If Dogs Had Cameras

Blackie figures she could probably work a camera, if it had big buttons, as long as it was on a base so she didn't have to hold it, and if it was auto-focus and automatic in every way. Dogs don't normally care much for pictures, but art can be fun (just ask Tillamook Cheddar) so Blackie tried her paw at making a picture of Mom.

The controls on the image generator were very easy to use, but rather limited in options. This was the closest Black could come to how Mom seems to look. If they only had a scent generator, we'd be in business!

Rufus did not participate in this exercise. To him, "fun" must absolutely, positively involve a spherical object.

Tagging and, well, you know...

The dogs laughed out loud at these lessons on tagging and sharing info. Whether it's putting a tag in your blog so others will know you've covered a topic, or adding a book title to your LibraryThing so your friends can see where you've been reading, this is an inately canine thing to do! Of course you want others to know where you've been and what you've been doing. Of course you leave little tags here and there so they can pick up your trail. And of course you find a common place to post these tags so that they're easily found and recognized. This is what social networking is all about, people!

Blackie patiently explained to young Rufie that humans haven't been in touch with their social needs. She further reminded him that they have a very poor sense of smell, so their tagging cannot be done invisibly. It's a good thing they can read, and that they have the Internet, or the dogs would have to do everything for them. Turning on the computer is like going to the dogpark. Let them have their time at the keyboard and they'll be happier and better socialized, and maybe then they'll take you out for a nice run and fetch.

Mom has a new toy...

...but we don't get to play with it! What's fun about that? Well, at least you can finally see what we really look like. Our stand-ins were okay, but (no offense to them) they were second-rate. Mom finally got a camera phone, and she was able to take photos after only one lesson from a Boy. Then, wonder of wonders, she was able to send the photos to her computer (where she spends way too much time, in our opinion) and upload them to our blog. All that, and we only had to hold still. We don't like to hold still, except when we're sleeping. Maybe that's why she made us go outside, and she threw tennis balls for Rufus for a long time.

A word of explanation about our images, by the way. Blackie doesn't always pant, but she was quite bored by the time Rufus was tired enough to sit still. Rufus only pants like this (look at that incredibly elongated tongue!) after a long, hard run. It would be nice if Mom could get pictures of us looking more engaged and noble, but we are not the posing types. (Besides, Blackie knows that Rufus doesn't do "noble," even on his best days.)