friends, family, health, our faith, and, of course, dog ears that just do their own thing:

apparently, we do not feed him enough of his two favorite foods, cheese and canned pumpkin. dash has resorted to taking prisoners, including his bunny.



non-violent peace talks are currently underway. we are hoping for a quick resolution.

we let dash pick out his halloween costume this year.

the candidates: santa dog, pimp dog, rastafarian dog.



the winner :)


he didn’t want his picture taken :(


dash didn’t want to give it back.

wouldn’t you know it, our little man is knighted “pet of the week” by the one and only, pattern & paw. woop woop!

check out the full interview. here’s a snapshot from the pattern & paw blog:



what to submit your pet? details below. head on over and get your pet nominated.



don’t have good pooch or feline photos? don’t fret, contact us and we’ll help you out!

the d700 arrived yesterday and we are super excited to break it out this weekend for carrie and nick’s greeley, co wedding. rj will be sporting the trusty d300, while i, nicole, will be making some magic happen with this new beauty! i threw a few of our favorite lenses onto the d700 yesterday to check out the fx sensor and to mess around with the iso a bit since i have been a bit constrained by my little d80’s graininess at 1600. dash was my model as r.j. distracted him with the light reflection from his watch face... if only we could all be amused by such trivial things :)

i have yet to play around with it enough to give much feedback, but one thing i can say is, how ‘bout that eyepiece!!

a rare shot of dash with teeth.... he was panting a little from all of the reflection-chasing. and check out the bokeh! plus the fabulous focusing of the d700 allowed me to get those eyes tack-sharp even with a distractable, quick-moving vizsla as my model. (d700 with the 85mm at f/1.4, 1/640 sec, at iso 1600).


i dig the “wideness” (for lack of a better word) of the 50mm on this camera. and i love the detail of the furbag’s fur :) (d700 with the 50mm at f/1.4, 1/200, at iso 1000).


this is dash’s usual expression as he is a bit camera shy -- or he could just be feeling guilty about something he ate of our’s earlier in the day. plus a great shot of dash’s nose scar which makes him look tough for all the girls at the dog park. (d700 with the 50mm at f/1.4, 1/160, at iso 1000).


we’ll post photos soon of this weekend’s wedding along with more comments about our new creative tool toy!

last weekend, nicole and i brought dash up on his very first overnight backpacking & overnight camping trip. we headed a few thousand feet above vail, colorado to pitkin lake (above 11,000 feet) in search of snow (it was christmas in july :), alpine cooking, some wild trout, bountiful flowers, backcountry cooking with beef stroganoff, and marmot families. we found them all!

here’s proof that dogs know the best drinking water there is.... straight from the glacial source a few hundred feet away!


nose lickin’ good:


our family summer self-portrait:


gummi bears make for yummy snacks and are easy attention getters for trail food for a particular viszla named ‘dash‘:


a quick snap of the moutain meadows up to vail’s pitkin lake.


hmmm, thinking big dog thoughts on mountain top?


meandering alpine streams were such a cool thing to watch and listen to... all the technological stress seems to melt away!


typical landscape shot with dash around:


yet another ‘dash-ruined’ shot of a lake reflection... in a good way :)


a glimmer of warmth of a mountain sunset cast a nice backdrop of these douglass fir trees growing along side a larger bush. they almost look naturally ‘bonsaied’22:


perfecto!


our humble night’s abode (nicole popped the flash inside the tent for effect :)


as the cherry on top, and worth a few laughs, here’s dash experiencing wild trout for the very first time, along with his youtube debut!

a funny thing happened today. we went to put dash in his crate so we could go out to dinner. he went inside, and then fought his way back out before we could close the door. nicole thought he was trying to escape. instead, he walked around the corner, picked up his teddy bear in his mouth, and then willingly went straight back to his bed with no prompting whatsoever. dash, apparently, LOVES this bear. he sleeps with his bear using it as a pillow. he plays with his bear. and even more impressively.....he has yet to pull all of the stuffing out of this bear. he *loves* his bear.




on a side note, how funny would dash look with no ears at all??

taking some time away from the computer from editing two awesome weddings from friday & saturday, dashalicous and i headed to the local high school football field for kicks. i forgot his toy, so we played the imaginary toss game that goes something like this:

rj: 'dash, sit. stay. good boy' (holding up an invisible toy :)
dash: shweet! ok
rj: gives the release command, "OK!" (and makes a fake toss gesture)
dash: is off running and running and running... 'perhaps thinking, " oh, boy, oh boy, oh, boy..... uhhhhh, waitaminute.'
rj: 'dash come! (dash, stops, turns, and runs back :)... good boy!!!'
dash: 'oh, ok.... perhaps this time i'll get a treat....'

