Gone to the Dogs

A couple weekends ago I had a fun-filled, dog-filled time! Friday afternoon, I drove down to San Francisco to visit my friend Laurie. We've known each other for many years - although we don't see each other that often, we keep in touch. She's been out to our place a few times, but I had yet to visit her home. I'd completed a portrait of her dog Ginger (a cattle dog mix) quite a while ago and we finally set aside some time for me to visit her and deliver the portrait.



Laurie has two new dogs that I hadn't met yet, so even more reason for my trip. Those dogs would be Jalu (who we've determined to be a Lurcher):


and E.D. (a "Pirates Terrier", according to Laurie):

An interesting bit of info about these two dogs - they were adopted (a couple of years apart) from Big Dog Rescue in Penngrove, CA. And as it turns out, both came to Big Dog from the same shelter in Oklahoma! We're pretty sure there was some serious K9 karma at work for Laurie to end up with both of them.

On Friday evening, we took Jalu & E.D. to Delores Park - a very dog-friendly park in San Francisco. Ginger is a senior girl with some mobility issues, so she stayed home - no doubt enjoying a bit of piece and quiet with the young dogs out of the house. Friday evening at Delores Park has been dubbed "Frenchie Friday", when the French Bulldogs and their owners hang out and mingle. There were other dogs there too, but definitely a high concentration of Frenchies.


This is Bean


We saw a Chupacabra at Delores Park too

On Saturday, we visited Maddie's Adoption Center a wonderful facility at the San Francisco SPCA. The dogs and cats are housed in spacious glass enclosed, climate-controlled rooms. After that, we headed to Chrissy Field for some lunch at the Warming Hut and a nice long walk along the beach. The cool, foggy weather in San Francisco was a refreshing change from the hot days we'd been having here at home and I had a great time visiting with Laurie & her dogs.


E.D. and Jalu on the beach

On Sunday, my friend Sandy and I went to Woofstock - a dog event in Rocklin. Both of us toting our cameras, of course!

The turnout for this first-time event was excellent - lots of dogs and their people, dog rescue groups and pet product vendors and services. I had hoped to get some photos of the Wiener Dog Races, but the races were held under a shade tent, which wasn't conducive to photography. I did get a photo of one of the non-participating dachshunds outside the tent:




And a Great Pyrenees - this is Cheyenne, one of the livestock guarding dogs from the Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary.


And a Bassett Hound

Yes, it was a very fun weekend!