35mm Black and White Dogs

A long time ago I picked up a Minolta camera from a thrift store, just because I liked the vintage strap. Little did I know that I’d fall in love with it, and end up using it for a photography class later. I let it collect dust for two or three years though because the battery died, but last month I finally remembered to pick one up from Dodd Camera and I was back in business. Oh how I love this camera, I don’t know why I didn’t get a battery sooner! I had film left over in it from said photography class so I didn’t know how it would turn out because it was most likely expired film. I took it out shooting for a family excursion when Sonny came home!
Sonny is Charmin(the family dog)’s son! Mom “pimped him out” as she likes to say haha, and found him a nice lady lab on the internet. One thing led to another of course and just in time for the christmas season a litter was born! Mom opted for pick of the litter of course, because Charmin is such a wonderful dog they wanted his next of kin, and Sonny(named because he is Charmin’s son, and his color is sunny) was the lucky guy.
It was one of those nice sunny warm December days, and we all went for a walk out on my uncle’s land which is basically in the middle of nowhere. I brought my camera along and quickly powered though the whole reel. 

These are my favorite shots:

Terrier Time

My coworker Brenden has an awesome pitbull named Burnie who he occasionally brings to the shop on his days off. For the longest time we’d been talking about meeting at the dog park and letting him frolic with Steve and we finally got around to it a couple weeks ago!

Steve did pretty well I was proud of him. He is a little skittish around other dogs sometimes and tends to not do well with dominant dogs. I think it’s due to whatever rough beginnings he had before he wandered into my life. But he mostly just played with a tennis ball and behaved himself. Burnie wanted to play with him so bad, and they had a tug of war moment which was funny. It was clear neither side was willing to let go though so Brenden intervened. Here’s some shots of terrier time!

Two pooped pups after their adventure together!

The Great Garden Hose Battle

Okay forewarning kinda-  this post is going to be image heavy so I apologize to all of your computers- but all of these photos are gems and it was hard enough to narrow it down to these.

It has been hotter than blue blazes in Ohio this past week, and muggy as all get out, so I was trying to find the sprinklerin the basement so the dogs could frolic in the water and cool down. I knew Steve would be game because I squirted the hose at him once and he was ready to play. Bufford I figured would hang out on the porch and watch because he is dainty and hates to get wet or muddy. Well we couldn't find it, and we being extra counter productive(we were planning on cleaning the house, not destroying the basement to find a sprinkler), so Jared just headed out back and pulled out the hose and a water war broke out! Steve Stephens vs. the hose. It was hysterical! Steve kept forgetting or maybe didn't realize that Jared was controlling the hose and kept lunging at it as he snapped at the water. He looked so silly and happy. I'm editing together a highlight reel of clips of video I took of him too. Okay without further ado, here's some of the photos I snapped.(by the way it took me a minute but I figured out how to up my shutter speed, but it kinda made all of my photos dull in color. I should reed my camera manual probably...)

Derp.

Gulp!

Haha, this looks like some weird version of those water squirting games they have at fairs and festivals.

Haha, yeah right.

A Biography of Steve

This is one of the first photos I took of him. he looks so gaunt and scared.

My actual birthday fell midweek last year, so I worked through it(and my boss that I liked was still there and she made me a cake and decorated for me C:) and came home. Sophie texted me that she was going to come down to hang out and we were planning to go out to eat. Jared came home and decided to walk Bufford.

Now earlier before he had gotten home I pulled back the blinds and saw some boys walking down the street with a puppy tailing them without a leash. I thought to myself how they should put a leash on him because that's dangerous because people drive stupid fast in out neighborhood and there are stray dogs from time to time... but what could I do about it really. So I went on to whatever I was doing.
They leave to go on their walk and I grab a pitcher of water to water my plants. I watch them leave through the window and notice that the boys are gone but that puppy remained. He came rushing back with Bufford and the puppy underarm. I didn't like where this was going.

 I asked him what he was doing as he opened the door and thrust Bufford at me, and he explained he was going to find out whose puppy it was.
Long story short, no one claimed him. Sophie arrived and our dinner plans were spoiled by this silly looking scruffy pup, but we still had fun and made breakfast for dinner at home.
We reached out to a local pitbull rescue and asked around to find out if anyone wanted to adopt a puppy because we were struggling ourselves with just Bufford and didn't want to take in another mouth to feed. A friend of a friend took him home for a night but reluctantly returned him when his roomate wouldn't allow him to keep the pup. The rescue service never replied to my email.
A few weeks passed and I had refused to call him anything other than "little dog". I really didn't like him at all in the beginning. He was not the french bulldog I had been dreaming of, and not even the boston terrier I had been willing to settle on. Wrong terrier completely. I was working full time at the miserable job I had at the time and was mentally and physically exhausted, and then came home to my part time job of house breaking and training this dingy dog I didn't ask for.
Slowly though, he began to worm his way into my heart, plucking all the strings relentlessly. I would be watching tv, and he would curl up on my lap without me calling him(Bufford rarely cuddles me, and I love to cuddle.) Those lovely empty puppy eyes(because he'd only been alive for a few months and hadn't seen or experienced much. What he had was undoubtedly negative because he arrived malnourished and covered in scars), always gazing up at me paired with that pouty lower lip that juts out due to his crooked under bite.

Showing photos of him to my Mom of him one night she said "you know that dog is never gonna leave," so matter of factly, and it dawned on me that she was right. I had just refused to believe it. Jared had been calling him Steve all the while(he thought it was ridiculous enough that he couldn't form an emotional attachment to a Steve. He was wrong.), and though I tried to fight it, it stuck.

And so I poured myself into seasons and online videos of Ceasar Milan: Dog Whisperer, to absorb ever bit of dog training knowledge I could. I worked with him more and more, and brushed Bufford up too. Continuously reminded myself that he's just a baby whenever I grew frustrated with him. Got them both up to date on their shots. Fell more and more in love with him as he followed me around and paid more attention to me than Jared. As he insisted on curling up next to me in bed, while laying upside down and falling asleep with his mouth open. Watched his wrestling matches with Bufford go from borderline hostile turf wars, to playful matches of strength with his brother.
The rest is history. I love this stinking little pup so much its ridiculous. The birthday present I didn't want ended up being one of my most favorite ever!

Excuse my messy room, but look at this happy pancake!!

Snow Day!

It's basically snowmageddon here in Ohio, which in my opinion is kind of awesome. Granted I would have rather it happened in the middle of winter, not the end, but oh well, what can you do? Jared cleaned my car of snow this morning(he is so good to me ♡), and Scarlett(my car) does just awesome in the snow. I got to the on ramp of the highway, and noticed a bunch of people stopped on the ramp, sliding into one another. Of course I turned around and went home, because my life and car are worth more than one day of work. I called in to let them know it was literally not possible for me to make it, and a few phone calls later they let me know they were closing the store anyways! Glad I didn't even attempt it. Thankfully Jared had the day off too, so we took the cabin fevered dogs out to play in the snow.

*chants* Snow people snow people

Nerd.

Snow beard! I wish he'd quit moving so much so I could get a clear shot haha.

Ka-pow!