School for Scoundrels

I realized just now that I meant to post a photo with the Raimi rant yesterday but I forgot for whatever reason. So here it is now. I took it while we were at the schoolyard and the dogs were rolling around in the shade. Raimi was mid-roll when he suddenly leaped up and I caught him on the upswing. Gotta watch out for that monstrous head. Leeloo was also having a roll in the grass. It is obviously cool and a bit damp so I imagine to a dog it's quite refreshing. She is a little more dignified in her behaviour except when she is going crossed eyed trying to catch flies. She is doing that stare-into-space thing trying to catch sight of the fly and then SNAP! ... and a miss. Weird dog. It's hard to catch Halo not looking dignified. I really must get on her tracking training, it's just been so hot no one wants to work but whenever I see her doing this I am prompted to kit her out in her tracking harness. "There is something in the woods," she's saying, "I can smell it." So cute with her little nose pressed against the fence - it's the only thing keeping her from bolting into the trees and disappearing. She followed the fence line for some time trying to find a way through and all the while her nose was turned to the forest scenting creatures hidden within. Archer is hard to photograph looking dignified these days(he is currently snoring behind me) so when I get the chance I show it off. There are fleeting moments when I catch sight of him and think "My, what a lovely puppy" and then he moves and trips, or sits awkwardly, or stands with all his feet pointing in different directions and I think "My, what an ugly duckling." Of course, we all know how the ugly duckly turned out ...

And here's me on the swing set in the park. This was a harder photo to accomplished than you may realise. The dogs get a little wigged out when I'm on the swing set and it took Halo a long time to be able to 'see' me when she was younger. I'd swing and call her and she'd look around like she couldn't find me. The rest of the dogs don't have that problem, they just get all silly and bouncy but learned the hard way to avoid a person on a swing.(For the record I did try to prevent collisions but they just kept coming back.) No dogs were harmed in the taking of this photo ...