Rooney And Rebecca

The Puparazzi

I love taking pictures of Roo Bear but my skills as a puparrazi were definitely learned. I've spent hours trying to take customer acceptable photos of day care dogs, not to mention pictures of my own kids!! Dogster.com and Mark Rogers recently posted their top five pet photography tips. Take a look, then go get your camera and start shooting!!!

Here Are Five Surefire Ways to Help Avoid Snapshot-itis 1) Change angles

Most pet photos are taken from the perspective of a human being looking down while the pet looks up. Bor-rinnnnnng! Try something different and get down at their level or, if they're moving, pan with them as you take the shot.

2) Stick with natural light. Turn off or cover the on-camera flash

On-camera flashes are evil. They flatten everything out, cast harsh shadows and are the source of the infamous glowing green pet eyes. If you have to use a flash go with an off-camera one and bounce the light off a ceiling or wall.

3) Stay out of direct sun and shoot in the morning or late afternoon

Contrary to popular belief, bright sunlight is not a photographers friend. It wreaks havoc with your exposure and you typically end up with lots of nasty shadows in places you don't want them. I avoid photographing subjects outside in direct light except first thing in the morning or in the late afternoon before sunset when the light is angled low.

4) Don't wait for the perfect moment and don't be afraid to take lots of shots but...

Most of us are shooting digital these days so you can essentially take as many pictures as you want. With pets, unpredictability is the rule of law. You never know how a shoot is going to go. All you can do is be there and hope you catch the moment. This requires taking a lot of shots in quick sequence and culling through them later for the best one.

5) ...make sure you edit yourself

Some of the most important work happens after you shoot. It sounds cliche but less is more. It's easy to become enamored of the 100 pictures you took of Spot playing with his new ball but chances are your friends won't feel the same way. Limit what you show people to only the very best.

On a Boat!

For the boyf’s birthday Roo Bear and I rented a boat so the three of us could spend the day on the canals of Amsterdam.  The sun was shining, there were plenty of drinks, and Roo had countless birds to antagonize!  It was Rooney’s first boat trip (the first of MANY to come!) and we were both convinced he was going to jump in the water at least once, but he was such a good boy and spent most of the ride sitting next to one of us.  Everywhere we went people on the bank or in other boats would wave and make kissy noises at The Piggle; as he is the biggest attention hog I know (no pun intended...maybe...) he lapped up every second of it and posed for the puparazzi!  It was a great day and I’m so glad Rooney likes the water since he’ll be spending a lot of time on it/in it in Charleston!!

P.S. Sorry I haven't been very active this week...my computer charger has been in a serious mood!!

Don't forget to check out our Flickr Page to see more great pics of Rooney on a boat!

 

Happy Mother's Day

Our computer was D-E-A-D yesterday and my charger was in a mood (as electronics usually are around me!) so I apologize for being a day late on this but....HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!  We love all the mothers in our life!!  All the awesome dog moms out there who dedicate their time and energy to giving their pups the best life, my cousin who became a first time people mommy, to the most beautiful baby girl in the world ifIdosaysomyself, in April, and especially to my mommy and my step mom!  Yes, I am one of the lucky ones...my step mom is not evil..in fact she’s pretty awesome!  And my Mom...does anyone else have a better one?  Without these two women...well, I wouldn’t be alive...and I wouldn’t be the woman I am today...so thank you Thelms and Lizzie, I love you both so much and y’all mean the world to me! 

P.S.  As photogenic as Roo Bear is...it took twenty minutes, 10 takes, and too many treats to count to get him to cooperate for this picture!!  Hence the somewhat confused/slightly annoyed look on his face!!! 

Prince William County School Assigns Anti Pit Bull Essay

A teacher at Orsbourn Park High in Manassas, Virginia has assigned her students to write an essay entitled "Why People Should NOT Own Pit Bulls".  Several of the students, who own pit bulls, requested that the assignment be changed but the teacher refused.  The teacher's response was, " I said that they didn’t have to BELIEVE people should not own pit bulls, but for the sake of this four paragraph research experience, I wanted them to use the four articles/sources I had provided to discuss two reasons why owning pit bulls could be dangerous.”  The school's assistant principal had this to say: “It is an approved topic and there is nothing wrong with it”. 

Nothing wrong with it???   Of course I couldn't let this go without saying something...I worked at a Day Care in Arlington that had many pit bull customers from Manassas and they were all great dogs!!  Here's what I had to say....

Dear Osbourne Park High and Prince William County School Board,

 I am sure by now you have received many responses about the paper one of your teachers has assigned in which the subject is “People Should NOT Own Pit Bulls.”   I am sure that you are tired of reading email after email, many probably titled “People SHOULD Own Pit Bulls.”  Let me make it perfectly clear to you...I am pro pit bull.  And I am disappointed.  Disappointed that people who have dedicated their lives to shaping the minds of our future generations would not only condone but encourage the teaching of hatred towards a voiceless animal who cannot defend himself against your poisonous words.

