A Visit From Aunt Jodie, Katie, Matty & Owen

My sister was in town this weekend for a whirlwind of baby-showering, house-sitting & photography! On Sunday morning we got to go with her & watch her do her magic while taking Katie & Matty's (oh, & Owen's) engagement pics. They're planning a baseball themed wedding so we went to find a diamond.


The pups had fun running free, but I imaging it wasn't too fun for Jodie not only trying to get a Bassett Hound to pose, but to get them to stop running through the lens' eye!




I can't wait to see how the pics turn out!


Neither can King!


Catch more of Jodie's work at BissigPhotography.com
Or hopefully she'll give us a preview soon on her photographer's blog too!

Happy Birthday King!

King turned 1 yesterday so of course we had to throw him a little party!


The hats were festive! (Smile Katie!)


& some of the guests were furry! (Meet Shilah & Owen)



King was spoiled & got lots of presents, his favorite of which seemed to be a huge cow bone from Auntie Krista!


King almost shares his birthday with his Grandma Pat, so she got a very special birthday cake & to blow out all the candles!


Everyone seemed to have a good time, especially when the pony rides started!


Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us! & Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Meet Gin! Brittain's Most Talented Dog!

Absolutely amazing!

King's (Would-Be) Favorite Dog Toy Ever

King has a deep, unbridled, adorable affection for all forms of stuffed animals, and it is only rivaled by his love of playing with tiny little dogs. I've always wondered what would happen should the two ever be combined.


Thanks to the wonders of YouTube, I have an idea of what it would look like. At least in the beginning... King would have an absolute field day with this lil guy!

One Smart Puppy!

Meet Maggie - a tad bit smarter than King's Cousin Maggie:

Meet Zeus; 40 Inches At The Withers!

King met a HUGE new Dane friend at the dog park on Marlow. Zeus is the epitome of a gentle giant. The sweetie spent most of his play time leaning on my & getting a nice massage while King was trying desperately to get him to play with him. Zeus wanted to, but being that large & a bit older, he had some trouble keeping up. Believe me, standing next to King, he made King look like a small puppy again! See for your self:

Point Isabel Video!

Here's a cool look at a news brief about the dog park I mentioned before...

Dissing Your Dog

Burton posted a great video done by Will Ferrell a while ago on the art of Dissing Your Dog as a training method. It's awesome! Click here to watch it...

But in the mean time - King thinks this video of a little girl kind of reenacting part of it is comedy gold! Enjoy!

An Engineer's Guide To Cats

Now, I realize King isn't a kitty, but he does share his life with Tigger, so he thought you might enjoy this video in getting to know cats a little better just as much as he did - Enjoy!

King's Trip To The Valley

King got to go visit his Aunt & Uncle & Cousin Mia this weekend & even better - Got to do a little 4 wheelin' in a cool old Jeep that belonged to Russ' late father. The trip out to the cabin was very, very silty, & covered my new car with a lovely layer of dust!


He didn't seem to mind getting all filthy dirty out there though.



And he really seems to enjoys the views, especially of all the cattle free ranging out there!



We even stopped near the top to take some pics, & his "Cousin" Mia picked him a pretty flower!



Afterward he was pooped!


But after a quick nap, he was ready to play again!

Dogs Are Silly...

King & Sophie At Play Near Pier 39!

We took King to San Francisco & walked around Pier 39 a bit with him... It was windy & cold & we couldn't stay long, but he did draw quite a crowd when we ran into a cute little 6 month old white puppy named Sophie. Some of the action shots turned out co cool with Lil Sophie darting around him like he was standing still. She took her lead to the hilt did lots of airborne lil flips because of it - Enjoy!











I even got a brief video!

Dogs Love Trucks!

King loves to put his face out in the open breeze, even if it's traveling at 70 MPH!








Funny how he loves that kind of wind, but take him to the super windy beach & he just wants to cuddle!

See his ear blowing in the wind? So so so cold & windy that night!

A Slideshow of my King - 5-9 months - Enjoy!

Not sure why it won't let me just post it, but click here for a slide show of the last 4 months or so :-)

King The Great... Artist!

Last year, King did a beautiful abstract piece for Paws For Love, a local charity event that raises money for shelters by auctioning off artwork done by animals, as well as fantastic prizes donated by community animal lovers. We were very proud of how great King did while he was painting (especially since it was his first major outing!)

It didn't take long to find his art at the gala, as everyone was ooh'ing & ah'ing about how his was clearly the best! (Just teasing) Here's he masterpiece, Fervent Brass, & and little bio they posted about him...




Incredible right?! And he was only four months old at the time!


The whole thing wiped him out that day too...


In case you're interested in learning more about Paws For Love, click here...

New Collar, Lead & Tag!

We just got King a Red Dingo tag & a super fancy collar & just love it! They're on the expensive side, but they're so durable it's worth it!

Here's the link to Red Dingo for the tags - http://www.reddingo.net/

& if you're interested in the collar (& matching lead), they're awesome too. They're made the same way they do bridle leathers so they'll last forever. You can choose the emblems that go on them too! They don't do direct online ordering, but they have a page so you can find a dealer near you. Here's a links to their products: http://www.hotdogsalldressed.com/products.html

This is an action shot I caught last week at our local Great Dane Meetup & shows the collar & Red Dingo Tag fairly well!


