Thursday, August 7, 2008

Faces in the Park

Duncan and I have vastly different agendas on our walks. His seems purpose-driven, as if he's got a strict list of things which need accomplishing, including peeing on the snapdragons on the corner, disrupting the ant hill at the base of the largest of the cottonwoods and sticking his nose in every unsavory thing we stumble upon. My agenda, however, is to be as agenda-free as possible, to enjoy the walk, perhaps do some people watching, ponder my novel and maybe snap a few pictures along the way. Duncan is quite good at stopping and staying when I see a shot I'd like to capture, although more often than not he gets in a few digs aimed right at me which aren't always apparent until I get home and download the photos. He's good-natured and lovable, but he's also cunning and has a wicked sense of humor.







12 comments:

Chris and Mackenzie said...

Aww, 'tree tongue' is a wonderful shot. I've tried to capture this a bunch of times but the digital camera is never quick enough.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Great pics. You are a doing a good job of capturing the many faces of Duncan. No easy task with a canine.

C. JoyBell C. said...
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Curt Rogers said...

Charity, Duncan's collar does look a bit medieval, doesn't it. Believe me, when it was first given to us I was mortified at the prospect of it. But Duncan does need strong correction when we walk. He's always been a tugger, leaning far away from me on our walks, choking himself and actually damaging his throat. We have tried several different kinds of collars, including a choke (or slip) collar, which is potentially more dangerous than the one he wears now. The prong collar we use really isn't bad at all, and I know because I tried it on myself long before I used it on Duncan. Basically, when Duncan pulls away from me, either in a direction I don't want him to go (such as into the street or up to another dog, like the Shepherds which menaced us last Winter) or faster than I'm prepared to walk, the prongs on the collar come together and deliver a very slight pinch. The force of that pinch is determined by how hard Duncan pulls, with even the strongest pulls receiving a minor pinch. And he always reponds when he pulls by letting up. You can't for one minute believe that someone who loves their dog as much as I obviously love mine would knowingly hurt them. After trying to train him on LITERALLY every kind of lead or harness or leash or collar, I finally found one he responds to. I've attempted walks without it and it just doesn't work.

Recently at Hero's someone asked about it and before I could respond another woman, who owns two Goldens, said she would never use any other collar because the prong was the safest and the most effective.

There's a ton of reading out there about it. Start here: http://www.canismajor.com/dog/prong.html

And thanks for asking.

Unknown said...

Curt, once again, I agree 1000% with you on the prong collar.

Enough said about that...

The pictures are GREAT! Duncan has such a wonderfully expressive face!

Anonymous said...

I know Curt didn't have any luck with it on Duncan, but the Gentle Leader Halter worked miracles on my beagle who used to be practically unwalkable with how much he pulled. After ten minutes of training he was a completely different dog on our walks. After a year, he was doing so well that I switched him to a harness that "leads" from the front rather than the back like most. I have to do very little work to keep him from pulling. Walks are so much more enjoyable when there is slack in the leash!

Greg said...

Damn, Curt, your kid's gotta big tongue.

Thanks for addressing the collar issue...I'd wondered before, especially as the dad of a "problem walker" myself.

I love that you tried it on yourself before using it with him. What a good parent/guardian/friend you are!!

(No surprise there, at this point, of course...)

Valerie Cummings said...

OMG he is so handsome and I love his expressions!

Anonymous said...

Duncan is being funny and it is making me laugh so much and I see your pictures and they were great and funny and were good. They had a lot of sensum to them. We had so much fun at your guy's house. We will write you in the morning for all the sunsen days, and we will call you in the morning and we will do a lot of things for you and we will make you some stuff and send it the mailman to Uncle Curt a long long way away. We will be coming to you all of the time.

Love Elijah

Curt Rogers said...

Elijah, nothing would make me happier than for you to come to us all of the time. Uncle Ken and I would love to see you and Jonah and Mommy and Dad. And Duncan would lick the sweetness right off your face.

Rick said...

Great pictures Curt. I've got to get one of those collars for my lab. She's terrible to walk.

C. JoyBell C. said...
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