View allAll Photos Tagged wirehaired
all right .. i've promised you his story ... this'll probably be long-winded ...
over three weeks ago someone sent me an ad on Kijiji (like Craig's list). i can't remember what it was for, but for some reason i plugged "wire haired" in the search and found this pathetic dog. it wasn't until after i'd made initial contact that i discovered the link to the "Poster's Other Ads". wirehaired JRT pups for sale, a GSD-border collie cross up for stud or instead of fees will trade for a large female dog "unspayed of course" ... same story with a bichon. clearly a puppy mill, or - at best - a barnyard breeder. and yes, mennonite. (80% of puppymills in Ontario are run by Amish or Mennonite, for those who aren't aware.)
i'd initially sent the ad to another friend who had talked about getting a family dog but was told they'd changed their mind ... and i just let it go. but last week i found myself thinking about this little, 5 yr old guy again. morley doesn't have long with us and although he's comfortable, i don't see a lot of zest for life or happiness. nothing in this world makes morley happier than another terrier, so i thought: why not get morley a dog?
almost an hour drive, we arrived at the farm ... morley in tow. the wife and their 8 yr old daughter brought the dog out while the farmer talked a bit to us. the dog's belly never left the ground and his head was hung low. at the feet of the daughter, his eyes darted wildly from the ground to the girl, to the parents, to the ground again ... utterly terrified. if anyone shifted on that icy, wet, snowy laneway, he ducked even further and skittered to the side, no doubt expecting a boot.
from the moment i laid eyes on him i knew he was the worst fear case i have personally seen ... and i knew we had to get him out of there. even though i'd sworn ahead of time that we wouldn't be bringing him home that same day (we needed a crate and to set stuff up, including me having to arrange with a friend to help me with the integration with matea), we couldn't leave him there. we toyed with the possibility of putting down a deposit and picking him up the next day, but the more i talked w/ the "owners" the more i knew we just had to get him out.
his belly never left the ground as we walked him down the drive through slush and ice water ... only with morley did he perk up a bit. i checked his teeth, his ears, played with his paws just to see how he was ... i've never encountered a more fear-based submission before. in fact, when i first went to pet him, i truly believed he was going to bite me. as it turned out, i even got a kiss when i picked him up for the second time.
we walked him down the long drive several times ... partly so that i could talk to j about it, but mostly to get the hell away from his abusers and get some kind of an idea what he was like.
i didn't try to negotiate a better price ... i was too sick to my stomach. i paid $125 to get him the fuck out of there. now, i do realize this is a slippery slope ... giving my hard-earned money to these people to get this dog out of that situation, but i KNEW that no one else was going to do it. he was going to end up drowned or - at best - sold to another breeder ... and this little guy deserved a lot more than that.
during the drive home, i was literally shaking and working hard not to throw up ... i was so upset. partly from fear of not knowing we had just gotten ourselves into, but mostly because the thought of me contributing to a profit for a dog - much less one in this condition - is sickening to me.
once home, j and i took him and matea on an hour pack-walk. i'll talk more about his rel'shp with matea as it develops. until his neuter he got several long pack walks with her and me, and fortunately he is so meek that he barely registers on matea's radar ... and for now their interactions are controlled and carefully choreographed. yesterday afternoon i even had them lying on the deck together in the sun while i massaged both of them and they snoozed. i have faith that their relationship will be fine with time and management. right now he is too groveling and submissive even for her ... she knows he's unstable, and matea is pure dog ... she'll not tolerate that weakness, even though she's endured several puppyish licks to her chin from him.
he has just been neutered, is fighting a high load of roundworms and a urinary tract infection. he's underweight, has scabs in places that suggest he'd been kicked around, smacked with a barn door, and possibly even some old bite marks. i have not started him on raw yet because when he gets the runs or starts itching, i want to know that it's from the drugs, not the particular protein i'm introduing. fortunately, i was able to get vaccination records from the farmer ... his last full vaccines were given last August ... so i didn't have to give the poor guy more vaccines on top of all the other crap his system is dealing with.
a note on puppymills and vaccinations ... dogs and puppies sold between breeders or at dog auctions (yes, they have them) have to be vaccinated before sale. so i'm pretty sure this farmer had merrick since august, even though he kept saying he'd gotten him from a friend a month ago. the puppies he had for sale were very obviously merrick's. and there were other comments that made me certain he was breeding many dogs ... "so you like the wire coated? not many people like them" ... right, so that's why he's selling his stud dog. later in the conversation i was touching merrick and asked him: "he's such a good looking dog. why wouldn't you want to breed him?" "i like the shorthaireds JRTs better" ... i.e. they sell better. and in answer to: "so why are you selling him?" i received two different answers, but each had to do with having too many dogs ... all the while you could hear the barking in the barn.
i even asked the little girl: "so do you play with him much?" "is he your favorite?" to which she responded that she liked the puppies better.
also, i called the vet on record as having given him his shots in august. only after i assured her i wasn't out to get anyone in trouble, just wanted to help this dog, she admitted that he'd belonged to this other farmer first, way up north where she is, and "they've got a lot of dogs, and yes, they're breeding. you do what you can."
anyway, as i said, he's the worst fear case i have personally encountered. they always say that you get the dog you need, not necessarily the one you want. merrick is totally that case. i will learn much from him as i work to build his confidence in the world and with people. honestly, once this boy is rehabbed i'll have dealt with just about every dog issue out there except for people-aggression. so, we both have much to learn, even though i can't imagine a better place for him.
as for morley ... morley loves him and at the same time tolerates him when merrick gives him tons of kisses ... and merrick certainly needs morley to show him how to be confident in the world, how to sniff things like a dog and move away from cowering at my ankles all the time. i've haven't seen morley this animated in weeks. i only pray he sticks around long enough to show merrick so much more.
so ... that's merrick's story for now. it's going to be a long road ... and on that note, i have to get him out for a pee.
