Sleepy Frida

I needed to test my new camera out and turned to the most adorable subjects that I know - my puppies! Frida is more cooperative than Maurice by far. She holds her position while I take multiple shots, but as soon as he sees the camera he gets up and goes to another room. Little curmudgeon. Anyway, prepare for cuteness overload!





Below is a rare photo of Maurice taken before he realized I was taking his photo. He normally doesn't wear t-shirts (I don't like to force dogs to be frou-frou), but he had stitches on his side and we didn't want him to rip them out. He's fine now and the shirt is long gone.
:)

the furry kids

If you follow my Twitter (@antognoli), you may have noticed the other day that I was freaked out because a neighbor asked us if we let Maurice run around in the woods near our house. We said no, the dogs aren't allowed to run out there. Well, our neighbor replied that he saw something that looked "Just like him" (pointing toward a shaggy Maurice) out in the woods the last few mornings! Could we have a resident bear? I know bears live in the woods, but wouldn't think that there would be enough of them in the DC suburbs for a bear to survive. But... I've been keeping my eyes peeled ever since.

Which brings me to my next point: there will be no more mistaking of Maurice for a bear for a little while, anyway. He got his annual haircut, and you can see the before and after in the photo above. Frida's in there with him because I realized that I didn't have a photo of the two of them together and it was about time we rectified that.

So behold, my fuzzy children, and revel in their cuteness!

A time for rest

This is just a quick post to show off my cute husband and dog, and to wish everyone a wonderful weekend!

The Running Dog

Despite being almost a year old and pretty much full grown, our new dog Frida has a lot of puppy energy left to burn. Since Andy is a runner, he decided to try taking Frida to run with him. The problem: city streets are not the best places for dogs to run. Their feet are prone to all sorts of injury from rough asphalt, glass shards, heat and cold, and who knows what else. So... we ordered her a running harness and sneakers. Yes, our dog has running gear!

Many people ask us what this gear looks like, so I grabbed my trusty Canon PowerShot SD870 point and shoot camera to help illustrate for you.

The first photo below is our test run. Andy walked Frida around the block to get her used to the gear. She seemed a little hesitant and confused, but seemed to do okay with it.



The next photo is after her first 4 mile run. It's a few hours later and she's still sacked out!



For those of you wondering about the intro photo to this post, there is a handle on the harness just in case she needs to be picked up and lifted over anything (think lots of shattered glass, dangerous ditch, etc). She's almost 50 pounds, so it's a good thing Andy keeps fit! But luckily, I doubt we will have to use that feature very much. We just wanted to test it out to make sure it worked.

And for those who are interested in the gear itself, it is made by Ruffwear, and seems to be very decent, quality gear. Gotta protect the puppy digits!



And there you have it: Frida, the running dog!

Frida!

I've been very busy this past week. Business work, art work, and family events have all been a factor as usual, but one big furry wrench was thrown into the plans... and what an adorable wrench she is!

World, meet Frida! She is a mystery as far as her breed, maybe a boxer / shepherd / ??? mix. She is a total wigglebutt, loves to give kisses, and as of today loves to jog with Andy. We adopted her from PAW (Partnership for Animal Welfare), the same rescue organization we adopted Maurice from almost exactly 6 years ago. Rescue dogs are the best, and it's so wonderful to give a home to an abandoned, neglected, or abused dog. Maurice has changed so much since coming to live with us - when he was once timid and unsure, he is now cocky and confident and walks very well on a leash (which for an 80 pound dog, that's important!). We're hoping with a little (or a lot!) of work, patience, and love, Frida will make equal strides with adjusting to life in our family.

She's also a bit camera shy, so I'm hoping to get a wider variety of photos of her very soon!



(Edited to add this Shepard Fairey banner to help support pet adoption!)