Beach.

The beach at Redcar is gorgeous, all endless miles of sand and sea. Dylan and I spent a couple of hours there by ourselves earlier in the week, but the girls arrived on Thursday and Dylan was ridiculously excited to see them again so we spent all afternoon there.

Probably one of the few times you’ll spot me on camera; Mum took over camera duties whilst I tried to persuade Kim to swim. She didn’t, but she went much deeper than normal and didn’t flail like an idiot, so maybe her one and only hydro session did her some good.

Also, have I mentioned the weather? Because the weather. Wow. Every single picture looks bright and sunny and warm because it was.

I shouldn’t have even bothered taking my camera; the lighting was awful! Overcast skies + twilight = not good for photos of moving dogs.

Still, look at Mollie’s smiley face!

Dylan is getting really irritating on walks, I keep wanting to smack him round the head! He is generally pretty independent when we’re out and about, not so much as the girls’ but happy to go off and do his own thing. But as soon as I take off the lens cap, he’s right there in front of me. Almost touching.

Ever played that “not touching” game when you’re a kid? That’s what it’s like.

You can’t tell, but in all these photos, he’s about 2 inches away from the lens, giving me the Eye. Incidentally, this is why I’m never getting another Border Collie. They drive you insane, like they are.

Kim is thoroughly enjoying being out and about again, she’s off-lead 95% of the time at the moment. We’re slowly starting to put some real muscle back onto her, but it’s taking time. I’d like to do some hydrotherapy with her but the pool we used to go to isn’t available at the moment, and she hates swimming. Maybe I can throw her in the sea at Redcar?

We set off on Sunday morning for Hare’n'Hounds, Dylan and I are competing all week and the girls are coming up for Waldridge Fell. Kim is running with Cat, which should be fun!

Dylan is a whole four years old today.

We celebrated by going for a nice long walk, on which I failed to get any good photos of Dylan at all.

Thankfully, there is this magical editing program, Photoshop. It’s amazing what can be salvaged! Most things can’t though. Imagine lots of blurred/overexposed/splashes of water where the dog isn’t actually visible kind of non-salvagable photos, and you’ll get the idea.

Birthday treat was that he was allowed to go swimming in Digley Res. He swims like a speedboat, and leaves a wake behind him. People could waterski on that.

The girls insisted on coming too of course.

“Hey, remember that incision wound that just got the stitches removed and everyone said I had to absolutely not get wet or dirty under any circumstances? Yeah, I’m digging through the lake now.”

Mol says nothing, she’s got some fluff to dry.

View on Flickr

No theme this week.

I am happy with this picture. It’s in focus, the framing is good, the background is clean, the exposure is right, and Mol’s expression is perfect. It’s the first photo in the whole 52 Weeks series where I feel like I’ve done Mollie and the camera justice. Although the project is about Mollie, it’s also about me learning to take advantage of the capabilities of the K-x, and hopefully getting better photos as a result. I feel like I’m getting there!

Had so much fun with this. I was after Mollie’s 52 Weeks shot, and I’d seen someone else try this idea with their dogs.

Some dogs got the idea quicker than others …

… others were under the mistaken impression that I would just drop the kibble into any open mouth.

Eventually everyone got the hang of the game, but some were more successful than others. For some dogs, every catch was a triumph.

For some dogs, who may or may not be practically perfect in every way, every catch was a success and a chance to show off their photogenic athleticism and elegance.

For some dogs, it’s not about looks or triumph. It’s about 100% dedication to food.

Since Kim’s quite the bitch about sharing (she’s the first child), I do have a few pictures which probably would include quite a lot of extremely bad language if Kim could speak English. I’ll leave you to interpret what she’s saying …