Pet Emergency

[kdoc856]

All attempts to salvage this pup's coat after a glorious romp failed- about 2 hours of picking and combing. "Emergency" visit to the groomer was the only resort. Mom much happier now, Dad a bit poorer and chastened.

[Maritimer1]

Oh my word! It's a canine before and after. The second one is a lovely, relaxed photo. (She could model!) I am getting a blue tinge, though, from the pup's coat. Do you have a processing program that would allow you to click for WB?

What on earth did the pup roll in? He/She does look a bit unhappy with the state of things.

[kdoc856]

Myra,

I confess very little effort went into the those shots. I'll correct the WB a bit. The pup dindt roll in anything, just ran full speed through a woods, a stream , and a large field of wild grass.

[Trina]

Kevin,
Did you learn anything? I am glad you posted a picture of her dry, she is a very pretty dog. In the first picture the way they are looking I can just imagine they are watching Dad get chewed on just a bit by Mom. lol I have a little springer spaniel that has a coat that catches EVERYTHING so I know what you were dealing with, and of course his favorite thing to do it run through the weeds at high speed. There are certain times of the year that his coat is going to be kept very short, especially his ears...

[kdoc856]

Hi, Trina

Someone gave me the wrong dog, I think. I've never had any dog except Labradors until this pup. Labs are indestructible, low maintenance and just need affection, discipline and a place to run and swim.. I have no idea how the Fates have brought this dog to me.. I am not qualified.... I have so much to learn

[Daisy Mae]

Is she a labradoodle?

[kdoc856]

HI, Sharon

A goldendoodle - taking it on faith.. Seems a lot more doodle than golden though. All I wanted was a Lab that doesnt shed. Not real sure what we have here. But she's very sweet and seems quite intelligent. She may be more my wife's dog.. We shall see.

[rpcrowe]

Kevin...

I can relate to your feeling when you saw your pup. My gardener left the gate opened to my pool the other day and my Goldendoodle decided to beat the heat and take a swim. Then she rolled in the lawn full of grass clippings. I didn't shot her picture but, believe me, she was a buff and green colored version of your black and green beauty.

BTW: your doodle is an absolute gorgeous dog! Her coloring will probably fade towards gray as she matures. That is typical for doodles. My Goldendoodle was a reddish color as a pup and is a very light buff color as an adult.

If you are interested in Goldendoodles and Labradoodles in general; http://www.doodlekisses.com/ is a wonderful site with loads of friendly and helpful people. It even has its own photo group.

My Holly's photos are locate at, http://rpcrowe.smugmug.com/Pets/Holl...061604&k=wrj4H

[ggt]

HA! I have three field spaniels --bred to hunt in dense cover. The hunters come home full of burrs and stinky from swimming in any pond they can find in the field! Each afternoon hunt requires a bath and 1 hour of grooming! They even get burrs stuck in the hair in between the pads of their paws!!! I've learned that the object is for the dogs to have fun and to work both their minds and their bodies. Overall ,they are easier to live with that way.

I'm so jealous you are able to get such nice pics of your solid color dog. A technique I am still working on . . . . .

[kdoc856]

Thanks, Gretchen and Richard.

Shooting a decent image of both a light and dark coated dogs is certainly a challenge, Gretchen. I'm a bit better than I was, but I have a host of pics of my yellow and black labs together where the black is just a featureless blob. We are blessed to share this thread and forum with someone who is as good at it as anyone I've ever witnessed- Richard Crowe!

And Gretchen... have you found a sure fire burr removal technique other than the shearing I resorted to?

[Trina]

And Gretchen... have you found a sure fire burr removal technique other than the shearing I resorted to?

I would love to know this too! I tend to keep Tucker cut short which helps make it easier to flick the burrs out, as long as I get right on it when I find them. Foxtails are an issue here too, especially for dogs with longish hair.
Tucker after a run through the weeds.. he didnt even get in a pond lol but was full of stickers.

[ggt]

Mars Coat King. It is an expensive tool, designed to strip the coat during shedding season (and for that super-sleek look at dog shows). It's much kinder than the normal shedding blade people often use. I find that if I use it very gently it is wonderful at getting thru mattes and burrs. Sometimes tho, you just have to grab and pull the burr while holding the hair at the base as not to pull the skin. My two older dogs are retired from Shows, so they are shaved near naked during the summer!

[ggt]

Trina, Tucker is sooo cute and he is obviously adept at getting sympathy. Can I hug him? Ok, you hug him for me.

[kdoc856]

Gretchen,

Thanks once again. I just ordered the Mars Coat King. You never can anticipate what you'll learn on this forum

Kevin

[rpcrowe]

Thank you for the great compliment Kevin. I am fortunate that between our own full-time dogs (1-Goldendoodle and 5-Maltese) plus the multitudes of rescue dogs (both Doodles and Maltese) that we foster throughout the year; I have loads of willing (and sometimes unwilling) subjects. Constant practice and the willingness to shoot and cull from a great many images really helps my keepers.

Although I do enjoy some landscape and cityscape photography, my favorite subjects are dogs and people...

I would say that the three best tips for dog photography is to have another person to help handle the dog (except in action shots), to shoot with a longish focal length (I seldom shoot at less than 100mm on my 1.6x crop cameras) and to use bounce flash with a diffuser/reflector indoors and fill flash outdoor.

A good picture of a rescue animal can mean life and death for the animal. I would guess that surfing the Net on sites like Petfinder.com, has replaced to a great extent just visiting shelters in order to find a dog. Having a good picture of the animal on the site can mean a lot of interest in the dog or little of no interest - and "no-interest" means death in a high-kill shelter.

I have seen the difference in interest in dogs when I replaced a badly done image with a good picture of the same dog on our website (www.americanmalteserescue.org). We have had dogs from out of our area on our site for weeks with no interest. Once a good picture is posted, we start getting interested applicants.

Sometimes all that is needed is a little post processing of an existing image.

[Colin Southern]

Reminds me of the time one of my Dobermanns had a roll in a "nice fresh cow pat" ... then I had to put her in the van and drive to a stream to even start cleaning her up (we were in the middle of nowhere).

[Markvetnz]

I love that first shot.

[Donald]

I love that first shot.

I just keep going back to it. I think it's glorious.

[MajaMolly]

I love both images. The first has that look of, 'Didn't mean to do it, really.' The second shows what a beautiful Doodle you have. Doodles are such fun dogs. They do take a bit of grooming, but the fun, love, and loyalty are worth it. I love all dogs, but Doodles have totally captured my heart.