 Maybe you don’t understand the effect that assigning something like this can have on an impressionable young mind; if this is the case you should reevaluate your chosen career path as an educator.  High school students are incredibly impressionable, anything anyone tells them (wether they acknowledge it or not) makes an impact on them.  It is time in a person’s life where they are questioning everything and looking to the people around them for guidance.  Those people are very often the teachers, guidance counsellors, and school staff they see everyday.  In assigning this essay you are teaching your students that: 

1. It’s okay to discriminate against someone because of the way they look.
2. Pit Bulls are inherently aggressive and make terrible pets 
3. That it’s not important to believe in things, just shut up and do what you’re told.

 I sincerely hope that you have a problem with making teenagers believe these things.  I could go on forever with all the reasons why Pits and other Bullies make amazing pets.  Believe me, there are thousands of reasons why they’re great dogs and maybe 5 reasons why one wouldn’t make a good pet, and those reasons are usually more to do with the person than the dog; they’re not the dog for everyone!  However, I’m much more concerned about teaching discrimination and apathy.  

Imagine if your pet was your (human) best friend; now imagine if the two of you were walking down the street, minding your own business, when suddenly a stranger came up to your friend and told them they were dangerous and should be exterminated.  How would you feel?  You would probably be upset, and rightly so.  That is discrimination.  Remember the Civil Rights movement?  Discrimination.  The only difference is that we’re talking about dogs and not people.  Dogs, who will never steal or ask for money, never question our intentions, always be there when we just need someone to sit next to us and listen, and will, no matter what, always love us unconditionally.   I hope that you wouldn’t teach someone to hate or be afraid of a dog because of his genetics just as I hope you wouldn’t teach hatred or fear toward a person who is different from yourself.  Dogs don’t discriminate against one another, my American Staffordshire Terrier loves his Dachshund friends and my West Highland White Terrier loves his Great Dane girlfriend.  They just don’t care what each other looks like, because in the end they’re all dogs!

 For a teacher to say a student does not need to believe in what they are writing, especially after several requests for a different subject, is abhorrent.  She may as well say, “You should never voice your opinion on something because whomever has authority over you will immediately shoot it down”.  If everyone starts to believe their opinions don’t matter our world will become stagnant.  If no one sees the point to care about anything because they believe no one will listen then nothing will ever change.  Apathy is dangerous to our social society and we should be doing everything we can to encourage teenagers to care about things.  

 This assignment should never have been an approved subject, as I’m sure you are all painfully aware of by now.  Don’t breed more apathy and ignore this storm you’ve created, make a stand for education and apologize to the Bully Breed loving community!

 Sincerely,

Rebecca Lipscomb

If you want to voice your opinion...and I encourage EVERYONE to do so...go to the BSL News website to see the phone numbers and emails of the PWC School Board and The Osbourn High administrators.

 

Tug O' Wars!!

There are a lot of people that don’t play tug of war with their AmStaff as they can get obsessive about it.  Personally, I just can’t say no to the Roo Bear’s piggle noises...and he just looks so cute with his rope, completely frayed up, hanging out of his mouth!  He sounds like an angry grizzly bear protecting it’s freshly caught salmon when he’s shaking that rope around!!  Does anyone else wonder at how they don’t break their necks?  We’re working on learning “drop it” and so far he’s making good progress but when he’s got that rope it takes a couple moments longer for him to decide to give it up.  I try to tell him...the quicker you drop it the quicker I’ll throw it...but he just doesn’t get it!!  What's your dogs favorite game to play?

 

Check out our Flickr Page for some ADORBZ outtakes of our Tug of War sessions!!

 

First Vet Visit

Rooney had his first visit (with us) to the vet today!!  We had to get him a rabies shot because he’d never had one before.  The Netherlands is a rabies free country (Awesome!!!) so it’s not required here but he needs it to get into the United States so we went ahead and got him his three year shot.  He also got his Kennel Cough swab because after working in day cares and being witness to KC outbreaks...no way do I want to deal with that again!  I was so proud of him!  He sat very patiently in the waiting room, only making a couple whiny piggle noises!!  I’m proud to report he is a hearty 57 lbs (26KG in Eurospeak) and is healthy growing boy!  It did take three of us (the female vet and tech and me) to get him to sit still long enough to give him the shot...which took two tries and after the first he had a needle hanging out of him while he ran around the room like a spaz!  He’s trying to make me go prematurely grey I swear!  But it’s done and now he’s snoring loudly on his bed with no adverse effects to the shot so far...I was little worried as it’s his first rabies vaccine...typical mommy worrying!!  Now if I could get him to sleep this soundly without drugs....

 

p.s. Happy Cinco De Mayo!!!  Hope you all enjoy this great excuse to take tequila shots!!

