New 2008 Summer Olympic Event: Mini Platform Dog Diving

These pictures may not be the best, but we had fun making them. It's amazing what you can capture in near blackness. It was late last night and Clesie desperately wanted to play. I would have rather sat in my recliner doing mindless channel surfing, but Clesie's persistence paid off, so we went out to the pool. We might as well do some night photography!

These photo's were taken around 9:30 pm with little ambient light. Focusing was done manually since auto focus didn't really have anything to grab hold of. Shutter speed was used to stop motion and wasn't low enough to capture ambient light. Aperture was used for dept of field and tweaked to best capture flash without burning out any highlights.

Amazingly enough, Clesie sat and jumped when I asked him to. You can see from these photo's his eyes focused great in the dark. He had but one goal, catch the toy! He did a fantastic job!!!

Here's a few shots from last night.

"Look Dad, I can catch it in the dark!"
Score: 5 out of 5 bones for effort.

Clesie performs the Kangaroo Jump, grabs the prize with his paws, and pulls in for a perfect catch.
Score: 4 out of 5 bones for style.


Great job keeping his eye on the gold!
Score: 5 out of 5 bones for difficulty.


Clesie captures the gold in the Mini Platform Dog Diving Event!
Congratulations!

Clesie Learns to Jump in the Pool

Our Yellow Lab Ecclesiastes, aka Clesie, learned how to swim this week. It's great to watch how quickly he learns new things. Not long ago he wouldn't touch the pool water, so one day I gently helped him sit on the first step. After a few hours the curiosity got the better of him and he ventured deeper into the pool. Soon he was venturing down the stairs to retrieve his toys.

I showed him how to jump in from the side of the pool and after a few minutes he was doing it on his own. Now he just loves the pool, and retrieving anything we throw into the pool. He often jumps in just for the fun of it!


"Look dad, I got my eye's on the prize!"



"Got it!"



Clesie's failed attempt to walk on water.



"Dang it, I thought if I had faith as small as a mustard seed I could walk on water."

Clesie Learns to Catch a Frisbee

This weekend we had the family over and our nephew, Robbie, was kind enough to help out with some photo's of Clesie, our 9 month old Yellow Lab. Robbie threw the Frisbee so I could get a picture of Clesie catching it. He did awesome and learned quite fast, Clesie I mean. Only problem was the heat cut our session short. Fortunately I still go some good shots.




Hey - you looking at me?

Clesie - aka Ecclesiastes

Here's the newest member of our family. We had a great day at the lake, but Clesie didn't realize the edge of the lake dropped off into deep water. As a result, he became completely submerged.

Read more about the adventure at my wife's blog at www.oliveleafministries.blogspot.com/





Clesie just loves toys and really anything he finds ends up becoming a toy. He's technically a "retriever" but has a small problem. Once he retrieves a toy, he expects you to chase him down to get it. Not so fun for us!

Here he is at the end of the day totally wasted. I took him for a 2 mile walk and a few hours later my wife took him out for her walk. He's truly had enough for the day. He told me, "Dad, slow down! I'm only six months old. Four miles in one day is just plain abuse!"

Welcome our new family member

Welcome Clesie, aka Ecclesiastes. A yellow Lab with lots of love and desire to please. I also call him Exit30, referring to the exit we took off the highway to the farm where we got him.