Catch!

[Kyle]

After taking a first round of dog pics I went out the next day to get some more. This time I brought my 55-250mm lens.

As always, all C&C is welcome.










Bonus pic: My fiancee helped out to take some photos of me playing catch with Tucker.

[travis4567]

Love these Kyle. Great shots and Tucker reminds me of my Golden, Chuckie, I had to put down a few years ago.

[Downrigger]

Just great - great dog shots. But I'm mucho softie on dog shots!

[Kyle]

Thanks guys, I'm glad you enjoyed the shots.

Love these Kyle. Great shots and Tucker reminds me of my Golden, Chuckie, I had to put down a few years ago.

I'm sorry to hear about that. It's always a hard thing to do. We had to do the same with our other golden, Calley, a few years ago. Unfortunately I wasn't into photography back then so we have no good photos of her. Tucker here is getting on in years but he makes a great photo subject.

[IzzieK]

I'm not too keen on shots 1 and two -- your Tucker looks fat. But 3-4-5 are good ones, Kyle...your doggie is a very good and cooperative model too. (And yes, my dog's name is Tucker too, a nearly 4-year-old Rottweiler though...)

[Shadowman]

Nice.

[deetheturk]

Lovely dog Kyle,nice images bud!

[rpcrowe]

Nice shots of a beautiful dog...

[Kyle]

I'm not too keen on shots 1 and two -- your Tucker looks fat.

That's because he is a little on the chunky side! He loves to play ball but only for a short while, then he gives up. He's a bit on the lazy side, hence the extra weight.

[bnnrcn]

Please kiss Tucker for me I have a Golden too.He used to play a lot when he was young but he usually sleeps now because he is 14 years old.I advise you to be careful about his eating habits because when he gets old,his metabolism will slow down and you might be bound to put him on a diet.

[IzzieK]

That's because he is a little on the chunky side! He loves to play ball but only for a short while, then he gives up. He's a bit on the lazy side, hence the extra weight.

Kyle...chunky is not a problem. I personally cook my spoiled rottenweiler his dinner. He became chunky a some stage. Then my neighbour who had two dogs at the time told me about adding half a can of green beans to his diet. (Her dog eats ordinary dog food.) And my vet told me to add a tablespoonful of olive oil to his diet. I did both. He is now as fit as a weasel and helping me good in training the other two rambunctious doggies we have. Another thing we have with all our dogs is giving them "jobs" for a little treat. Picking up the newspaper in the driveway during the week, picking up their toys off the garden and the family room, picking up the peanut butter bones off their crate and putting it in a designated container...etc. And they are very proud of their "jobs". You can see that by the look in their eyes. Goldens are very smart dogs...they are especially used by hospitals here in the US for various jobs. In short, keep him moving...

[Kyle]

The problem is he doesn't live with me. I'll mention the green beans and olive oil to my parents though and hopefully that will help. They definitely don't walk him as much as they should.

[tbob]

Great series. Good to see him out being active (oh and you too). i would crop number 2 to emphasize the grab of the ball and lighten it up so the snow is brighter.

WARNING: RANT TO FOLLOW My veterinary side forces me to lecture you on tennis balls. The nylon cover is like sandpaper and will wear his teeth down if he is chewing them. Playing is fine, just not leaving him to carry them or chew. As well, hollow balls are potential problems as some dogs will rip them apart and swallow the fragments. An avoidable catastrophy RANT FINISHED

[Kyle]

Trevor, I updated the photo with your suggestions.



Tucker doesn't usually chew toys or tennis balls anymore. He'll play if you throw stuff for him otherwise he doesn't bother. I just used a tennis ball because it was all I had at my house.

[flashback]

It's a Golden...how can you have a bad shot of a Golden? That being the case I more prefer #4, quintessential Golden. And he's not fat, he's just Goldenier.