 

Playtime at Wertheim

We took the Roo Bear over to Wertheim Park yesterday evening for some good smells and a little fun time by the canal!  We met a Lab x Setter that Roo wanted to play with so badly, but the older guy just couldn’t have cared less!  Being the ADHD Bully that he is Roo quickly found a stick to entertain him when the other dog wouldn’t oblige!  That stick made him so happy it actually made me jealous for a sec!  Why can’t such simple things have that effect on me?? Check out the video below of Roo and his stick!

 

 

*If you’re wondering why he’s tethered...there are so many off leash dogs in Amsterdam and frankly I just don’t trust him yet not to run off after one of them!  But don’t worry he’s got at least 8 feet of room to run around us at the park!

 

Defending The Bully Honor

When it comes to Bullies there’s one thing that everyone can agree on...they’ve got a bad reputation.  But just like Joan Jett, the people who share their lives with these dogs just don’t give a damn.  If you’ve never spent quality time with a Bully it’s easy to fall into believing the negative media coverage for these breeds, but ask anyone who’s spent more than ten minutes with a Bully...it’s all unjust discrimination.  Before Rooney came into my life I’d only worked with Bullies and working with dogs you don’t really meet a lot people that aren’t “dog people.”  I had expectations of other dog owners wanting to keep their pets away from Roo for fear of aggression, which is fair...as much as they love people you aren’t too hard pressed to find a Bully that doesn’t get along with other dogs...thankfully Rooney would rather roll over for the chihuahua down the street than eat him!  What I never expected was the fear from people!  We live in the city, right next to the zoo, which means lots of people sometimes in crowds; this is no problem for Roo and I except for occasionally having to drag him away from the sticky little person who’s just come from the zoo that he wants to lick clean....but every now and then...maybe once every couple of weeks, I see someone totally freak out at the sight of Rooney.  I once had a girl scream and jump into the path of oncoming bike traffic just to avoid him.  I know it’s not a reflection of Rooney, but a common misconception about an unfairly targeted group of dogs...still, how do you not take it personally?  He’s my baby and I have to stand up for him.  Many would be surprised to know that it’s actually a breed fault for the AmStaff and other Bullies to show aggression towards people; while a friendliness to people isn’t demanded from 99% of other breeds.  This is because the early breeders of Bullies wanted their dogs to be good and loyal family pets, not just used for sport.  In England the Staffordshire Bull Terrier was even known as the Nanny Dog for it’s unwavering love of children.  It’s our job to defend the honor of these dogs who, if they could talk would probably just ask for a hug!

 

Rooney Loves Rawhide

 

He's such a goober!  Happy Monday!

Football Sundays

It’s was Queen’s Day (think Mardi Gras x5 in Orange) yesterday in Amsterdam, so as you can imagine I was feeling a little “under the weather” today.  Thankfully Roo is as much of a morning person as I am and we slept in till 11...don’t worry he went out at 2am before we finally went to bed.  We finally managed to pull ourselves out of bed long enough for a very slow walk (I think he felt my pain...) then settled down in front of the telly.  Today was a big day for us.  As I’m sure you can tell by his name we are soccer (or football on this side of the pond) fans in this house, but unfortunately we are a house divided.  I am an Arsenal fan and the boyf is a Manchester United fan.  Ironically the name Rooney was my idea because honestly it suits him perfectly!  But of course Roo is going to support the team that his namesake plays for so today I was all alone in my cheering on the Gunners...but it wasn’t for nothing as they won! To cheer Roo up he got some pizza crust but still managed to tell me how he felt about the 1-0 to Arsenal result.

 

Meet Rooney

Meet Rooney, our 18 month old 65lb American Staffordshire Terrier.  He is the goofiest, most energetic ball of cuddles I’ve ever met and I am completely in love!  I don’t know how we ever got along without him.  Sure, the bed is little more crowded and I occasionally have to clean up little puddles of drool but what is that in return for unconditional Amstaff love? We adopted Roo from the animal shelter here in Amsterdam where he had come after being found in a house in east Amsterdam that was raided by the police.  He has a few scars on him so, presumably, he was going to be used as a fighting dog.  I don’t think he would have made it very far in the ring as he wants to be best friends with every dog he meets, including chihuahuas, so lets all thank the Amsterdam police for breaking up another dog fighting ring (1 down...so many to go).  He was at the shelter for seven months before we adopted him, probably due to how hyper he was plus his excessive play biting (which is really his only problem, and as far shelter dogs go that’s pretty much the equivalent of hitting the doggie jackpot).  I knew he was the dog for us when I saw that he shares a birthday with my dad...so that was that, it didn’t really matter what kind of problems he might have.  Once home and sufficiently exercised he is a complete dream. He sleeps for the majority of the day...snoring loudly I might add...and when he isn’t napping or cuddled up on the couch or in the bed next to J and I he’s living up to his name and playing with his soccer ball.  He’s the perfect addition to our family and a testament to the true nature of bully breeds: loyal, goofy, and sweet dogs who’s greatest pleasure in life is making their family happy.