I am going to give this a try. I may not be able to hang in there, but I did with Bonnie.
A little catch up first:
2 weeks (second from left):
4 weeks:
6 weeks:
8 weeks:
coming home
missing mom and siblings, but hey, grass is tasty
8 1/2 weeks with Bonnie. You know how hard it is to get a black and an apricot picture without either a washed out apricot or a black blob?! This will take some practice!:
Didnt you say Jazz was 30 pounds at 4 months? Thats pretty huge, so if he ends up under 55 pounds that will be interesting. Panda was about 26 pounds at 4 months and the vet said he thinks he will be 70 pounds.
LOL I was letting her body hair grow out some because it's winter and was just thinking her bracelets look like hell and I need to do something about it!
29 weeks. 6.5 months old. He is 44 pounds today and a hair under 24 inches tall. I guess he isn't going to be the huge moose I originally thought, which I am happy about. He should be somewhere between 25-26 inches tall and 50-55 pounds?
I am getting frustrated trying to get a quick snapshot of a black shapeless (haven't cut any hair in a while) furball. He's standing there. I think, "I'll snap a picture." and I get this:
He finished his beginning obedience class and did well except the collar tore up his neck hair. I have a silk collar coming in the mail. His sires owner is going to trim him for me in late January. In the mean time, I am letting him grow and grow because I am afraid of messing him up. He is looking rather shapeless right now. LOL. My groomer will continue to bath and blowout only. I decided to try conformation classes with him starting in January. He is a big dog with a puppy brain, so we'll see how it goes. His head hair is still challenged, but it is growing, albeit verrrrry slowly:
Thanks for the comparison, CM. Jazz isn't going to be enormous like I thought for a while, but will be a good sized male. He is starting to dwarf Bonnie, but has a slimmer build than she does. He's light on his feet for his size, which is nice.
30 weeks- almost 7 months old, but not quite. I am getting tired of all the hair that is such a shapeless mess. I am afraid to have my groomer touch him with scissors. I did a tiny bit on his rear near his tail a while ago, but didn't do it right so now I am paranoid to touch him. I am taking him to a show groomer at the end of January. At that time two people are going to help me decide/evaluate whether to try AKC or not: the groomer (owner of his sire) and a nearby breeder of show poodles (Jazz is related). It's a hard call. His body is nice to me, his personality great, he is prancy and poodley, but he is such a squirrely boy!! He is a complete PIA when I ask him to hold still. When I gate him he is hunting around for leaves to pounce on.
I am going to try a conformation class. I need to order that poodleit collar. I might have more control with that collar.
How can he appear to be such a calm, sweet boy one moment...
"I like soft things"
"See, I am calm"
and the next...
"What? Me hold still? Are you out of your mind!?!"
sigh-
well...he is super entertaining, always playing with toys and leaves and whatever he can get ahold of. He is a goofy, gentle boy yet full of beans, but I feel like I have a toddler in the house!:
"How come everyone trips on me? Can't they see me here?"
Nope...once a week. I check him for matts regularly and sometimes work on a little tangle, but I took CM's suggestion to not overbrush and ran with it. :angel2: I do have him bathed, blowed and brushed out every two weeks, though. He was bathed today. But, his hair wants to be really curly, so it only looks straight for a couple hours. He needs a boatload more hair.
He gets lots of conditioner rinsed out well with his bath. I use a chris christenson poodle comb that has wide tines. His hair is too curly for the narrow tined comb I have. The every other week bath, blow and thorough brushing seems to hold for mostly the two weeks. I do use the CC ice on ice spray when I comb him. I don't think that ice on ice makes it any easier. He stays decent because of the every two week baths. I asked the groomer if she thought I should be doing it every week since he is getting long in the body. She said that she has no trouble combing through as long as I do it once a week. It takes the groomer a couple hours to do him even though she only baths, blows and brushes. It is more economical to do it myself, but they do a good job and don't charge much ($25 for the bath and brushout).
The "see, I am calm" photo is breathtaking. He really is a beautiful boy. Despite reading what seems like hundreds of tutorials, I still can't figure out how to get those smooth, blurred backgrounds. Sigh. Maybe it will come with time.
Sookster, husband says large aperature (low/small f stop #) and the background should be further away from the subject than the camera is to the subject. Does that make sense? This was also an overcast day. With a black dog an overcast day works better, but it has been difficult! You'll notice he looks a little bluish instead of black, but I still loved it. I have sojme others that came out well, too, but I posted enough! It was a successful shoot.
Also, if you use photoshop or similar to do post-processing and sharpen the image, the smoothness of the blurred background can be ruined by the sharpening algorithm, giving a splotchy or grainy look. If your software allows it, sharpen only the foreground.
Also, the quality of the blur (called "bokeh" by photography snobs :laugh: ) is also a function of lens quality. Better lenses give a lighter, "creamier", and more natural looking blur.
The 2nd picture at 29 weeks in the best close up of a black spoo i have ever seen!!!!! Gorgeous ;-)
Sent from my iPhone using PG Free
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