On the way back he got a tad tired of me taking his picture!

King & I near Annadel... (1/17/08)

Just a couple of shots of the King & I from last Sunday:

Point Isabel: A Dog Heaven On Earth (1/15/08)

This weekend King got to go to the ultimate dog park. Seriously - It's the best in North America! We took the hour drive over the bay to check out the place the Great Dane Meet Up Group will be visiting next weekend cause we wanted to see the place & how the little King would react to it. I had no idea what we were getting into! We could have spent the whole day there! It's very easy to get to & once you're out of the parking area, it's completely off leash. There were hundreds of dogs there, but it's on 23 acres so it wasn't crowded. The dogs can run free along a path, in tree lined grassy knolls, or even take a dip right in the bay! (That's where all the silly labs were even though it was pretty cold out!) Anyway, here's some pics of King having a grand time running around, making new bestest friends, & then eventually posing for some cute pics with Mommy.













Look for new pics next week after King meets up with about 30 Great Danes!

Pics of the puppy King... (1/8/08)

My friend Sofia's dog Niobe is ill right now in Washington with Parvo. While keeping them in my prayers, here's some current pics of the (thankfully) healthy bouncy baby boy...

King already outgrowing his couch:


King playing with his toy (He LOVES stuffed animals, the bigger the better!):


King outside & dying for someone to come play ball with him:


King posing with Santa, who he kinda wanted to eat cause he's dressed in a fur suit (not unlike all his favorite toys!):


King under the Christmas tree lights:


My roommate Kenny getting King to do some tricks:


Alyssa taking King for a spin on her birthday:


More pics soon I promise - I'm getting the New Years Disneyland pics all sorted through...

Graduation Day! (12/10/07)

King graduated from intermediate Puppy School Saturday! It's the 2nd of 4 classes he'll hopefully be mastering & this one was much more intense than beginning puppy. But it also had an agility element to it too so he thought that was pretty fun! He loves going through the tunnel!



The hula hoop he's supposed to jump through was too small for him so they found a big tubey-tire thing for him instead:


Then there's a slalom type pole set up that he gets to step through. He does it fine, actually kinda of strangely. He steps over each pole on the ground like he's a horse going through a minefield! It looks so silly - but totally cute!


Here he is all ready for his graduation pics, & bored, bored, bored now that we wouldn't let him go play more!


So very proud!

Kissin' Cousins... (12/4/07)

King's cousin Maggie is visiting with us for a few weeks & she couldn't possibly be any cuter without actually being King!


For the most part, King is oblivious of her...


...unless she moves at all-then it's play time for them both! They do get along fairly well though, except there seems to be some confusion as to who exactly the loveseat belongs to.


Oh & did I mention that Tigger is totally ticked off?


Decorating for Christmas has been rather interesting this year!

Picture Time (9/27/07)

We recently had our pictures taken by an actual professional so I thought I'd share...

Enjoy! {Click the pics to biggify}

Pics From The Marin Pet Expo This Weekend... (9/13/07)

King got to go on his first outing in an attempt to socialize him with all kinds of dogs this weekend. The Marin Pet Expo at the Marin Center in San Rafael was crowded with tons of dogs & their people, plus 44 agencies all collaborating for a huge Adopt-A-Thon! Over 175 animals were successfully adopted over the weekend!

Even with all the different types & breeds everyone had out, King was surely the star of the show! So many people we literally tripping over themselves just to meet him that we didn't get much of a chance to look around or enter any of the contests. Plus we spent half the time looking for sunblock cause I was a terrible mommy & forgot to bring some for his adorable lil pink nose!

It was a great day for him though. King was a trooper til the sun took it's toll & he passed out for a nap. He even painted his own pictures for a Non-Profit company called Paws For Love for a fund raising art auction to be held in February. They loved the heart on his coat so much their photographer took pics of him to be their new spokes puppy! I'm sure I'll post more on his success as an artiste soon!

Anyhow, here's a cute shot of him all ready to get the day started:


& this is us out on the pond pier at the Marin Center:


Then we met new friends:


This is Fiaan, he's a gorgeous harlequin dane who's also just a puppy:


His daddy let me take a pic with him & I had a bit of trouble controlling him - & he's only 8 months old & 120lbs! That'll be King in another 3 1/2 months!

Poor Puppy (8/24/07)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but my new puppy, King, had an accident & he's pretty big sick right now. Plus I'm absolutely exhausted from taking care of him & stressing about it so much.


Please keep him in your thoughts & prayers that he'll be better soon. Thanks - A

UPDATE!!! The Puppy King is feeling much, much better now! Thank you for all your kind thoughts & calls about him! Now just how to keep him semi still while he heals...

New(er) Pics (8/7/07)

I know you're dying to see new ones of the now 54lb. King..

Puppy Pre-School Starts This Weekend! (8/3/07)

Anyone have any Puppy Pre-School tips?

Meet The New Man In My Life... (7/16/07)

Here's the new baby! He's still nameless though so if you have any ideas that'd be cool! He's a baby Great Dane with a white coat with random gray patches. It's call a Porcelain or Blue Harlequin coat. He's got 2 brothers still for sale if you're interested!
Here he is restin'... (he does that a lot cause he's growing so fast!):

& here he is with a Kong chew toy so you can get an idea of how big he is! He's only 8 weeks & already 30 lbs!


Tigger is ticked off: