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Today is Squirrel Appreciation Day! Here’s 12 facts to help you appreciate them!

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Indeed, today is Squirrel Appreciation Day and who appreciates squirrels more than… dogs! 

Those fluffy tailed birdseed bandits provide for hours of watching as well as exciting things to chase as they scurry about the yard. And like you, Blue and I both didn’t know there was a Squirrel Appreciation Day! This day of appreciation began in 2001 by a wildlife rehabiltator in Asheville, North Carolina named Christy Hargrove. She wanted to to encourage people to enjoy the company of squirrels and understand how they fit within our ecosystems.  23 years later and its the first time I’ve heard about it!

Let’s do some squirrel appreciation!

  • There are more than 200 species across the world! (Though Australia seems to be the exception!)
  • Sizes range from 5 inches from nose to tail (African pygmy squirrel) to squirrels that are 3 FEET LONG (Indian giant squirrels)
  • Squirrels, like their rodent cousins, have front teeth that never stop growing – which means they never wear down from constant gnawing!
  • Two main species are tree squirrels and ground squirrel with the third being flying squirrels
  • In Minnesota you can find:
    • Flying squirrels
    • Fox squirrels – the biggest squirrel in Minnesota!
    • Grey squirrels
    • Red squirrels 
    • Thirteen lined ground squirrel (aka Minnesota gopher)
  • Groups of squirrels are called a “scurry” or a “dray” (groups only happen when they snuggle together in the winter, otherwise squirrels are solitary!)
  • Tree squirrels belong to the genus Sciurus, which comes from the Greek words “skia” (shadow” and “oura” (tail).
  • Squirrels belong to the Sciuridae family which also includes chipmunks, prairie dogs, marmots and woodchucks!
  • No vomiting, burping or experience heartburn because squirrels can’t!
  • Black squirrels are not their own species but… grey squirrels or fox squirrels!  The black coloration comes from melanism – the development of dark pigment. 
  • White squirrels can be albino, though they frequently don’t have pink or red eyes owes their coloration to leucism. 
  • Squirrels lose approx 25% of their buried food which frequently results in assorted planted plants & trees in assorted locations!

Wow! Loads of cool facts to help us appreciate those birdseed scavenging fluffy tailed squirrels on this day of appreciation!

Blue is posing with this month’s BarkBox toys: blue squirrel “Scamper” and yellow squirrel “Nutso” (it seems BarkBox was on top of Squirrel Appreciation Day!). He thanks his grandma for these nifty boxes that come every month full of new toys (because he needs more…) and tasty treats.

Also… Blue isn’t the greatest catcher… he closes his eyes and treats or toys hit him right in the face! This happens rather frequently haha!

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Keeping your dog cozy this winter season!

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BRRRRRR! It’s cold out there! And unless your dog is of husky or arctic dog breed lineage, they will feel that chill too! Let us all bundle up in our sweaters and blankets and bunker down until the milder above 30 degree temps arrive (randomly next week is forecasted at… 40 degrees! CRAZY WARM for WINTER in MN!!!)

So how do you keep your dog cozy during the winter season, especially when the temps are below freezing? See below!

But first…
Let’s talk winter temperatures!

Water freezes at 32 degrees, which means temps under 32 degrees are considered freezing temperatures. Average temp for January in MN is in the teens, with lows in the single digits. (This doesn’t account for any wind! Adding wind = windchill = VERY COLD!) Which means we are all frozen popsicles for the month haha! February holds similar averages though a titch warmer in the 20s on average. March bumps us to 30s when we finally begin to thaw out slightly. April arrives frequently with snow… so April snows bring… frozen roses? Haha!

The cold and windchill also bring something gnarly with them: frostbite!

Frostbite can occur at any temp under 32 degrees! Add in wind for those lovely windchills and frostbite can happen even quicker!  This nifty chart from the National Weather Service gives a wad of different temps and winds where frostbite can happen. Yes we get -15 to -30 temps here in Minnesota on an average winter. 

Once the temperature drops below 32 degrees DOGS can also get frostbite! Ears, tails, noses and paws are the most susceptible! Frostbite occurs due to the body redirecting the warm cozy blood to the main organs and away from the extremities. The drop in blood flow causes the extremities to freeze resulting in frostbite! EEK! Small dogs, shorthaired dogs, puppies and senior dogs are at the most risk of frostbite. 

The general rule of thumb: too cold for you, then it is too cold for your pup!

So how do you keep your dog cozy during the winter season?

  • Start with short outdoor time and short walks.
    Roughly 30 minutes is the timeframe where both you and your pup will start to feel the uncomfortable effects of below 32 degree weather.

  • Load up you pup and pop into a dog friendly shop to get your steps in. 
    You’ll brave the chilly temps for a brief moment from house to car to store and back, but you’ll be able to stroll in comfortable temperatures in a large space.  If you visit a non dog supply store, make sure you dog is well pottied before strolling.
    • Pack a cleanup kit for just in case: poo bags and some paper towels moistened with the enzyme cleaner you have at home (DIY doggy wet wipes!). Don’t forget some dry paper towels as well. Clean up, put everything back into the bag your brought it in and drop it into the nearest trash bin. 

  • Dress your pup for the elements.
    There are a multitude of different clothing items that will keep your dog warm and cozy this winter from boots, hats and full bodied coats. Some dogs may not need a coat (Blue & Axle) while others of the shorter hair variety would prefer a wam cozy jacket (Bender).  Blue being a no coat guy there aren’t any coats I can recommend at the moment!

  • SNUGGLE!
    Load up on cozy dog beds and ample warm cozy blankets. Set them in warm areas, such as the couch and near heat registers (Bender’s favorite haha!). Encourage your pup to cozy up on a bed, on or under a blanket with you. Add a loved plush and ready up your favorite show. 

  • Boredom busters!
    Ok, boredom busters won’t make your dog comfy and cozy this winter, but they will help them from going completely bananas in your house while you attempt to stay cozy until the winter passes. 

    • Find the treats
      This can be as basic or challenging you want to make it. Hide treats and have your dog find them, hide them in Easter eggs and hide those, scatter around the room with your dog in the room or out of the room. Pair with the find it command. 
      – For Blue and I it goes like this: soft tasty treats broken into teenie tiny bits and tossed around the living room. Brown treats are the best as they tend to blend in to the rug, toys and his bed making Blue use his nose heavily to find where each teeenie morsel is. (We used popcorn originally but he can see the light color contrast so finding the pieces was rather easy for him haha!)

    • Which cup?
      Similar to find the treats, but only this time put a treat under one of two opaque cups. When your pup picks the right cup they get the treat. Up the ante by adding more cups. No cups around? Use bowels, boxes or anything else to cover the treats. 

    • Train a new trick!
      Your dog may already known sit, lay, stay but what about bow? Bow, high five, hug, shy (cover their eyes), spin, sit pretty, and kiss are great easy tricks you can teach your pup. Working together helps to strengthen your bond, plus the mental exercise will tire out your dog. 

    • Get your “XYZ”
      This is a fun one to teach your dog. Start with a couple of toys – ie bear, ball, lizard. Name one (say “lizard”) and hand it to your pup. Repeat a couple of times. Put the trio on the floor and say “lizard”. If you dog picks the lizard, huzzah! If not, repeat the name of the toy and try again. Once your dog gets one toy name down, add in another name until your dog can pick out each individual toy in his toy box by name. Remember, dogs can only see in blues, yellows, some brown tones, greys, blacks & whites, so telling them to find the “pink toy” may not work (unless pink toy means the shape toy that looks like star wand). 
       
    • Sniffy sniff!
      As easy as the spice rack in your cupboard. Break out a bunch of spices, tea, coffee or other aromatic items from your kitchen and let your dog sniff them (not lick or eat them though!). Sniffing is great mental exercise for dogs and when they can’t do it outdoors, the kitchen is a cozy place that also has loads of smells! You can also let them sniff through your groceries too! Be cautious of spicy spices – red pepper, cayenne, black pepper, etc – as they can irritate your dog’s nose!

Break out the blankets, take short walks and do the boredom busters this winter and you and your dog will stay nice and cozy this winter season!

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The new year and upcoming things for dog photography!

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Typically, I’m on the New Years carriage of resolutions, looking back on the old year, planning for the new year to come. This year I want to do it a little different (hence the multiple days into January we are currently at). 

