That’s what has been up over here as of late. I would post photos of the damage, but guess what…the cameras got soaked too!

I’m thankful though, I turned them on a day or two ago in blind hope…and they work again. If they hadn’t though, I have insurance so it would all be fine regardless.

The terrible thing is that two very important hand-made japanese swords were water damaged. I’m still waiting to hear from the claims people on what can be done about them. I’m very uneasy about that given how difficult they will be to replace, the sentimental value is immeasurable.

Good news though in the fact that my computer and all of my data storage drives are in tact. I’m pretty sure this is the first time Murphy’s law hasn’t cost me some photos.

So that means that as soon as I can get everything cleaned up and get my home back in order I’ll be posting those photos I took last week!

Keep your head up,

David

Now that I have a few minutes I can actually post up a real update too!

Over the past month a lot of things have happened with him. First off, he’s doubled in size. I took him to the vet in early May and found out he was riddled with parasites from the shelter so he was on meds for about 3 weeks to take care of all of that. He’s a bit underweight still, but I’m guessing that it has a lot to do with how fast he’s growing. It seems like his weight just can’t keep up with his bones yet.

He started losing his puppy teeth last week. I was giddy, and so was my skin (I’m kidding, he doesn’t bite me…ever). I am hoping that his chew toys might last a bit longer now though.

Overall, he’s doing great even if I can’t spend as much time with him as I’d like. He’s training well, and his puppy retardation is starting to diminish. Awesome.

In photo news, I have a new shoot set up for Sunday, so be on the lookout for photos of humans very soon.

Hope all is well with you!

-David

I know he looks noble and mature and such…but it’s a lie.

He’s nothing but trouble. 40lbs of trouble.

I don’t have a whole lot of time to write today..but check out the shots anyway!

Until next time.

Ciao!

We’re in the last days of week #2 and he’s doing great. Though, he is the only puppy I’ve ever seen that learned how to heel before learning not to pee in the house. I suppose I understand how that’s happened, I mean we do spend substantially more time walking than peeing. Thank God.

His food aggression issues are getting better by far, not completely gone but definitely better.

I thought I would hate getting up at 5:30 to take him for a morning walk. While it would be substantially easier if I would get a good night’s sleep, I really enjoy those times. Same for when I come home. Especially since that’s when he gets to meet the other neighborhood dogs. I wish I could give him a constant playmate like he would have had were Otto still around. Right now that’s just not possible though. I am taking him to the vet this weekend so I can make sure he’s healthy before I take him to the dog parks.

He’s changed a lot in the time that I’ve had him. The most obvious being his physical changes. He’s gained about 5 pounds and his topcoat has started coming in so he’s getting much darker.

Last week:

This morning:

Much much darker. No tricks of light either, he’s just that different.

I hope you can all forgive me for the quality of these photos. I know I’m supposed to be the pro and all, but we take snapshots too.

I’m still working hard at exposing him to new things/people/animals. The last thing he needs is to become an 80 pound dog that is afraid of everything. That just leads to fear biting, and that leads to someone getting hurt.

Anyway, as I get him more well trained I’ll be able to grab better shots but for now…yeah right, I’m lucky he’s not a blurry grey streak.

Ciao for now.

According to the shelter he’s a Siberian Husky/wolf mix. I’m going to get a DNA test on him somewhere down the road just to know for sure.

He’s not the easiest little guy to take photos of, I can say that much for sure. It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a young dog and I forgot about the curiosity they tend to have.

And the sharp little teeth.

Ow.

I still haven’t decided on a name yet. “Koda” is looking like the most likely but I like  “Sokah” and “Okami” too. Someone mentioned “Logan” as well, and I kinda like that one too.

Who knows at this point. I still need to learn more about his personality before I decide.

He’s very quiet, in fact the only time I’ve heard him bark was when he discovered the little springy door-stopper thing.

We have lots of work to do, we got “sit” pretty well finished in under 10 minutes today, but things like “don’t bite and yank on my pants while I’m changing” will be a bit tougher I think.

Alright, my toes are being eaten. I’ll write more later.

G’night audience.

You may remember reading about Otto a few months ago. Well, due to the circumstances that I alluded to in my “hey I’m not dead” post, Otto is no longer mine. Since I have no idea if I’ll ever get to have him back in my home…I’ve decided to adopt another dog.

He doesn’t have a name yet , and I won’t actually have him for a few more days while he’s getting his shots and stuff.

Kind of neat how I came across him though.

