Watching - 33/52

One of the things that I love about Iris is just how expressive her ears are.  Here she was so serious.

Watching - 33/52

She surprised me by deciding to wade in the water.  Usually she does a pretty good impression of the wicked witch of the west when it comes to water.  Actually her wicked witch impression in general is pretty good.

Missing Summer

Turning the clocks back last weekend really made me start wishing for summer. Sunset at 4:30pm is just too early!  Since I just realized that I never shared these photos here, I thought we could all use a taste of summer.

One of my favorite summer walks with Iris is the Cranberry Bogs.  It really is a gorgeous spot!  Plus it's right down the street, which made it so easy to head over there after I'd finished working for the day.

The Bogs - 28/52

I don't know what it is about this next photo, but I just love Iris' expression here.  I'm not really sure where she's going with this "one ear up, one ear back" look.  She is such a goof!

One Up One Down - 29/52

Because it's such a beautiful spot, we always see other people walking their dogs.  The bogs are so open, you can see folks coming from a ways off so it isn't really too much of an issue.  The funny thing is, I know Iris well enough that I can tell how close someone is just by watching her expression change.  In the above photo, there was no one around at all.  She was nice and relaxed.  If you look at her expression in the next photo, you can tell that she's watching someone else and their dog walking on the path.  She's just about hitting the point where I have to stop taking photos of her and get her walking again.  And all that without me ever turning around to look!

Guarding the Path - 31/52

In this next one, Iris isn't actually looking at anything in particular.  She's just sick of looking at me!  Eventually, she gets really annoyed with the camera and won't pose anymore.  Such a diva!

Look Away - 32/52

She just doesn't understand the point of sitting around when we could be walking.  Or running.  Or sniffing things.  Or staring at other dogs.  If the possibilities are endless, why bother sitting around?

Learned Something New

I learned something new about Iris this past week. I guess after 4 years of living with the red dog, I thought I knew her pretty well. But I suppose there's always something new to learn!

Last Saturday, New England got hit with a very early snow storm.  We lost power on Saturday night and didn't get it back until Wednesday. The combination of a wet snow and most of the trees still having leaves meant A LOT of downed trees and branches.  Most of this area was without power.  For me, four days without power meant the house got down to about 50 degrees (I actually started opening the windows in the afternoons to heat the house up a few degrees).

October Snow - 37/52

So what does this have to do with Iris? Apparently, Iris hates being cold. I just assumed that with her coat, she wouldn't be bothered by it. Not my princess! She likes her comforts. I supposed I should have guessed. I mean, this is the dog who sleeps on the couch with her head on a pillow.

Red Pillow - 27/52

I love showing off how well trained my dog is.  She's really not supposed to be sleeping on the red pillows.  Any other pillow in the house is ok, but since the red ones are definitely the most comfortable, they're supposed to be for humans.  Iris knows as long as she looks really, really cute while she's doing it, she can get away with quite a lot. Spoiled much?

Now, there are 13 reptiles currently living in my house and I have to say, losing power for four days with that many herps is really pretty stressful.  Luckily, we have a gas stove so we were still able to use the stove-top for heating water.  All 11 of the Crested Geckos were moved into shoebox size enclosures, the ball python was moved into a pillowcase (which she loved!), and the Bearded Dragon was moved into a smaller enclosure too (he was ultimately taken to my roommate's office, which had heat).  I kept all of the enclosures under a pile of blankets and heated them with hot water bottles.  Actually, I was really impressed with how well the hot water bottles held their heat.  As long as I was reheating the water about every 4 hours, I was able to keep everyone at the correct temperature.  Really tired after waking up every 4 hours to reheat, but worth it to have everyone safe and happy.

While I was very worried about the herps, I wasn't too concerned with keeping Iris warm.  I figured as long as the temperature was tolerable for me, the red dog would be fine too.  Iris really did not agree.

Focus - 38/52

She was miserable.  I was sleeping on the couch to take care of the reptiles, and Iris needed to sleep curled up with me.  This is the dog who will jump off the bed if I'm moving around too much.  Not while it was cold!  She curled herself up as tightly as possible, snuggled up with me under the blankets and was happy to stay there all night.  When I'd get up to reheat the hot water bottles, I'd move Iris off the couch to rearrange the blankets.  Then she'd stand there staring intently at the blankets until I'd invite her back up.  I didn't know this before, but if it's chilly out, Iris really likes sleeping under the blankets.  So much for being a working dog.  She'd rather sleep under the blankets with her head on the pillow.

October Paws - 39/52

All of the reptiles survived the power outage just fine.  So did Iris, although I think next time, she'd really like to have her own hot water bottle.  Or at the very least, an extra blanket.  Yup, she's a diva all right.