The past year has been foggy. Mentally I have been lofty, a bit blue, focused on all things (gardening, being outside, farting on my computer, etc) other than dog photography. Oh I’m still sewing with Atomic Collars, though the number of events I did last year was relatively low. Tired, low energy, unfocused in the right direction.

If I missed the emails you sent, I’m sorry. If the normal level of care & awesomeness I bring has been dull and low, I’m sorry.  Mentally it wasn’t a great year which means I wasn’t the best version of me. I feel like I failed you and my business. 

When is a better time to start fresh, then within the first month of the new year? To quote from the song Guerrilla Radio by Rage Against the Machine: “It has to start somewhere, it has to start sometime. What better place than here, what better time than now?”

PERSONAL:

  • Vitamin D daily, or at least do my best to remember it every day. 
  • Walk more, outside when the weather doesn’t freeze my face off, inside at other times
  • Bring Blue out to more places & work on his training & stranger danger
  • Manage my weight better (better choices for intake – more veggies!)
  • Wear more dresses & skirts, embracing my feminine vintage style more 
  • Less Fortnite play time (this is a massively bad habit of mine… play with me – VintageDonut)
  • Manage energy & blues better
  • Organize & declutter clothes, basement & collections

BUSINESS:

  • Dogs of the North Shore > now Dog’s Guide to the North Shore! 
    • There are still LOADS of places to visit from Duluth to Grand Marais and I would love to have a plethora of pups to showcase the highlight areas – Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock, tons of various waterfalls. Black Beach & the Duluth lighthouse are taken but we have so many other places to explore! The goal is to create a guide book that features dog friendly places to visit, eat and explore, as a guide for dogs to do with their parents. Ideally this awesome book will be available at gift shops running from Duluth and up the shore!!!! If you would like to participate, email or text me! 
  • More dog photography!
    • Shitty Weather Sessions / Garage Sessions are currently available! We can do clean classic backdrops, ample props or none, treat catching, holiday or seasonal themed, all in a warm cozy garage at my house in St. Cloud. 
    • Spring, summer & fall sessions can be in the garage or anywhere around Minnesota! (We can travel out of state too if you’d like! Mountains perhaps?)
    • more PUPPY sessions! 
    • bringing my damn strobes outside for EPIC images! 
  • BLOGGING more & consistently! Dog tips, photography tips, cool training things to do with your dog, and anything assorted that pertains to dogs, photography and the pair combined. Goal is minimum 1 time a week, ideal 2 times a week. 
  • More consistency in responding to inquires and upping client interaction to be EPIC every time.  (If you don’t hear from me via email, please call or text!)
  • Sewing more for Atomic Collars (there are a bazillion neckties and pieces of fabric that need to be turned into awesome dog collars haha!)

It will be an AWESOME year to come. My mood, ideas and energy have been on an upward trend, a return to awesomeness. I’m mega mega excited for the Dog’s Guide to the North Shore and doing studio sessions. I appreciate all of you and the support you’ve given me. Let’s make this coming year EPIC together! 

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Snow day & dogs – Minne-SNOW-ta has arrived!

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Indeed, Minne-SNOW-ta has finally arrived! To those not in our neck of the woods, we haven’t had a covering snow in a long long long time. In fact, Christmas day it rained. And was brown. With balmy mid 30s to 40s temps. 

For those of us living here, it was comfortable temp wise, though a little weird to not have a white Christmas. 

With the arrival of the snow on Monday, it meant the weekly adventure to Tri County Humane Society on Tuesday would sport a lovely, crisp white floordrop for each of the assorted dogs to pose within. (Oh you didn’t know I was volunteering there weekly? Yup! I started back in August!)

First up, the energetic, bouncy, LOVES everyone… Schnapps! He’s a cattle dog mix, a year and half old and started life as an outdoor farm dog. He and his buddy found it enjoyable to chase cattle and now they are looking for new homes to settle into. Want a bouncy (he can jump up to face height!) energetic, happy dog in your life? Opt for Schnapps!

