He finally did it. . . Hermes has been working on this one for almost a year now. Those Tuffy pet toys are TUFF! One of his favorite things to do is to disembowel stuffed animals, but with the Tuffy toys he’s met his match. He nibbles and nibbles at one little spot until he hits gold (stuffing). Then he pulls at it gingerly like he doesn’t want to hurt the poor thing (or, maybe it just feels funny in his teeth). Once he gets enough of the stuffing out, he paws at it until he finds the squeaker. From there it’s every dog/toy for himself. Hermes always wins in the end . . . and then I usually buy him another Tuffy (that makes it a win-win for him). It's funny though, he rips the toy apart, but when it comes to that squeaker, he treats it like a baby. 

This morning Hermes and I participated in the Boxer Walk that was headed up by Northern Plains Boxer Rescue. It was a lot of fun and there were a lot of great faces there. Hermes was the smallest of the participants, but I don't think he even noticed. He was just happy to get to hang out with good company on a really nice day. . . and so was I.

There were some wonderful girls from Globe University at the event offering free nail trims. I jumped at the opportunity to provide Hermes with a much needed "pet"-icure. Thanks, NPBR for a wonderful day!

During all of the preparation for setting up my business (wow, there is so much more than people let on), I had a little setback . . . nerves! Of all things, I found myself worrying about some of the specifics of my photo taking abilities. (It's funny how your confidence drops when you venture into uncharted territory). I had a new camera, and as with any new toy you have to get use to some of the, well, newness. For starters, this camera was larger and heavier than my old camera. Turns out I have a steadier hand with the extra weight. Second, I had to figure out what settings were going to benefit me with my style of photography . . . you know, the fast moving, eye darting, slobbery subject kind of photography. After reading through what might just be the longest written manual ever, I started experimenting. I wasn't having instant success like I wanted, and I was getting a little discouraged about my progress with this new camera. So . . .

I decided to take Hermes out and photograph him and all his doggie goodness. I took him to our usual walking track to try and take a few photos. He was less than cooperative, and being that he was on a leash there really wasn't much I could do about it.  At the end of the walk I took him to the middle of the field, scanned the area to see if there were any potential distractions, and looking him straight in the eye I said, "Hermes, please let me take some pictures of you.  Please don't run away, just be good for a few minutes, that's all I ask . . . please, please, please and please." As soon as I unhooked his leash and he looked as though he was going to dart across the field, this happened . . .