___________________________________________________________________________
All rights reserved. Copyright © Hans Surfer Photography. All my images are protected
under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced,
copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission.
___________________________________________________________________________
Exif data auto added by theGOOD Uploadr
Camera Model : Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Exposure : 1/160 seconds
Aperture : f/13
ISO Speed : 50
Focal Length : 47 mm
Subject Distance : 1.5 meters
she came away from this hike with more than a couple of injuries. the nose was the first, then a small gash under her left eye, and i just discovered she has a 6", weeping scrape down her front leg.
what can i say other than: idiot.
one beaten, cowering, wormy, filthy, starving, used-up, puppy-mill terrier: $125
one super, noisy, made-in-china piece of crap chicken dog toy from walmart: $3.95
the resulting sound of this wicked joyful combination: priceless.
and i know you're all wondering ... the answer is "yes, he's always that fucking cute." day in, day out ... cuteness overload ... cute, cute, cute ... all over the house ... cute all over the studio, cute all over the kitchen, cute all over the bed, the back deck, hell even the bathroom ... cute everywhere. cuter than a whole pile of fucking cutes on the planet of Cute.
frankly, it's starting to make me a throw up in my mouth once in a while ... not. :)
Barclay tried his darnedest to not wear this bowtie. He wishes everyone Happy St. Patrick's Day and for all of you with a St. Patrick's Day Birthday he says Happy Birthday. I have had a member of my family celebrate a birthday on St. Patrick's Day beginning with my step-great-grandmother. My brother and my daughter also celebrate on this day.
27 november 2006
she waits at the back door for her feet to be wiped.
she knows how to fetch the dog dishes from the backyard. (see it live!)
she knows how to get me a roll of toilet paper when i'm stuck on the toilet and have found myself down to the last square.
she knows how to take things to the recycle bin and actually put them in.
she'll even take direction in depositing her finished bones into the trash after dinner.
she knows how to get me a towel when i need one ... or the remote control, or a sweater or anything else that happens to be lying on the floor.
and lately, she's been impressing the socks off anyone who sees us in the ball field and school yard during our daily training/play sessions. for three days in a row now i've been approached by people who were amazed at her training....i've been asked if we "do shows", although i still don't quite know what that guy meant. she impressed another father so much that he promised his son that, yes, they would get a dog one day.
and today the jaw of a mother with her three kids dropped as she stopped and watched us. when i came back to the play area to deposit matea's poop bag in the trash, the woman begged me to let her sons pet her ... then proceeded to rave about how great matea was while we stood and watched her two preschooler boys take turns throwing matea's ball for her for over a half hour.
matea loves kids and took to the boys quickly ... barking at them as she waited for them to throw the ball, and ending the long session with a good roll on the grass next to the two boys imitating her.
if only she was this good with other dogs.... :(
still, she's an amazing dog. i tend to forget how amazing she really is and take a lot of the training we have done together for granted. it's encouraging when we can impress other people, and certainly motivates me to get her out there and have fun.
so there...
German Wirehaired Pointers. These two working dogs freeze to secure something interesting in front them. Erie and Dacotah love hunting.
Looks MUCH better in LightBox.
I was messing around in Lightroom & PS this week with Hina. Some presets and a texture I got off GraphicRiver. I may have over done it! =P
The original picture was very washed out which is the main reason I messed with it so much, I thought it would be a good time to play with presets & textures. I just love her expression here, she is just a goof.
had a short session with the boy ... it was really hard to choose just one for the 52 weeks project, but here it is ...
to see the rest of the mayhem and the story behind this shoot ...
... you just gotta go to the blog ... seriously, it's worth the click
still a little nervous of the camera. Link is four months old in this photo. Note the stool, it was purchased so the little wiener could reach the couch. Now... jumping down was another matter.
This is a photo from a year ago but I just as well could have taken it recently. They both sleep on my bed and get very snuggly. I think they are dreaming of Christmas and all the gifts they will get. LOL! Pearl usually sleeps on the side Barclay is on and beneath my feet. Barclay sleeps as close as he can get to my side! I have little room in the bed for me!!!! That is my arm in the top left of the photo.
German wirehaired Pointer dog 'Yuma'. A happy working dog, almost 1 year young, in action on a quiet winter morning hunting with friends.
Wooden box hand painted with original art of German Wirehaired Pointers, 5½" x 3", 2 3/4" deep. 2005
Wirehaired pointer Bas and small Munsterlander Leica.
Dogs during a break on a hunting day.
Holland, Drenthe, 2001
Camera: Nikon FM analogue
Film: Ilford
Scan: DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 .
Looks best in Lightbox
Ok so there are three movies coming out this month that I'm excited about, Beastly, Red Riding Hood, and Sucker Punch! Two of which being Fairy Tale based so this week I wanted to do that with my girls. Eve messed it up by being cute earlier this week with the Rainbow Eucalyptus tree so she gets her fairy tale shot next week. Hina gets Beauty and the Beast so everyone should be able to guess what Eve gets to do next week. =P
Anyways I hope it looks good!