”

He was asleep before this and I woke him up when I took the picture which is why he looks like he just woke up. His nose is still healing from trying to bury rawhide strips.

Featured Story

Our Prattville Pets of the Week at the Prattville-Autauga Humane Shelter: Buster Brown and Bartel

Where

Prattville, Alabama

Buster Brown at the Prattville-Autauga Humane Shelter Photo by Marc Parker

Excerpt

The Our Prattville canine Pet of the Week is an adorable male Dachshund/Chihuahua mix named Buster Brown. A small black and tan colored pup, Buster is a little shy, but he warms up quickly to strangers and is especially good with children.

At approximately six years old, Buster is a sweet and friendly tail wagger who is sure to make someone a loyal and adoring pet!

Comment

This picture is so cute I had to post about this article. If you live in Alabama follow the link to find out more about pets up for adoption.

Featured Story

D.O.G Pet Boutique and VH1 diva doggie photo contest

What

Diva Doggie 2009 Photo Contest

Excerpt

Entering a contest is exciting because of the allure of prizes and notoriety, but the process of entering can be just as fulfilling and satisfying as winning, especially when it involves our dogs. D.O.G Pet Boutique and VH1, in honor of the upcoming broadcast of VH1’s Divas 2009, are searching for the best Diva Doggie.

How to enter: Take a picture of your Diva Doggie in her (or his) best Diva pose and upload it to the D.O.G website.

The public will be asked to rate your Diva Doggie on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being not so Diva and 10 being extremely Diva. The top five photos will win. The photo that has the highest voted ratings will win the grand prize of a fabulous Diva themed prize packaged valued at $1500. The four photos that follow the winner will also win fabulous Diva worthy prize package valued at $300.

Quick Facts

Featured Story

Emerald Downs Wiener Races Flickr Photos, 2009

Where

Auburn, Washington

When

Friday, August 14, 2009

Comment

Friend of the site David sent us these photos from Flickr. They’re really great.

Quick Facts

What

Photo Gallery: Hot weather hits Duluth

Where

Duluth, Minnesota

Who

Steve Bloom
Willy, dachshund

In spite of these adorable pictures, deer and dachshunds don’t mix. Here’s a letter to the editor of the Helena Independent Record where a resident of Helena, Montana reports that her dachshund was killed by a deer.

City deer lose advocate

It’s a theme that’s been in the news quite a bit recently recently, which I’ve talked about before and I’ll talk about again. Dogs aren’t really capable of defending themselves in the world. They are dependent on us for protection, so we need to keep a close eye on them. One of the commenters on this story says that even her German shepherd was stood down by a couple of deer, so it’s not just small dogs we have to worry about.

HOWL-O-Weenie 2009

The website says:

Likely date is October 3 in Cabbagetown Park. Start planning your costumes, training for the races, and getting those tail wagging muscles in shape for the contests!

There are so many great photos from last year I couldn’t help but include a few, so I’ll let you know now there’s also a video of the event at the end of this post.

I’m not sure but I think this one might be Hugh Hefner and Holly Madison. Or maybe Dolly Parton. It made me laugh because in one of the pictures Dolly’s boobs fall out.

The website has a link to over 800 pictures from last year’s event. They are very lucky that photographer Pat Thomas takes all these wonderful high quality photos. I can understand why she’s motivated to take pictures at this event, though.

I love this John Deere tractor!

The event also includes dachshund races.

At first I thought this was Peter Pan and Tinker Bell. But I think the one on the left is Captain Jack Sparrow, and the one on the right might be Peter Pan.

A brilliant gold fish.

Hey, these are the salt and pepper shakers I just posted about in fun products!

And finally, the video:

With the theme being new and all, I want to show it off a little by using some of my favorite photos. Here’s Kody looking pensive and regal. What I want is to get some good running shots. If you have a tight focus getting the dog in focus while he’s running to you is next to impossible. First I am laying on the ground to get the photo at his level. Then I throw something which he will chase and not necessarily fetch, but at least he’ll run back in my direction. Then I have to get in position and try to get the shot in probably under 5 seconds. This means getting the part of Kody I want in focus (usually one of his eyes) in exactly the right spot in the viewfinder and pressing the button. I maybe have three tries if I’m lucky each throw. I didn’t get one running shot in correct focus for this whole session. I’ll try again next time.

I just thought, I need an assistant so I can just be prepared and he can throw stuff. I’ll try that next time!

It’s been a while since I’ve put up a wallpaper so I thought it was time for another. Kody and I went out on a mission to take photos that would be good for desktop wallpaper, which are those that have a lot of blurred area on them. The out of focus grass and fur on this one makes it ideal for the desktop.

Sometimes it’s just a pretty picture.

Baltimore Sun article

Baltimore Sun pet photo gallery

Today PBS posted the winners of the Why We Love Cats and Dogs photo contest. The photos are actually pretty good, take a look.

I really don’t like this cold weather. And Kody is bored to tears. He spends a lot of time under his blanket he pulls off the couch to stay warm. I’m glad he knows how to do that. But to get some of his energy out we do some indoor fetch and tricks.

Today I decided we should go outside and play. I thought while he wouldn’t go on a walk, he would probably have a great time playing outside for a little while. I would take my camera and get some pictures because I haven’t taken any of him outside in so long. This is a bit risky because it isn’t fenced in, but he hasn’t shown a desire to bolt in the past, and we’re a decent distance from a street with traffic. He loves playing with pine cones, and he was really happy today. He was throwing them up in the air and having a great time. Then we started playing fetch with the pine cones. He did good once he realized we were actually playing fetch. Then he would bring it back to me.

The game maker, ngmoco, says:

In Touch Pets Dogs, players adopt, nurture and play with their virtual puppies through one-on-one touch screen interaction or on play dates with other players’ dogs from around the world. The ambitious Touch Pets social network, embedded within the game, allows owners and dogs alike to build relationships with other players and their Touch Pets. Puppies’ social lives continue to evolve whether their owners are logged into the game or not, and the results are broadcast for the world to see on the Touch Pets social network dog feed.

But right now, as he often does, he has pulled the blanket off the couch into a pile and has gone to sleep under that pile. This often leads to me forgetting he does this and looking all over the house for him and having no idea where he is.

I’m glad he’s taking care of his needs, though. It’s hard to keep the house, and especially the area near the floors completely warm in the winter. Also, as with most things Kody does, it’s very cute.

Just as I was typing this I got the perfect picture with my iPhone. He normally doesn’t poke his head out!

It’s not my goal to continually post new pictures of these piglets, but seriously, I have never seen them before and they are so cute! More new pictures of them standing up at the hotdogblog.