So, those of you who are actually following this blog probably noticed that I failed on the 2nd day of my new blog resolution, however, I have a good excuse! My child was sick last night! As good excuse as any right? By child I mean our 7 month old Newfoundland puppy. We had a few messes to clean up and then a some good friends came over for dinner so it was a bit of a chaotic night for blog posting, some things take a back burner in the event of catastrophic events...aka...dogs with diarrhea. I realized last night how much our pets become like children to us...especially for us animal freaks. I know there are a ton of parents out there rolling their eyes saying "you have no idea what having a baby is like" and you're right...I am by no means comparing having a puppy to having a baby, at least not a direct comparison... but it's pretty damn good practice. When we got Stella there were months of sleepless nights waking up to her crying and whimpering every 2 hours needing to go to the bathroom. There's the food, and the medication, and the vet visits, and the constant need for attention. You learn to sacrifice your social life...we decided to crate train Stella and it has been working out wonderfully, but you can no longer go out and have a few drinks after work on a Friday night because you have a dog who has been in her crate all day long. These are all things that are comparable to what it is like when you have a child, on a lesser degree I am sure, but nonetheless a lot closer than not having either a puppy or a child.
We have really enjoyed watching her mature over the last 7 months, she recently got her adult teeth and has really lost most of that puppy energy and has stopped the constant mouthing and chewing. She will lay at our feet now when we are watching a movie and will wake us up in the morning with a lick to the face. Just 15 minutes ago she came running upstairs barking at me, so I go downstairs with her thinking that she has to go out and she leads me right to Shauna in the kitchen who has just brutally burned every ounce of juicy life from a chicken breast, the kitchen full of smoke. Whether Stella was trying to warn me that Shauna was burning down our house or not I don't know...but Stella rarely barks at me and Shauna only occasionally burns chicken :) so there has to be some kind of relation between the two right?
I've got to admit, one of the best things about having a dog is that from a photographers standpoint you always have a willing subject...well...I like to think she is willing...that might not be the case though. Here's a few shots from the past couple days. She's really taken a liking to walks around French Creek which have recently turned into moonlight walks as daylight savings has robbed me of all our afterwork sunlight. I'm not bitter... ;) On to the photos!
Shauna took these next three shots...
This one was taken so kindly by a woman that we met walking in the park with her family.