I spent most of Thursday night on petfinder looking to see who was adoptable in the area, and I found two, one was an Akita mix, and the other was a Husky mix. I went to meet the Akita that night, he was a good dog, but we just didn’t click. I called up Wayside Waifs (the shelter with the husky). They were closed in preparation for a big adoption event happening this weekend. So I went up to on friday at about 6am.

When I was walking around the shelter I couldn’t find Maizie, the dog I had come to see. On asking about her I found out that she had a litter and wouldn’t be available for the next 8 weeks.

Sadness.

As I was turning to leave though, I saw this other dog and knew right away he was the one, but the staff told me he wasn’t available either with no reason as to why.

Sad again.

I went to my office to start my work day, but couldn’t get this puppy out of my mind and decided to head back up there over lunch. Turns out he wasn’t available because a staff member thought she might want him. I said, ok well let me know cause I want this dog.

I got a call an hour later saying he was mine.

Happiness.

I went up there this morning to play with him and make sure we were right for each other. We bonded right away. Now he’s getting his shots and getting neutered and I get to pick him up on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I forgot to take my camera so the best shot I could get on my crappy phone is this one:

Not great, I know…but I’ll make up for it soon. Eventually you will get tired of seeing photos of this dog.

I’m super excited. If any of you readers in the KC area have dogs, he’s only 2 months old or so and will need plenty of socialization with other dogs so get hold of me and we can do the whole “puppy play time” thing.

I promised a reward for sticking around…so here it is.

I know many of my readers are also avid Photoshop users, so I’m giving you a set of high-res textures to use on your images.

There are 19 images, making a nice large download of 213mb. So take some time and grab it.

I use textures like these in Photoshop to make everything from custom grunge brushes to other image effects like in the image below.

So get ‘em, play around…and if you ask real nice maybe I’ll post a tutorial about my process with things like that.

I feel like I owe you all an explanation, however I’m not going to delve into the horrible, gritty details. Suffice it to say, some things have gone on that I never expected would happen, none of them are good, and I was completely blindsided. I still don’t even understand why it happened in the first place let alone why it continues. Life moves forward though…very slowly it seems…but it moves.

I am the Peep with half his body ripped off.

Some changes are coming about as a result of what has been happening in my life. The most relevant here is that for the foreseeable future I will not be booking any weddings. The events currently on my calendar will be shot as planned, but no more bookings are being accepted.

I am truly sorry to take that from anyone that really wanted me to shoot their upcoming wedding. I will leave the resources up here about what you need to ask your potential photographer, and if you like I can recommend some amazing photographers that can help you out.

I am not giving up photography. Just weddings.

I went and bought a point-and-shoot canon digital about a week ago so I wouldn’t have to carry around my giant SLR’s all the time. That’s been a lot of fun, it’s great to be able to keep my camera in my pocket rather than weighing down my neck. Hopefully that will help me get back into the swing of things again.

I do have a reward for all of the readers that have stuck around during my absence. As soon as it finishes uploading I will post again revealing what this amazing reward is.

It will be today…I promise!

I forgot to take my camera with me while we were outside. Ooops. It worked out better that way in the end though. Otto is a very intelligent dog (as I believe most of them are) but his fearful nature is a major obstacle.

I know I can change that as I’m able to work with him on a daily basis. So far that seems like it will be the hardest part of training him. More than anything, training the people that he will be around will be  a bigger challenge.

Given that today is the day he doesn’t get to go back home to his previous owner, I’m sure it’s especially tough on him.

Anyway, so that’s today’s news.

OH, and the Central Missouri Humane Society is now #4 in the contest on ZooToo.com that I told you about in my last post!

How awesome is that?

On Thursday I went to get to know him a little bit and get an understanding of his temperament. Then, we did a little training. I was told he was a bit of a puller on the leash, so that was the first priority. In about 45 minutes Otto had a good grasp of not pulling, and he learned sit, stay, down, and started working on coming when called.

Saturday was great, and once he got used to being with me he was responding perfectly. He’s a bit neophobic, but I know that as I help him with his obedience and his confidence he will be a completely different dog altogether.

Provided the weather holds up a bunch of us will be going to the dog park. So to make up for the lack of photos today, I promise I’ll take plenty Saturday so you can all “meet” Otto.

By the way people, the Central Missouri Humane Society is trying to win a 1 million dollar makeover for their shelter. As I’m sure you know, the trouble of the CMHS are pretty important to me, so if you feel inclined to help them out, you don’t have to do much. Go to www.zootoo.com and set up a profile, fill out a few things and select the Central Missouri Humane Society as your shelter. It doesn’t cost you anything but time.

They have to hit at least #20 to be considered, and right now they are at #24.