tdierikx

Nice CC... T.

Are you able to try some working with her one-on-one to see if part of her issue is a confidence thing? Some pups just aren't as confident of themselves as their littermates, and seem to lag behind a bit until they work out that they can do some things for themselves. If her hearing and smell senses are OK, you may have some success with some intensive (short sessions) one-on-one work to boost her confidence in her own abilities. T.

Awww... look at gorgeous kitty cat! As for capturing the animals doing strange things... well... when you go to the zoos as often as I do, it gets pretty boring if you just take pics of them sleeping (which most of the animals actually do a lot of by the way). I look for them to be doing funny/interesting things, and then take lots of pictures of them doing it... lol! It helps that you get to know which animals are likely to be doing something other than sleeping at what times too... *grin* Rainy, cool, or overcast days are usually the best to get interesting animal photos at the zoos... too hot or cold means you get them hiding or sleeping more... T.

I so wish I could help... my heart breaks for you and the pup(s) Bonnie... Is there anyone in your area who may be able to neurologically test the little girl pup to ascertain what all may be the issue? At least then you may have a fuller picture as to what is going on, and be able to make a decision you won't be thinking "what if" about... The sitting alone and crying instead of trying to get to things herself, plus the funny way she holds her head when sleeping/resting, indicates there may be a little more work needed with her than sorting out sight problems. She may also thrive perfectly well once she gets a little more confidence in her own abilities... do you have the time to maybe take her off on her own every now and then to work on her confidence problem? Like a quiet area, a plate of her fave food, and placing her a short distance from it and letting her find and eat it herself... and increase the distance a little after each time she gets it right? Even if you sit on the other side of the plate from her and tap on the floor so she has a couple of ways to locate what she's looking for (smell and hearing in this case). I used to walk a blind and partially deaf older dog at the rescue I worked at - we used to slap the side of our legs for him to basically echo-locate where we wanted him to turn... it worked a charm. Got to the point where we could walk him without a lead and he wouldn't bump into fences or the like. T.

I've still got the crutches from when mine and my brother's Labs barrelled me while playing zoomies... my own silly fault for not paying enough attention to the crazy no brain Labs doing zoomies. I must say, the incident has made me MUCH more aware of dogs playing zoomies nearby now... no matter where I may be... As for the lady in the OP, I'd think that coming back 2 months later and only identifying one of the 2 dogs that knocked her over to be target for her medical bills, would kind of make it difficult to make her case - wouldn't it? Especially if there were other witnesses to the incident... T.

Looking forward to seeing your photos CC... T.

So close... but so far... I'd have her in a shot if I didn't have at least another 3 months to wait before I can call my yard clear of Parvo... grrr! I'd hate to take her on only to have her get sick... She'd make a good little sister for my other disabled dog, Pickles... lol! I've not had a blind dog before, but I've fostered a deaf one.... now, THAT was hard work! I have worked with blind dogs before though, and find they manage pretty well. T.

5/31 - what baby elephant - I don't see no baby elephant... 01-03-2014-taronga 657 by tdierikx, on Flickr 6/31 - Snow Leopard at Taronga Zoo 01-03-2014-taronga 419 by tdierikx, on Flickr T.

Those eyes tell a story perse... he looks like a truly cheeky little munchkin... lol! T.

Yes but you don't have a muzzled dog T. I used to have a Rotti boy who was muzzled when out for a walk... people used to cross the road to avoid him. What they didn't know was that the muzzle was for HIS protection, not theirs. T.

Tres cool! T.

I have a dog that is timid of people she hasn't met before, and will bark and carry on and hide behind me... but she's plenty happy to be approached by strange dogs... go figure? I would have the backward dog, wouldn't I? T.

... then you can talk me through how one actually shoots Macro... 'cos I'm completely befuddled by it all... lol! My old 2MP point and shoot had a lovely Macro setting that took gorgeous shots... maybe I should pull that out for old times' sake... *grin* T.

I bet Tonka wasn't looking at the view... lol! Gorgeous pics as always FF! T.

I'd look for a local group training club and join... there will usually be a more controlled environment there to allow supervised interaction between the dogs. I used to take Harper to my local training club when the more advanced training groups were training - I was more likely to have her meet well behaved dogs when they had their breaks then... and she loved it. T.

For the yard - keep grass short or well tended... fleas love long grass... My guys were finally flea free about 2 weeks after the 2 doses of Comfortis and dose of Advantage spot-on... it took a little while for it to all kick in I suppose... grrr! Haven't seen a flea since I'm happy to say... *grin* T.

I used a check chain when training my Lab to heel... used properly, check chains are wonderful things... T.

4/31 - I loves my barrel... 01-03-2014-taronga 582 by tdierikx, on Flickr T.

Was the bitch mated more than once during her season? That pup looks to be somewhat "uncooked"... T.

3/31 - one more of Fumo the cheeky Chimp... 01-03-2014-taronga 877 by tdierikx, on Flickr T.

How long have you been taking photos? I've always been a bit of a photo-taker - best memory is when I found my Mum's old box brownie as a teen and took some pics of a friend's pet cow with it... lol! Only been more serious about photography since getting involved with Rescue back in 2006 and started taking photos of the rescues for advertising them for adoption. Are you professional, amateur, artist, something else? Completely amateur, but I have an arrangement with one of the zoos I visit where I supply them with my photos of their animals for use as they see fit (marketing, signage, etc), and I get to visit there for free. It's a very cool feeling to see your photos on signs around the zoo... *grin* Do you have a main subject (portrait, pets etc)? I used to primarily photograph rescue fosters and my own dogs... have moved "up" to visiting 3 zoos regularly and taking photos of more exotic creatures. Do you have a favourite technique or photography set-up? (Or a few) I'm lazy... I use the Sports preset on my camera and shoot in jpg. I also do extremely minimal post editing and rarely crop. What you see posted is pretty much what the camera gave me when I pressed the magic clicky button. What is your learning edge at the moment? Mainly framing the shots I take... if it looks interesting through the viewfinder, I press the magic clicky button. What equipment do you use? Currently my Canon 60D and Canon 100-400mm L lens are in permanent partnership. I have other lenses - Tamron 18-270mm, Canon 55-250mm (kit lens), and Tamron 90mm Macro - but they don't come out very often. Any current projects? I love going to zoos - current rotation is between Taronga, Featherdale, and Symbio. Participating in 52 Weeks here on DOL, and the monthly photo a day. Future hopes, visions and/or experiences? I'd love to learn how to shoot in manual mode one day, but am having pretty good results with my current "technique", so following that I'm very lazy it may be a while before I get around to trying to work out manual modes. I'd love to do a tour of all the different zoos in Australia one day - and go to Africa and get to photograph exotic animals in the wild... A statement about what you strive for with your work: Trying to capture the animals I visit each week doing different and interesting things - and making them NOT look like they are in a zoo enclosure.

Awesome photos! I'd love to go to Africa one day... T.

2/31 - more Fumo the cheeky Chimp... he was in fine form... *grin* 01-03-2014-taronga 912 by tdierikx, on Flickr T.

Nice! Much better than I can do with my macro lens... For the life of me, I can't work out how the macro lens works... probably because I'm so used the the zoom lenses, and macro is a whole other ballgame, isn't it? T.

1/31 - Fumo the baby Chimpanzee at Taronga... 01-03-2014-taronga 844 by tdierikx, on Flickr T.