City Dog - 26-27/52

For all of her issues, Iris is actually really good about walking in a city.  Back when I was doing a lot of night photography in Boston for the virtual tour company, Iris and I did a lot of city walking.  She relaxed about negotiating crowds and not at all phased by city sounds and smells.  She greeted everyone she met very politely (something about her seems to attract attention.  Maybe because she's a merle?  Everyone asks to pet her).  The only trick is that I do have to cross the street to avoid sharing the sidewalk with another dog.  Because I was photographing storefronts, even that wasn't too much of an issue.  We really only encountered a few other dogs when passing through more residential areas.  Other than that, she handles cities like a champ.

Repetition - 26/52

I thought it would be fun to take Iris into downtown Lowell for some photos.  She loves getting to explore new places.  She was in her element, and she even got to stop and visit with a group of elderly women sitting on a park bench.  I think Iris made their day and Iris, of course, was thrilled to be the center of attention.

City Slicker - 27/52

She was less excited about having her photo taken.  Definitely not as much fun as walking!  You can tell because she started making funny faces at the camera.  Just to make her point.

The Fort - 25/52

Iris loves to lay underneath things.  Under the dining room table, under the computer desk, under the coffee table...  Iris doesn't actually fit under the coffee table.

 The Fort - 25/52

Back when I first brought Iris home, I had a coffee table that she could crawl under, and she loved it.  It was her "safe spot," her fort.  She pretty much lived under the coffee table for those first few days because she was so stressed.  When we moved, I ended up with a lower coffee table, so she can't quite crawl all the way under it.  I bought her a fluffy dog bed thinking that I could convince her to sleep there instead of under the coffee table.  Nope!  She still loves to lay with just her head under the coffee table.  Sometimes she's just weird.

Updates - 22-24/52

I just realized that it's been months since I've posted anything here.  I suppose you're due for an Iris update!

Iris is doing well.  Still having seizures once every four weeks.  Sigh.  At least I've gotten used to it.  She's had some allergy problems over the summer, but seems to be doing a lot better now with the cooler weather!  Other than that, she's been pretty healthy.  I've been so busy with job hunting and working on the photography business, we haven't really gotten out of the house much this summer.  Lucky for me as Iris has gotten older, she's gotten less demanding about physical and mental exercise.  She seems pretty happy to act as my foot warmer while I work on the computer.  I was hoping to get her out for a hike this afternoon, but I think we're supposed to get some thunder showers.  Maybe we'll have to put that off until tomorrow.

I'm also way overdue for a photo update!  If you follow my photography blog, you've probably seen a lot of these already.  I really want to keep track all the Iris photos in one place so that at the end of the year I can print them all in one album.  Hopefully I won't bore anyone too much with repeats!  Here's a 52 weeks update...

 

Bling - 22/52

Iris' fancy dog tag, because even though she's not particularly "girly," a girl still needs her bling!  Not only does her tag have my contact info on it, it also says "EPILEPSY - NEEDS MEDICATION."  Hopefully if she ever does get lost, whoever finds her will make the extra effort to get her back to me quickly.  At the very least, it would give a veterinarian a starting point for treating her.

 

Show Time - 23/52

Yeah, she's the princess alright. Also, she's a bossy bitch.  I'm pretty sure that if she could control the remote, she would!  Actually, she's being a REALLY good dog in that photo.  That bag is actually full of popcorn.  I told her to "leave it" so she not looking at it (it's like she knows if she looks at it, she won't be able to control herself.  Too cute!)  Yes, she did get a few pieces of popcorn for being so good!

 
Polka Dots - 24/52

 The focus isn't perfect in the polka dots photo, but I just love the look on her face.  I swear she's thinking "Oh, this again..."  Sometimes she's less than thrilled about having her photo taken.  Actually, she trained me pretty well.  If i try to take her photo without any treats as a bribe, she gives he the most tortured expression.  You'd swear I was trying to steal her soul with my little back box.  If I grab my camera and some treats, she turn into Iris the supermodel.  She's all, "make sure you get my good.  Maybe you'd like me to tilt my head a bit?  Is that better?"  Ready to work, loves her photoshoots.  But she does not work for free.  Diva?  Maybe a bit.

I still have a few more photos to add.  Hopefully later this weekend!

Supervising - 21/52

This is what Iris looks like when she's trying to see over my shoulder to supervise everything that's going on in the condo complex (leash edited out...)  She's not actually looking at the camera, and she's definitely not happy that I'm blocking her view!

Supervising - 21/52

Also, she's started ignoring me when I say her name.  That might be my fault.  I talk to her all the time and use her name a lot when I don't actually care if she's paying attention or not.  Maybe it's time to train a new word that means "look at me."