Or clouds...or mountains....
Though, the landscape looked really pretty the Friday morning of the 4H Dog Show (the same weekend as the Field of Dolls Online Show Results Announcement).
I am notorious for taking pictures through car windows - they still come out OK.
My dad and I picked up Kneaders French Toast for the judges, my family,....and any leftovers can be used for gaining the dogs' attention during the show. Yes, the kids take anything from dog treats, hot dogs, cheese, French toast, or any other appealing smell/taste to a dog and rub it all over their hands since food/treats is not allowed in the show ring. It has become a Dog 4H tradition to get Kneaders French Toast on show days.
Just saying, if you're ever coming through Logan/Cache County, UT, make sure you go by Kneaders - they have really good food! Kind of like Paradise Café.
More clouds...
OK, now the dogs.
Photographing in indoor arenas are an absolute pain. The lighting is terrible if you are wanting anything to come out clear. This was the best I can do at the moment. Someday, I'll figure it out. But for now, it's just use'n' the tripod at the openest aperture, 1/60 shutter speed, 1600 ISO, and custom White Balance (focused on my brother's red and white Playmate lunch box!)
The first show of the day was Showmanship. Showmanship is basically judged on how well you work with your dog. My little sister, Victoria, showed both our brother, Kaleb's dog MerkTavitch (Merk for short); and her dog, Jasper (above).
This was Merk's very first show. It was very exciting, and new....until...
His owner was judging the other dogs in Obedience!
(Obedience is judged on how well the dog obeys their handler).
Typically, for this exercise, the two cones are actually two people standing as posts, and the dog has to make a figure 8 around them without paying any kind of attention to them. Though, the cones are still pretty distracting to the dogs. MUST SMELL EVERYTHING!!!
As far as Kaleb's attire - it's a 4H themed Hawaiian shirt. He has it as his official judge shirt.
I didn't get any pictures of the kids doing Rally, which is an obstacle course with signs that tell you what to do before advancing to the next sign. I was getting tired and was really needing food at the moment.
Saturday was Agility and Fast. The pictures I have here are of Agility. Agility is basically an obstacle course where the dog runs through either on leash (in the beginning stages) or off leash (more advanced). Placings are judged on how fast the dog went through the course without any faults (knocked jump bar or skipping an obstacle because the dog isn't comfortable with it yet).
I didn't get any of Fast either, due to needing to eat and take a nap (which I did - part in a camp chair and the other in my dad's truck). As far as what Fast is, you're on a set time and you gotta have your dog go through/over as many obstacles as possible to gain the highest points collected (jumps are 1, the tunnel is 5, I don't remember what the A-Frame is, though).
Of course, anything fast with the lighting circumstances does not go hand-in-hand...more like against each other. When photographing high speed stuff (or shake free, as I cannot stay completely still while photographing still stuff), I like to have the shutter speed at 1/125. 1/60 is just not fast enough in this terrible lighting to get a clear picture.
Victoria and Jasper doing the Weave Poles. This is a very tricky obstacle for the dogs and it sometimes takes them awhile to master. It's amazing watching videos of super speedy dogs going through the Weaves.
And we end with beautiful clouds. Between the colors of the sky and the trees - it could totally be turned into a painting.
Of course, the end is actually with all of us getting sick with a cold. And when a sickness goes through my family, it goes through ONE PERSON AT A TIME! It doesn't help that there are 6 of us! We're on the tail end of it now. But that means congestion for eternity (or so it seams)!
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