| My Four Great Dogs |
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Until 2020, my pack consisted of four wonderful, rescue dogs with ages ranging from two to 17 years old. One of my dogs, Sputnik, passed away that year at 17. Later that year, a new fourth dog, Orbit, joined our pack. Three of my dogs were Petfinder.com adoptions. The other was a shelter dog being fostered by a friend. Gremlin is a Miniature Pinscher. Griswold is and Nik was a Rat Terrier. Dilly is probably an Italian Greyhound or Basenji mixed with Terrier. Those hyperlinked names will take you to more photos of each dog and their stories.
We live in Ventura, California where these lucky dogs get to run off-leash every day on the beach and at different parks and school yards. They accompany me on all my roadtrips when I take photos for the main part of this website, RoadsideArchitecture.com. For about ten years, I competed in agility with my dogs. I'm not competing in the sport any more. However, I still spend lots of time training my dogs. Each of them knows dozens of tricks. This video shows them in action. For many years, I treated the dogs to a full-out run twice a week at a soccer field chasing remote control racecars (see photos at the bottom of this page). The cars could do about 40 mph on grass. The dogs got completely tuckered out after about 40 minutes of chasing the car. I let them catch it every five minutes or so. The tires were subjected much abuse and had to be constantly replaced. Nik used to chase the car despite being blind. He could hear the fake motor sounds of a special car and it was great exercise for him. But then his hearing went wonky and he couldn't tell direction any more. The dogs also enjoy chasing above ground "prey". My friend took this video of my dogs chasing and barking at his drone. |
| in our hometown of Ventura, CA first photo, left to right: Griz, Grem, Dilly & Nik |
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| Bobz World Los Fresnos, TX |
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| St. Joseph Academy "Fighting Bloodhound" mascot Brownsville, TX |
hanging out at Pep Boys during repairs Fort Worth, TX |
waiting for the "okay" release to jump out of the van Corpus Christi, TX |
with the Giant Peanut Cottonwood, AL |
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| Dilly with Lioness Bailey Junior High School Jackson, MS |
Griz with Chief Duck Duck Hill, MS |
Grem with Barking Lot Dog Memphis, TN |
Nik with Giant Turkey Lincoln, AR |
the family with Doggie Diner head signs San Francisco, CA |
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| running, sniffing, munching & rolling Corpus Christi, TX |
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| they never get tired of the racecar Ventura, CA [photos taken by Harper Point] |
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Why buy or breed when you can