Jackal's Birthday Pictures!

Please excuse my hair. I took my hat off,
but didn't have a mirror to fix my hair before the picture lol.

Jackal decided to wear one of his new bandanas for his birthday. He won this bandana during Honey's Doggie Dancing Contest last year from the wonderful Designer Duds For Dogs (http://www.designerdudsfordogs.com). The other side is stars and will be perfect for the Fourth of July. :D I love multipurpose items.

So first we got in the car . . .

And went to the pet store!! This was actually Jackal's first time going to a pet store. I think friends' houses and the vet are the only places he's ever been indoors outside of his own home. He's never been inside of a store. :) Needless to say, he had fun! There were so many smells!

He eyeballed the sliding doors, but was fine with them. He was good about ignoring the humans too. He didn't rush up to them or jump up (he never does, but you never know in a new exciting place) on anyone. Once we entered the store he headed down the middle aisle, but I showed him he had to go down each aisle. After the first one he figured it out and started going down each one. I was letting him lead me, but he wasn't pulling. The only time I had to give him a tug is when he wanted to check out another dog (there were a TON that day!).

We were checking out an adorable froggie stuffie, but it was too
expensive for something that could be shredded in seconds.

His favorite aisles were the ones with treats lol.

Here I was asking him what he thought of the cute blue plaid jacket,
but he was more interested in the cute doggie behind me.

More toys. He liked the hunting ones lol.

He wasn't overly interested in the cute Guinea Pig,
probably because he couldn't smell it through the glass.

He kept wanting to sniff behind things . . .

. . . and under things. Not sure why. Looking for dropped kibble maybe?

I asked him if he wanted one of his favorite marrow bones and he seemed good with that, so he got a special three pack (much better price than the singles) for his birthday!!

Then we got back in the car and went to the bait shop for minnows
because we were going fishing (even though it was windy and cold LOL!).

When we got to the lake he was all ready to dive right in lol.
What happened to my wimpy dog who hates the cold??

He watched people go by in boats while we fished.

Then my handsome boy got bored . . .

. . . and found something to roll in! Brat! I caught him before he got too nasty.
I guess he had to break in his new bandana lol. It was too clean for him. :D

Yep, then he peed on the trash can LOL! Naughty boy.

We were fishing under a walking bridge to block the wind and at one point three young men were crossing the bridge. Jackal tried to follow them (he was on a very long rope) and they gave him some pets and compliments. Then I called him back by name so they started talking to him, using his name and saying how cool he was. When I told him to come with me because he was supposed to be fishing they said, "Yeah Jackal, pull your weight and go catch some fish!". It was soooo funny!! I've never had anyone ever really care to interact with him before. Most of the people where I live aren't very dog friendly. Made my day!

Ignoring his new bone because he wanted to go explore.

So we decided to go explore since it was his birthday (belated) and he was bored . . .

Standing at the end of his leash, staring longingly at freedom.
The wind was blowing so hard the tip of his tail was curled to the left by it lol.
Picture is a little dark, but too cute not to use.

I let him cross the bridge and then called him back. Perfect recall (should have video taped it lol)! I used continuous shot to get this one. Running pictures of Jackal are almost impossible (wait til you see the end of the post!). Then of course I had to pose him on the rocks by the parking lot.

The sun was coming from the wrong direction, so I walked around to his other side. He was doing a perfect stay with people walking to their car and driving away by the way! So proud!

Light is much better from this direction.

He's so handsome!!

Then we walked down to the dock. Of course I asked him to pose by the stairs.

I was zoomed in here. He wanted to jump down so bad, but he laid
down when I asked. His cues from a distance are getting much better.

Zoomed out a little so you can see the stairs and the cool logs that make the wall.

Zoomed in again.

I finally let him down on the dock. I love his shadow in this picture.

Then we kept exploring.

I LOVE this picture. I think it's my favorite. :D It shows the expression he gets when he really wants to do something, but I'm asking him to wait lol. Love those ears!

Back on the bridge, whining at me because he wanted me to go with him.

As we were loading up the car he wandered off and the little brat wouldn't listen to me (don't worry he was safe where he was), so we got in the car and drove off. He was pissed!! He came running after us as fast as his stumpy legs would go.

"Wait for me!!!"

When we stopped he immediately went back to sniffing, totally unconcerned about us. Of course when I called him that time he was definitely ready to get back in the car, as if I would ever leave my baby.

Below are a few examples of running pictures. Jackal is almost impossible to get a nice running picture of! I almost always catch him in an awkward stride. Of course being in a moving car made them blurry as well.

His butt is always in the air in the shots I get lol.

Told you!

Again! What a weird stride lol. Not the most graceful mutt lol.

Well, that's all. We all had a lot of fun (although we didn't stay long because it was so cold and windy and I'd only had four hours of sleep and my toe still hurt). I went home and promptly fell asleep at four pm without even eating supper and slept for fourteen hours straight, which is why I'm posting this today instead of yesterday. Yeah, when I go without sleep I take "catching up" seriously, even though you supposedly can't "catch up" on sleep. :) I'm out to prove them wrong hehe.

So, which was your favorite picture?