Tag: black lab

Good News

A close-up of our dog Ellie lying on the kitchen tile with her ears raised and wiggling, taken in July 2013

I took Ellie in for an ultrasound yesterday as the protein count in her urine has been on the high side. Thankfully everything looked good on her test, the vet even commented on how nice it was to be able to deliver good news for such a sweet dog. The protein levels are just below the need to treat them, so for now we’ll continue to monitor and start treatment if necessary. She had to get her belly shaved for the ultrasound but I haven’t done my duty and take embarrassing pictures of her, this one is from a year ago on the day I got my first mirrorless camera.

She’s a pot roast away from heaven

She's a pot roast away from heaven

Ellie curled up with her two favorite toys on the dog bed in my office. She is crazy for these orange balls, I can’t take one on our walks because she spends the entire walk trying to poke it out of my hand. I wake to Ellie and her ball in the morning (she climbs in beside me when my wife gets up). I used to not let her have the balls in the house as they carry a lot of energy when they bounce, but in her advancing years she’s happy enough to play gently with me on the couch.

The Pitch

The Pitch

It might look like she’s catching the ball, but Ellie is actually throwing it back to me. We adopted her when she was five and she was already doing this cute little trick so I can’t claim any credit for it.

I’m Ever So Happy, Really I Am

I'm Ever So Happy, Really I Am

I’ve photographed Ellie many times over the years but most of my pictures don’t show her goofy and sweet personality very well. The problem is that the moment I stop playing with her so that I can take her picture, she pauses and waits for me to start playing again, and if her mouth isn’t open she just looks sad or even, as she does here, a little bit angry. Her eyes aren’t as wide open as they normally would be to help protect them from the falling snow.

But all of that snow on her snout is from rooting through the snow to get her ball, I assure you we were having a great time.

Snow Day

Snow Day

We got hit with a bit of snow the past few days and, since the city is not well-equipped to deal with it (our winters are generally pretty mild), we were sent home from work early on Thursday and told to stay home on Friday. Since Ellie loves the snow, I hoped to get some shots of her playing as the snow fell, but unfortunately much of the snow came late in the day on Thursday and Friday, and Saturday we were out during the day.

But I did get some pictures on Friday even if most of them are not action shots like this one, as its rather hard to both throw the ball and take the pictures. For this shot I think she was coming to get a treat as the ball is in the snow behind her. It’s a bit back-focused, the autofocus on the little EOS M is not at all quick, but to be fair even my SLR has trouble tracking her black fur.