Photoshop Express

Jake

If I see something new relating to photography or blogs I seem compelled to try it. This time it's Adobe Photoshop Express. We have the full blown product, which has quite a steep learning curve, also have a somewhat outdated version of Photoshop Elements. This latest from Adobe is online editing, storing, and sharing s/w.

One click on Jake's photo above will take you to a slideshow which fills your browser. Depending on your connection speed it may take a few seconds to load.

Later today I added another album while playing w/ the new Adobe Photoshop Express.

Sugar 'N Spice

Click on the photo to see a short slideshow of Jake's favorite kids. We call them Sugar 'N Spice.

Jake gets his calendar ready for April

Sometimes I make individual calendar pages! Jake has plans for April, so this one will be for him!

Looking forward to spring!

The photo above is actually from last May. We are all looking forward to spring. Warm weather. Flowers. Lots of time outdoors on walks and meeting up with our friends and family in the park! We have had some nice sunshine for this time of year already. Those walks in snow and ice are not nearly as much fun as going out when there's no slipping and sliding and falling down! Well, Jake doesn't fall down, but John does when he hits black ice and didn't see it ahead of time. Instead of those fast walks in bad weather, when spring comes we take Jake along on many expeditions just to shoot some photos, like one of the favorites below:

Tube feeding little Cavalier puppy

Above is Dr. Larry and Karen Bernstein feeding a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy with a catheter and syringe. This, I think, is a wonderful video to give you confidence to tube feed when necessary. I've tended to prefer bottle feeding when one of our Labrador litters or puppies required our help but often that isn't even an option.

Westminster Kennel Club Show

Don't miss the big annual Westminster Kennel Club show in New York coming up on Monday and Tuesday, February 11 and 12. A special note is that on Monday our television coverage jumps from first hour on USA Network over to CNBC for the following two hours. On Tuesday we have coverage on USA Network for the full 3 hours, which includes the conclusion of this big two day even with Best In Show competition and award presentation. First see the TV coverage page on Westminster KC site and then check your local listings. Last year we enjoyed it in HD here at home. As far as I've been able to tell at this time, we will not get to view the entire two nights in HD! What a let down. We'll enjoy it anyway. Jake stayed interested in this right along with us in 2007.

Legislation and Mandatory Spay/Neuter

With new legislation already in place in some cities and pending legislation in many more for mandatory spay/neuter of all dogs more attention needs to be paid to what results this brings about. I find that in most cases the laws that require this to be done by four months of age are reprehensible and not well thought out. Even six months of age is too young! For the most part these draconian bits of legislation have been sponsored by PETA and HSUS. Those organizations would very much like to see no pets of any kind in any household. Look at it this way, if they were to actually accomplish spay/neuter of ALL dogs before 4 months of age, how long would it be before there were no dogs at all in the USA? I suppose we could always turn to other countries, but to do this properly one would need to visit breeders and get to know many dogs before being able to properly select type, temperament, health, etc. It would be very costly, and then once you have actually purchased an adult or a puppy, it would immediately be required to conform to the spay/neuter law in your own town or county. Do we really want to live our lives without our much loved canine family members? Not me! In some cases I will admit breeders here in the USA have brought some of this on themselves by not knowing their puppy buyers well enough, and this is indeed a sad thing. Properly placing a puppy needs to go way beyond handing someone a questionnaire to fill out, accepting and check and then not having any further contact. However, it is a rather rare case that a puppy from a conscientious breeder ever finds itself turned in to an animal shelter or allowed to run the streets at will. Meanwhile, even veterinary hospitals are pushing spay/neuter heavily on the even most careful and conscientious of their dog owning clients. If they feel they must do this then they should at least be mindful of better ages for spay/neuter than four or even six months of age. Read this article. Print it out and take it to your own vet. Spay/neuter is indeed a good and necessary thing in many cases, especially in the case of your female dogs, referred to as "bitches" in the dog world, but when this is done it should happen at a more practical age than the now suggested four months in legislation pending across the country. I like to see full adult growth, waiting until bone plates have closed. More studies need to be done on this subject, but it should most definitely be up to the breeder of any puppy and then to the owner of that puppy or adult dog as to when and if spay/neuter should take place.

 
Jake got thoroughly groomed today. He had his three daily walks. He has a new chew toy. Life is good!