Day 361

Today was the last of our three Santa Paws pet picture events for Dalmatian Rescue. I lost count of the number of dogs we photographed today, but there were definitely quite a few. We had a steady stream of customers from the moment we opened the doors this morning until we wrapped things up late in the afternoon. We were shooting inside one of the doggie care care play areas at Waggin' Tails Dog Daycare and by the end of the day Santa and I were smelling pretty doggie ourselves. Considering the number of dogs we photographed, the day went remarkably smoothly. All the dogs were well behaved, with the possible exception of one who tried to bite Santa's beard off. People take their dog's Christmas photo pretty seriously. I had to take more than 100 shots of one dog because his owner really wanted a picture where their dogs tongue wasn't hanging out. After trying every trick we knew, I finally got the shot she wanted.

After we wrapped up the photo event, I came home and took Dot and Dash on their evening walk before we left again for another doggie event. This time it was the annual Christmas party for our Wednesday evening dog training group. I was hungry after the long day up at Waggin' Tails, so it was nice to be able to be able to enjoy a traditional Southern Christmas meal catered by Celebration Restaurant. The party was at a lake house within walking distance of our house, but we drove anyway. We had a Chinese gift exchange after dinner and after all the horse trading and gift stealing was over, Janet and I wound up with a cute wicker picnic basket filled with stuff your dog would enjoy on a picnic. The most coveted gifts were dog blankets and dog beds, but we did pretty well with our picnic basket. At least we didn't leave the party with a sack full of poop bags like one guy near us did.

Emmitt got adopted today and we did a special Christmas picture for his new owners. I was worried that nobody would want to adopt an eleven year old dog when Emmitt entered the rescue program, but he found a wonderful home with a lady who was actually looking for an older dog. Dogs like Emmitt are is why we have the endless fundraisers and spend our weekends doing events like we did today. Making sure that every Dalmatian has a home may not be as grand and glorious as saving the whales or stopping global warming, but it certainly works for me.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day