tres at the lake

my brother's dog gus (duckfeet) has become a member of the family and he and our golden retriever tres are like "brothers from another mother." gus has been living with my parents for the last 18 months-ish, and he and tres are inseperable. however, quite different at times. for instance, gus doesn't "work it" for the camera. gus would rather toss a wet tennis ball in your face while you attempt to take his photo. so, in this series of pics, gus was on the other side of the front door because he was ruining my shot, prancing around and slobbering me and the camera with his tennis ball.
at first, i thought tres would never move from whining at the front door and i nearly gave up. but, i nicely said, could you PLEASE sit and pose for this picture of the front porch. he looked over at me, walked to the middle of the porch -but in a perfectly off-center kind of way- and sat. he continued to sit and just bask in his own beauty while i took, oh, 15 different shots. then i gave him a big hug, got some cheese from the fridge, and thanked the dog/model for his time. enjoy!

gus! how'd you get in there man? you have my tennis ball!! open this door!! open this door!!
ugh. that blonde girl is bossing me around again. forget it, girlie. i do what i want, when i want.


alright, alright, i'll sit. i know i'm handsome. and gus is just not opening that door.



ah, give the people what they want. soak it up, baby.

did orvis magazine call yet? i'm sure they will. that blonde girl will handle all my calls, right?

tres the model dog

my parents got tres, their third dog from the same breeder hence the name tres, in september 2008. i was living in washington dc and didn't meet him until they had already had him a few weeks. he was, however, waiting for me at baggage when they picked me up at the airport for a short weekend home.


i haven't really stopped taking pictures of him ever since. and turns out he is quite the ham. i'll prove it to you...

tres is an unusual dog. for one, he has a stripe. the breeder, in 27 years, has never ever had a golden retriever with any sort of birth mark like this. his ears are too big, his feet are the size of a small pony, he sometimes howls, he hisses like a cat when playing tug-of-war, he uses his paws like hands as if he were a bear, he refuses to not be petted and will toss his nose under your hand until he has the attention he wants. he is goofy - pounces on tennis balls and snow piles like a fox, prances like a horse at times, snuggles like he is a lap dog...tres is an unusal dog. my theory? i think he knew we already the ultimate golden retriever in sam, and he would just be playing second fiddle. however, if he is part bloodhound, part bear, part lap dog, all parts goofy quirky and funny, well... he stands out without trying to compare.

i know people are way more important than dogs, but when it comes to dogs, tres is one of my favorites of all time. is it because we're both weirdos and therefore kindred spirits? maybe.

thanks for reading, and on behalf of tres, thanks for looking at photos. woof.