Next up, a slightly naughty, energetic 6 month old puppy Buddy! He’s a German shepherd x husky mix and brimming with puppy energy. Its thought that he may have been under socialized as a younger puppy and may have a bit of reactivity towards other dogs. With slow, positive interactions with other dogs and the world this pup will blossom into a wonderful dog. While we hung out, I noticed a bit of alarm barking at various sounds – makes me think he’s a little over watchful (akin to the German shepherd perhaps?). Otherwise he’s a wonderful bouncy and sometimes naughty puppy! Also, did I mention how AWESOME his ears are???

Following was an energetic, compact lady lab Suzie! Classic to labs I meet she LOVED treats and had a whole bundle of excited energy. This girl needs a home that will help her continue to come out of her shell, expel that excited energy in games of fetch and loads of treats & snuggles. 

Last up, the brindle beauty Konky! This lovely lady has been at TCHS quite a while, so let’s aim to get her a new home! She knows how to sit, shake hands and throughly enjoys treats. Though… she’ll pull you like a freight train to get to different places while on a leash! Also… she’s crafty. She figured out how to open the sliding door at the back of her kennel to let herself outside in the back kennel area! Another quirk you will get with this lovely lady… she SCREAMS when she whines. No barks, just a very loud whine to let you know that she would rather be walking out the door with you than staying at TCHS. (Teaching a quiet or whisper would be ideal, perhaps she’s completely different in a home setting!) She would be a wonderful companion and she’s mega cute in her brindle paint job!

And then… my camera battery died. Which meant Spike (husky mix, he’s talker and quite friendly) and Kodi (big Pyrenees) weren’t able to have their pictures updated! (Also no assorted cats either, drat!) Hopefully they aren’t at TCHS next week, but if they are, BOTH of my batteries are fully charged!

Note: all of the adoptable dogs are on leash for safety. Leashes and eye boogies have been removed to focus on each of the dogs available for adoption. 

Looking to add a new dog or cat into your family? Stop in to Tri County Humane Society (Tuesdays I’m there in the morning, you might see me!) or peruse their website for the perfect addition to your family! Yes, adoptable dogs are adorable in the snow, but they’d be much more adorable in the snow in a yard of their own!

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Fall colors are starting & Dogs of the North Shore Book!

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EEEEEEK! The fall colors are starting to shift into technicolor!

Enter in the pumpkin spice, Halloween decor… oh wait, they arrived in August bwahahahaha! (Halloween around my birthday is never a bad thing as its one of my favorite holidays! Skulls, bats and zombies, be still my heart!)

Anyhoo… fall colors and summer weather (80s!) makes for a lovely start of the fall season. Sorry I lost my train of thought a bit… haha!

Let’s talk leaf color changes: 

WOAH!!! There are already points of 25-50% PEAK COLORS around the state! And we’re only at September 20th, nearly a whole whopping month early for colors! Mid October tends to be peak season. Though as reported via WCCO, the fall colors most likely will arrive EARLY this year due to the lack of rain we got. 

It looks like the North Shore is getting started as well. 

Which means… the Dogs of the North Shore book sessions ought to have some MEGA pretty colors and wimpy waterfalls haha!

And speaking of the Dogs of the North Shore, did you know you can still book your session? (Book here) And that you will have until NEXT MONDAY, September 25th to snag your session before booking closes! That’s less than a WEEK AWAY!!!!!!!!

You need a reason to snag your session?

  • A portion of the session fee goes straight to Ruff Start Rescue! 
  • EPIC locations including nearly a bazillion waterfalls
  • Fall colors and the North Shore
  • Updated awesome portraits of your pup (you can jump in too!)
  • Did I mention EPIC locations?

Booking is easy peasy! Head here: calendly.com/aboutadogphoto and pick your location. Times are set for each location (Gooseberry Falls is in the morning, Palisade Head is in the evening etc) so pick your location and you’ll automatically get a time. Ta-dah!

** Also note: you can book a Digital Dog Session or Puppy Series session via the link as well. Pick them if you want a full sized mega awesome session with your dog. Great for updated family portraits and holiday greeting cards! 

PSSST! If you can’t make the September 29th – October 1st times, let me know and we’ll do some mega secret planning! 

Get out enjoy those fall colors with your pup! 

Fall colors are starting & Dogs of the North Shore Book! Read More »

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