[IzzieK]

... WARNING: RANT TO FOLLOW My veterinary side forces me to lecture you on tennis balls. The nylon cover is like sandpaper and will wear his teeth down if he is chewing them. Playing is fine, just not leaving him to carry them or chew. As well, hollow balls are potential problems as some dogs will rip them apart and swallow the fragments. An avoidable catastrophy RANT FINISHED

My dogs when they were young used to tear and swallowed a lot of pieces from their toy. The very first one I panicked about was a plastic stuff from a Christmas decoration. I called our vet straight away...My vet advised to give our dog olive oil every hour until it comes out...what goes in at the top, goes out the other side...and watch his poop if it comes out with it. We were also reminded that cows would ingest barb wires and still be OK...Maybe it depend on how large the animal is and how big it had ingested I don't know...we've been lucky so far. I have seen a tv show where animal have been operated on for ingesting larger objects like a whole tea towel or something...

[jamn4ex]

Love those shots Kyle. I grew up with a golden named sandy, everyone in the neighborhood loved her she really knew how to work people. Since her I have had two other Goldens, one named miss Whitney, and her offspring named Buddy. They are fantastic family dogs. Loyal beyond fault.
Thanks for posting picks of your Tucker and bringing up such fond memories.

[tbob]

I have seen a tv show where animal have been operated on for ingesting larger objects like a whole tea towel or something...

Not to hijack the thread; but my record is a Bloodhound that swallowed a beach towel (three feet by five feet). The wife had grabbed it to mop up the spillage from cutting a roast and thought her husband had thrown it into the wash. The dog had other ideas about a tasty, beefy snack. It is impossible for a 90 kilogram person, even for a million dollars, to successfully swallow an intact face cloth let alone a beach towel.

[NorthernFocus]

Nice set of shots, Kyle. A dog, snow, and a ball are a pretty winning combination.

Goldens are such cool dogs. I can't recall ever seeing a surly one. I talked to a local guy who trains and works search and rescue dogs. He uses goldens exclusively due to their natural affinity for humans. He said most any of the hunting breeds have the nose for it but the goldens also have the natural drive to seek out people.

These were taken in pretty challenging lighting conditions. Very warm toned sunlight in the directly lit places and very cool light in the shade from an obviously blue sky reflected even more by the snow. The WB is all over the map on these shots. I'm guessing these were as shot auto WB? I'm not in favor of correcting shaded snow all the way to white. Under a blue sky it looks blue to the eye so should look that way in a photo too. IMO the first and last in the OP look best for WB. In mixed light like this you can pick a spot of snow that in the sun and use that as your reference. In shots like this with the sun low in the sky you'd want to stay on the warm side of white.

[Kyle]

These were taken in pretty challenging lighting conditions. Very warm toned sunlight in the directly lit places and very cool light in the shade from an obviously blue sky reflected even more by the snow. The WB is all over the map on these shots. I'm guessing these were as shot auto WB? I'm not in favor of correcting shaded snow all the way to white. Under a blue sky it looks blue to the eye so should look that way in a photo too. IMO the first and last in the OP look best for WB. In mixed light like this you can pick a spot of snow that in the sun and use that as your reference. In shots like this with the sun low in the sky you'd want to stay on the warm side of white.

Thanks for your comments, Dan. The sun was setting pretty quickly which left some areas lit and others a bit in the shade. I always shoot in auto WB because I can edit it later since I leave it in RAW mode. I did do some correcting of the colour of the snow. I wasn't sure that it should look as blue as it was looking in the pictures. I very likely corrected it too much.
I'll keep this in mind for next time and make sure that I at least keep it consistent. I'm still new to lightroom but I assume there should be a function somewhere to pick a colour from a shot to use as a basis for other photos?


I'm glad everyone has enjoyed these photos. It just shows how great of dogs Goldens are. The two that I've had in my life (Tucker and Calley) have both been exceptional dogs. When I look at getting a dog myself, I'll likely be looking for another Golden.

Oh and Trevor, that's pretty crazy that any animal that size could manage to eat an entire towel. We've been on the lucky side and either of our dogs have ever attempted to eat anything too out of the ordinary.