Morning Playtime
December 28, 2024
For once, I didn’t have to go anywhere today – or watch the clock. It was warm enough to go without gloves, so I could work the camera. So I took photos of all the dogs during their ball sessions. It was also mostly cloudy with very little sun glare – great for photo taking. The sun would peak through the clouds every so often for some interesting backlighting.
This time of year, we have to do the ball sessions WAY in the back of my two acres where the lack of trees and dog traffic means that the snow melts quickly. Where we usually do our ball sessions is now packed ice from our previous play times and is dangerously slick. The dogs are happy when we go to the back area because they get a little extra ball time – it takes several minutes to get out there, and then back to the house, and as long as they drop the ball close to my line of travel, I will throw it as I walk. They also get some great exercise because that area drops down towards a creek drainage. I sit at the bottom of the “hill” and throw the ball up it, because it’s safer for them to run full tilt after the ball while going uphill and then return downhill more slowly. I try to throw the ball far enough that it’s close to the ground by the time the dogs catch up to it. Occasionally they get to the ball while it’s in the air, either because they’re very fast (like Dakuya!) or because the ball hits a rock and bounces. My place was part of the parking lot for an auto racetrack in the 40’s and 50’s and new rocks still appear on the surface every year.
Then I came in and took pain pills and lay down for an hour because my back and feet were hurting from standing from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. But I got photos of ALL eleven dogs at play!!! I’ll list them in the order of their play sessions. Hesed, Varoom! and Zeal did poop detail/fill bird feeders with me kicking the balls they dropped at my feet first (no photos), so they had their play/photo sessions at the end. Enjoy!
Hopeful
4 years 7 months old
Hopeful has the first ball time each morning. The clouds were quite heavy during Hopeful’s playtime and made it a little dark for good photos since I had to use a shutter speed fast enough to keep up with her.
See all of Hopeful’s play photos
Spirit
9 years 11 months old
Spirit has the second ball time each morning. During Spirit’s playtime, the sun came out and gave some great sparkle to Spirit and the tall grass stalks. It also illuminated her sweet expression, and her frosty breath at times. Spirit has arthritis in her feet and spine, so she doesn’t run much. She sure enjoys her ball sessions, though.
See all of Spirit’s play photos
Pascha
1 year 8 months old
Pascha has the 3rd ball time. The sun penetrated the clouds during Pascha’s time and gave some really interesting back-lighting effects. Some of the photos also showed steam from her breathing. I even got a photo of her cooling off in a snowbank by some spruce. You may notice the hair up on her back in some of the photos. That’s her prey instinct showing. In the wild, chasing prey, they never knew if it would turn and fight, so that’s a reflex that still shows that she would protect herself if the tables turned and SHE suddenly became the prey.
See all of Pascha’s play photos
Dakuya
1 year 2 months old
Dakuya had the fourth turn for ball play. I try to throw the ball far enough that it’s close to the ground by the time the dogs catch up to it, but Dakuya is SO fast that she gets to the ball while it’s in the air. I caught some pretty dramatic catch scenes, and some “graceful” reactions to the ball bouncing where she didn’t expect it to go.
See all of Dakuya’s play photos
Lovely
8 years 9 months old
Lovely and Justice have the fifth playtime. By the time they came out to play, the clouds were thickening, and the day was getting darker.
They do a playtime together because Lovely, by herself, gets bored. She would rather hunt for than just chase the ball and prefers to tease Justice by getting to his ball first and not letting him have it. On a recent ball session, I laughed and laughed and laughed. I throw their balls in different directions, but Justice’s ball hit a rock and bounced right to Lovely. Lovely promptly lay down with both balls between her front legs and began picking one up, squishing it with her mouth, then putting it down and picking up the other, obviously delighting in having stolen Justice’s ball. Justice went over and tried to get one ball when she put it down, but she gave him a “Don’t try it, buddy!” look, so he came back down the hill to me and pleadingly asked for help getting his ball back. I urged him to go back up and try, but he said “No way, she won’t let me have it.” I finally took pity on him and walked up the hill to Lovely, who got up to greet me. Justice zipped behind her, got his ball again and came prancing to me showing it off. People find it hard to believe that females rule in the dog kingdom, but they do – and this sure illustrated that.
See all of Lovely’s play photos
Justice
3 years 6 months old
Lovely and Justice have the fifth playtime. By the time they came out to play, the clouds were thickening and the day was getting darker. I got some GREAT action shots of Justice.
See all of Justice’s play photos
Mercy
9 years old
Several years ago, we had a very hot summer, bad drought and lots of fires. The smoke and dust blew constantly and she ended up getting a hematoma. I got her to the vet immediately, but it still ruined her ear.
We had better light during Mercy’s ball session. The clouds lifted enough during Mercy’s ball time that the Big Horns to the south, or the foothills to the east, are visible in some of the photos. Such an interesting day of weather. When Hesed, Varoom! and I came for the last playtime, tiny snow pellets pelted us for a minute or two.
Mercy has high booty drive (desire to possess the toy) and refuses to bring her ball close to me. It’s a constant fight to get her to drop it within reach of the Chuck-it. I got several photos of her waiting, just out of reach, for me to pick up the ball and throw it. Just as I try to stretch to get it, she’ll race in and grab it, and the “game” starts all over again. It’s a special nuisance when I’m taking photos as the camera with its big lens is pretty heavy and so if I bend too far forward to get the ball and throw it with the Chuck it in my left hand, I still am slow focusing the camera in my right hand and miss good shots. In one series, the ball bounced into the puppy obstacle run, so Mercy had to go around to the gate and enter to get her ball. They love the searching that this entails.
See all of Mercy’s play photos
I’m still editing the rest of the dogs’ photos. I’ll add them as I get them done.