Jasper the lurcher

Dropped in for a much-needed blog renovation, and to post what is possibly the best photo in the history of the universe :~) That would be Jasper, above (click to embiggen), at cruising speed after running off some early morning energy up at the cabin. Thank you, iPhone video and the most excellent Video 2 Photo app!

How about those rainstorms? Fire danger much allayed this year, thank heavens. (In related news, the blog's new background photo is a shot of Big Bear Lake from the Arctic Circle. OUR Arctic Circle.)

The tabs up top need fixing, and vacation is just around the corner, so that worked out nicely. And more rain is expected this week...! Dogs are well, birds are plentiful, plants are happy, and frogs and coyotes are singing in the arroyo every night. Life, she is good.

Sweet dreams

The nemesis of Kongs and Costco beds settles down for the night.

Craig Koshyk writes a great dog blog. Also: psychic moment!

CCraig Koshyk is a terrific writer/photographer and author of a book that must be on every dog person's wish list — Pointing Dogs, Volume One: The Continentals. To quote from Craig's website [and I get nuthin for this, by the way]:

It is a definitive guide to the versatile gundog breeds of Continental Europe, an in-depth study of the history, development and current status of the pointing dog, and it is a remarkable travelog of an incredible journey.

Written by a hunter for hunters, this volume provides detailed descriptions of all the pointing breeds from Continental Europe. It is illustrated with stunning images of hunting dogs doing what they were bred to do: hunt.

Back in 2008 I wrote:

If anyone has ever taken better photos of sporting dogs, real sporting dogs, I have yet to see them. Professional photographer and teacher Craig Koshyk takes wonderful photos of gun dogs — working portraits that make a person covet a keen Braque du Bourbonnais, or a Deutsch Drahthaar, or a Perdiguero de Burgos. The photos show what the outdoors feels like: see, for example, the wind in the photo of Craig's Uma with a ruffed grouse. Yes, Craig hunts over dogs of his own, and he knows what to look for.
[...]
[He has reorganized his website of photos] in the last week or so, and I know this because I can't find his photos of a dog I had fallen in love with: a gray, good-sized, wire-haired Eastern European dog.

Happy discovery: that dog is a Slovakian Rough-Haired Pointer. Craig just blogged about it today. Does he discuss the breed's history and its current stage of development? Does he comment on its hunting style, health issues, its temperament at work and at rest? Does he share some of his wonderful photos of the dogs afield? He does. And he's spent time in Slovakia, where he interviewed the secretary of the national breed club and watched a number of SRHPs hunt, which tends to give one an extra bit of credibility in addition to making readers insanely jealous. Have I mentioned that I love Craig's blog?

Once again, a hat tip to Andrew Campbell of The Regal Vizsla [now including handsome Jake, a young Pointer] for introducing me to Craig Koshyk's blog and photos.

Upper left: my latest fave, the Slovakian Rough-Haired Pointer. To see Craig Koshyk's actual photo of this beautiful dog, click here.

The City of Samba

Play it on full screen. This is a wonderful video, and the tilt-shift effect makes the Sambódromo parade scenes just magical.

The City of Samba from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

H/T: Nag on the Lake.

About Zanesville

Last week both Esquire and GQ published big stories on the Zanesville, Ohio zoo massacre. Read both articles, if you have time, but if you only have time for one [and even if you think you don't], read Esquire's version. Staff writer Chris Jones establishes a sense of unease, of dread and sorrow, and builds on it, and makes everything about that grim event very real and deeply affecting. Jones has said that he hoped to achieve the "spare beauty" of police reports from that night, and he has done that. He also wanted to write "something that would scare the shit out of people," and he's done that, too.

GQ's Chris Heath takes a different approach, and covers more ground. He writes about the police operation, details the life and misadventures of zoo owner Terry Thompson, and interviews others in Ohio who keep exotic animals. Heath's report is as thorough as anyone could wish, and would have been a perfectly tolerable effort, if only Chris Jones hadn't written such a corker of a piece on the same event for Esquire.


The following links have to do with 1) the work of creating a story, and 2) the race between GQ and Esquire to get a long-form Zanesville article in front of the magazine-buying public. Those not interested in the behavior of competing publishers and competitive journalists should probably give these links a miss.

Gawker: Why Did Esquire and GQ Both Publish Huge Zoo Massacre Stories on the Same Day?
Chris Jones of Esquire on His Zanesville Zoo Massacre Story 'Animals,' 'The Most Dramatic Story Of The Year'
Chris Jones on "Animals," his Zanesville Zoo massacre story [forum discussion, joined by the author]

And one more:
Dear Hollywood: Don’t forget Cincinnati Magazine’s Zanesville massacre story

Photo above: Sumatran tiger, ueno zoo tokyo japan, by children of the neon god on Flickr.

Bed and biscuit

Yes, Smoke's coat really is iridescent. And the boys are good buds, but I need to visit Costco for a few more dog beds. Chi-whippie Jasper is now in the neighborhood of 30-35 pounds to Smoky's 55 or so. Must make a vid someday of the little guy catching the biscuit -- he's quite awesome ;~)

O Groomers!

Always the tchotchkes. Poor Grayling. "Get these things off me!" I did, right after I took a few snaps.

I got Jasper's license last week, and the clerk wrote "Whippet x" on the form. I said, "You think so?" and the clerk said, "We put down whatever the vet says on the rabies cert." OK. He does look whippety. The tail, though, is all Chihuahua.

Then this weekend a customer at the groomers looked at Jaspie and said, "Oh, a pit mix!" I was like, "What?!" She misunderstood my surprise. "Oh, they're very nice dogs!" she said. "My sister has one..."

It's fate, people. Lookit the boy ;~)