Yeah, I'm a dog guy

Ok, I admit it, I’m a dog person.  I just love dogs and have had one or more living with me most of my life.  Sometimes I think that dogs are close to being God’s most perfect creation.  Think about it, they don’t worry about much of anything, never seem to hold a grudge, truly want to make you happy and love unconditionally.  What more could you ask for?

For most of my life, there as been a dog living with me.  The first one was Tiny.  I don’t remember much about him but I do remember him and how much I loved him.

My dog now is Sophie, a great companion and hiking buddy.  I’m not sure what her breeding is since she was an apparent orphan found wandering in a parking garage downtown.  When people ask what kind of a dog she is, I usually just say, “a black one.”  That’s about all I know.  Perhaps some terrier, but who knows and who cares?  That’s how it’s been with all but one of my dogs, they were strays that just wandered up or puppies from mixed-breed litters that people were desperate to give away. 

The lady that found her refers to her as a rags-to-riches story.  We are not rich by human standards, but in dog currency she is wealthy.  She has people who love her, a warm bed and treat every night at bedtime and she gets to take a long walk in the park and “hunt” squirrels several days a week.  Not only that, but she has her own back yard with critters in the woods to bark at just on the other side of the fence.

Sometimes I wonder about her early life.  She doesn’t seem to have been abused, but she doesn’t seem to have received much affection either. While she loves to be in my presence, either lying nearby in the studio, going anywhere in the car or, best of all, going for a walk in the woods, she is not one to be petted or lie next to me on the sofa.  Maybe that’s part of our kindred spirit.  We’re not touchy-feely.

One thing, as a photographer, I wish was different.  I wish she were brown.  Black dogs are just harder to photograph.  Brown dogs show up so much better in pictures.  But, she is mine and I wouldn’t trade her for all the brown dogs in town.