Perhaps a calming influence

  Well, folks, it is that time again. Tempers are flaring. Blood is boiling over. Sock puppets are being created at a furious pace. Reverse epithets abound. The message board moderators have been called out of hibernation. I think everybody needs...

...puppy pictures!

  If y'all haven't met Shadow before, he is a (now) five month old cross between a Border collie and an Australian shepherd. This picture of the poor little fellow was taken about a month ago. He is not a fan of the water. When his friends go into the lake after a stick or a ball he runs up and down the shore barking at them. My guess would be he is madly trying to explain to them the danger of their chosen course of action. Or he could just be saying "woof, woof!"
  And for those of you who would like more information about my family, you can clearly see my wife's hands in this picture. They are the ones massaging Mango/Papaya shampoo with conditioner into Shadow's delicate fur. She buys the Sam's Club house brand generic shampoo for me to use.
  Here is the little guy about the same time, or a week or two later, experiencing his first snowfall. He spent a good hour outside catching snowflakes in his mouth. Remember the way we did it as kids, standing there with our tongues out trying to get one of the fluttery little bastards to land on them? Shadow is a little more proactive than that. He snaps them out of the air with a jaw clack that will make you shake.
  One of the snowflakes was caught falling directly past his face by the camera. It kinda looks like he's crying, doesn't it? Or I guess that could be ghost. (shhhh. I didn't really say that out loud did I?)
  This picture shows the spots coming out all over his front legs. When we got him, his legs and underbelly were snow white, but as time has gone on, more and more black spots have shown up. This picture also displays his white chest. I call it his shirt front. I'm looking for a black collar that has a bowtie attached, but I can't seem to find one. I may have to actually buy a real bowtie for him, just because that is the kind of stupid stuff pet owners do that other people roll their eyes at.
  Here he is yesterday, sitting in the November sunlight, wondering why I'm playing with that silver flashy thing instead of throwing the ball for him. He is pretty good with 'sit' and 'lie down' and is learning 'stay.' The problem we run into is with 'come.' Both the Border collie and Australian shepherd  are considered to be among the most intelligent dog breeds available. It means he learns new commands very readily. Many other dog owners have expressed astonishment at how well trained he is for a five month old puppy. Unfortunately, he also thinks he is smart enough to decide when to obey a command and when to not. 
  He'll be lying in the back yard, chewing on a stick, barking at squirrels. (Y'all wondered when I would fit squirrels into a journal entry, didn't you?) I'll stick my head out the side door and holler, "Shadow, come!" He'll look up at me for a second, then go back to his bark dessert. I can almost hear him saying, "I'm busy!" Or maybe that was just "woof, woof" again.
  Now, doesn't everybody feel better. My instuments tell me that the cuteness quotient of this entry has put smiles on 64.8% of all those readers who arrived frowning. As for the other 35.2%, well, some people are just selohssa.

See you.


More puppy pics can be found here, here, and here.