and the story goes and goes for about 20 minutes until panting begins.

meanwhile, there's some mysterious radiopopper flash action while field testing take place (consistency is best at about 40 yards or less :(

here are a few favs from our mini-shoot:

dogs elicit a sense of humor only humans can appreciate. here's dash, asleep and dreaming of who knows what:

i just don't get how this can be even a remotely comfy nap position. go figure. (taken with iPhone camera)

i've embarked on a new little project with pattern and paw. details will develop soon, but for the time being i wanted to share a few favorite images. first up, here's baby tia:





and bella:


bella's sister, maddy:




and 85lb max:


and, of course, our gooberiffic, dash:


if you'd like your pooch shot, contact us and we'll fill you in on the details.

we had a good laugh when we saw dash's tooshie pop up in our inbox. we've got a mini-project in the works with the fine folks over at pattern & paw. while we can't tell you much, if you are interested in letting us shoot your dog (we're looking for small and medium sized dogs), please contact us. as an added perk, you'll just might get free pattern & paw shwag in return :)

CLICK HERE for the coolest dog (& cat) collars on the planet and save 23% today only. enter coupon code: "Sweet23" to get the discount. ps- pattern & paw has never offered this big of a discount, so act now, supplies are limited, batteries not included...

proof that God has a sense of humor:

and if you're wondering how that slobber landed on the bridge of his nose, don't ask: we're clueless.

we're not huge into the whole hallmark valentine's day. however, we do know our cupid's ears taste almost better than the dark chocolate and champagne we gave up for lent :)

anna kuperberg's slobberspace is a must see for canine photo aficionados. anna recently came out with a new book, designer dogs, which deserves a good look. if you like a good dog-lovin' laugh, check out her pooch, slidell featured here:


anna inspired this iphone snap of dash sniffing in sante fe last weekend:

so yesterday i figured since dash is now 2 (14 in dog years), I figured we'd sit down and discuss the "birds & the bees." fast forward 5 minutes, we set off on a long afternoon run, and he sees a woman rounding the corner, gets all excited and jumps right up on her, front paws smack dab on her shoulders. she laughed, he continued to lick. i apologized to her, reprimanded dash, and we continued on our run. a mile down the road, the jefferson county animal control officer pulls up, rolls down his window, grins, and says, "your dog has good taste in women."

guilty as charged:

(taken with iPhone)

call us different, but today we celebrated dash's 2nd birthday at the neighborhood playground. while there was no big birthday bash, we did find a goofy birthday hat...


dash pleading, "remove this goofy thing."


we presented some angel food cake and organic berries for our little guy. fyi: everything DOES taste better with dog hair :)


gone in 10 seconds flat.

ah, a dog's life. after sleeping in, we enjoyed our time on the mountains at winter park followed by a playful late-afternoon in the woods.

yes, dash, that is snow....


when it snows a little engergizer bunny gets dash going and going and going. 100% pure vizsla bliss at green mountain.

the new chuck-a-snowball game has HUGE entertainment value.

earlier this week we went swimming in a favorite nearby swimming hole. the weather was about 80 degrees, which was freaky unusual for denver this time of year. we soaked it up. here's our lost sailor struggling for his bootie:


once in a blue moon i can freeze dash's invigorating 'towel off.' folks, this is some serious business.

dash has been eager for photoshoot with his new lindsay designs dog collar. he never fails to strike a quick field pose... just enough to catch the attention of the occasional cabela's photo editor, which we are BOTH still waiting for. r. j. took these last night while on a green mountain hike with nicole, which is one of his favorite things to do. we've had an indian summer here in denver, which has been nice despite the shorter days, brown foliage, and a world series sweep.

waaahoooo! and for the second year in a row, dash has placed top honors in the lindsay designs dog collar contest. here's our winning shot:

image taken near green mountain, co at sunset taken hand-held with a nikon d-200 using the 70-200 f/2.8 VR at 200mm, 1/250 sec at f/6.7, 100 iso, auto white balance. we have absolutely no idea what he was looking at, other than it was really interesting to him.

here's the familiar 'i'm napping, don't bug me' look.


