Litter 6 - Week Seven

Puppy Chase!

I think there is almost nothing cuter than puppies running and chasing. I always try to get a group of images of each litter doing this. It was getting right down to the end of our time with Dixie's puppies when Gary Parker and his family came over to visit them. I took the opportunity to get their help in capturing these images. Gary is a very successful photojournalist and ad photographer. He specializes in dogs, cats and kids so it was great fun having him over. Gary sat back behind me and took a bunch of photos. When he sends me a couple, I'll include them here. Working as the "gatekeeper" below is Kimberly Reeves Parker, Gary's wife. Kimberly is a talented pianist who performs and teaches in the Bay Area. She has released three CDs--check out her website. Very nice stuff! Not pictured here is Forest, Gary's son. I could kick myself for not taking a picture of Forest while he was working with Spirit. Some people just have a natural connection with animals and they either get it, or they don't. Just my opinion. Forest had Spirit sitting and staying while he tossed the bumper for her and then sent her to retrieve with not a word from me on how to do it. What I want to know is, who taught him the proper hand signals for sit and stay? LOL! That surprised me. Get this kid a dog! <g> Anyway, Forest was our victim and the one the puppies were chasing. We'd have them all in the pen and Forest would get them exited by dancing around in front of them yelling, "puppy puppy puppy", then take off running as Kimberly threw open the gate--and out the puppies would fly. We had a lot of fun with this game. It sounds like chaos but in reality the game has to be very controlled or it's not safe for the puppies. You only run one direction and then gather them up and start over. If you try to run around in all directions the puppies inevitably get under foot, which is a recipe for disaster. My rule when playing chase with puppies is never run unless you know you can stay out in front of all of them and, once you stop, stay stopped until you can gather them all to you.

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