then the crankiness sets in and our dash drops a few iq points as he discovers his foot tastes good. perhaps he is just giddy over his new lindsay designs collar.

we walked into church at 8am this morning and the weather was a bit foggy... we walked out about an hour later with several inches of snow on the ground and couldn't believe that winter is approaching (even though it was 83 degrees in denver yesterday!). of course the boys couldn't resist a bit of playing in the snow, so after a long run on nearby green mountain, r. j. grabbed his camera for a impromptu photo session with dash. yes, he is a goober overjoyed with excitement.

a dashing pose with one ear up for decoration.



still walking on two legs.


snow tastes especially good for the yellow snow maker.


ears sometimes have a mind of their own.


dash hides, then realizes the game is no fun when he can be spotted.


both these images are straight out of the camera with denver's finest vizsla in action. even though we got only about 3 inches, the perspective of the shot offers a bit of an illusion.

we love it when we get handwritten notes, homemade baked goodies, and little holiday surprises. well, mom kern (dash's grandma on r. j.'s side) surprised us with a little something something... a super halloween combo care package (not available in stores). thanks, mom! when we opened it, there was yummy cookies and little muffins, each individual wrapped, labeled, and identified as whose is whose. r. j. has been known to 'snitch' the goodies, so this strategy has become a staple prevention mechanism in the kern family tradition.


mom also gifted us some spiffy orange halloween lights and a frankenstein inflatable door hanger doll, which dash 'tried' to be friends with, but that got nipped in the bud.


so, of course, he got all pissy and threw a temper-tantrum.

of course those puppy eyes make us give in....


so we give him a little cheese, which makes everything better. however, he still has to 'work' for the treat and wait for the official release command, "OK!"

dash, our beloved hungarian viszla, retrieves a tennis ball during the final days of summer at the scott carpenter pool in Boulder, CO. Boulder, one of the most dog friendly towns in America, allows dogs to swim in the olympic-sized pool days before the summer closing. the Viszla is among the most popular breeds which take advantage of this opportunity, along with retrievers and labs. cody & gomez, fellow dog friends, and with our good friends, jayme and ryan, seemed to enjoy this second annual festivity.


every felt like this before?

here are a few of our favorite snaps from our mini-weekend hike with dash. we are building dash's modeling portfolio for a possible cabella's catalog shoot. no promises or anything.

although we may be biased, we thought we heard dash's first *complete* sentence, "i wuv you."

she-bee, a fellow 2-year-old vizsla, gets schooled by dash as she learns to swim in a small lake in clements park. she watches, then learns quickly. dog breeds know their kind and let it all hang out when they romp.

if walmart had a portable photo kiosk at the park, we would probably pay to get this shot.




sometimes dash doesn't share well.


dash becomes a groundhog for a moment.


dash leads from behind as he shows shee-bee the ropes of swimming

dogs remind us of simple joys of life, often forgotten by a world filled with parking meters, flight delays, and warm beer.

Sometimes our best little buddy can be so funny while being so serious!



If Dash could fly, these would be his wings (pictured in a snowstorm on Green Mountain!).


Dash looking for another bouncing ball at sunset.


A dog can pontificate, too!


What a character he can be when asked to pose with his new, fancy Lindsay Design's collar!


No, Dash doesn't have a modeling agent. But we feel he is good at pulling off that GQ look...

What jumps, swims, runs, and fetches? Naturally, Cody and Gomez. Poor Dash tries, and usually ends up leading from behind!



Ryan tosses the rock the lake. Dogs run, jump in, swim, and search for rocks. Repeat for hours.


Dash leaping for a rock toss!


Kinda wish us humans could dry off this easily!


Gomez doing what he does best, bring us back sticks bigger than him!


Cody, a natural athlete, displays his athletic prowess with his keen eye on the prize!


Dash thinks he sees a stick moving!

We had a yummy dinner in Boulder with Jayme and Ryan to celebrate the birthdays!


Jayme, Boulder's very own Yoga Jedi master, in her very special elvin charm!

Laser light effects on the wall brought the curiosity out of Dash (spot the small red dot on the wall!)....


A little wireless Nikon SB-800 off-camera (what I call "R2-D2"), added some nice lighting and textures.

Dash the wonder Viszla has warmed our home with laughter and fur. We love him. He’s begining to take on a modeling career and gave Nicole (for her birthday) a photo gallery illustrating his gregarious personality! Enjoy! >>