Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

Posted in Bailey, Challenges by Annie T

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is inside. Here’s what Bailey does when she’s inside!

We joke that Bailey is either “on” (full blast running, hunting and playing outside) or “off” (sleeping peacefully inside). In this photo Bailey is demonstrating her favorite sleeping position: snuggled into her covered “dog den” bed with a comforter tucked over her face for good measure… she’s such a prima donna!

Also, I have to point out that she puts herself into bed this way with no help from us! It’s really a cute sight to wake up to in the morning… 🙂

13Sep2013

Dogs, guns, and hiking… a typical weekend at the Hunting Camp!

Posted in Bailey, Trips by Annie T

Dogs, shotguns and the great outdoors… sounds like a good time, right? Well that’s how we spent our Labor Day Weekend at a “hunting camp” in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania! The “camp” is actually a private fishing and hunting club that my step-father’s grandfather helped to found back in 1913. One hundred years later it is still a rural paradise complete with a large house that sleeps 20+, a beautiful lake and – the best part – hundreds of acres of quiet, uninhabited woods. The camp is surrounded by other similar hunting clubs and a huge state forest, making it one of the only places in the world where we feel comfortable letting Bailey run off leash. Bailey absolutely loves it there, as demonstrated in this photo of her wallowing in a mud puddle after a long run in the woods!

Happy as a pig in mud!

Bailey’s not completely off the grid when she’s at the hunting camp, however. We learned a few years ago that it’s nice to know roughly where in the wilderness she has wandered to, so we now strap a GPS collar around her little neck to keep track of where she is and how many miles she’s gone. On our first day there we arrived at lunchtime and Bailey ran 10 miles before dinner. The second day she covered 17 miles and on day three she was a little tired so she only did 14 miles… She’s nuts!

Bailey shows off her GPS collar and its really long antenna. We tied her up occasionally for mandatory resting time... otherwise she would have never stopped running!

Bailey showing off her GPS collar and its really long antenna. We had to tie her up occasionally for mandatory resting time… otherwise she never would have stopped running!

Bailey had lots of canine friends to play with at the hunting camp this year. My family brought along a whole pack of pooches including Hershey the chocolate lab, Ganon the 9 month old puppy, and Clyde, the adorable newfie-lab mix. All of the dogs had a blast running through the woods, swimming in the lake and cooling off in mud puddles mid-hike.

Mud Puppies

Ganon and Hershey on a hike

Bailey rarely stopped moving

Hi, Ganon!

Happy Hershey in the lake

Ganon cools off in the mud

When we weren’t hiking with the dogs we enjoyed playing in and around the camp’s beautiful lake, riding ATVs through the woods and shooting clay pigeons with shotguns. We also made sure to spend plenty of time relaxing in the rocking chairs on the hunting camp’s big wraparound porch!

Wildflowers at the Hunting Camp

The Hunting Camp

My brother on an ATV

Matt trap shooting (2008 photo)

Hunting Camp Lake

After a fun-filled Labor Day weekend at the hunting camp we headed home with a VERY tired Bailey. I can’t wait to go back next summer!

Bailey catching some Zzzs after a weekend at the hunting camp.

15Aug2013

Wedding Photo of the Week!

Posted in Bailey by Annie T

Matt and I got our wedding photos back from our fantastic wedding photographer, Melissa Hassey, and I thought it would be fun to share one each week. Here’s one of my favorites:

I love how Matt and Bailey are making eye contact in this shot! Bailey wasn’t being the best behaved wedding dog at this point in time so Matt was having a little talk with her about sitting still for the camera. 🙂

On another note, thank you to everyone that has voted for Bailey in the Yakima Photo Contest! Bailey is one of 10 finalists in the contest and you can vote once a day. Please consider voting now for Bailey… she’s neck and neck with another photo for the lead spot right now and I appreciate any and all votes!!

To vote for Bailey, please click here and hit “VOTE”. You don’t need to have facebook or share any personal information in order to vote. Thank you!!

13Aug2013

Weekly Photo Challenge AND Bailey is a Finalist in a Photo Contest!

Posted in Bailey, Challenges by Annie T

First of all, I just learned that this photo of Bailey has been chosen as a Grand Prize Finalist in a photo contest! The winner is determined by popular vote which means that YOU can help Bailey win simply by clicking here and then hitting the “VOTE” button.

I would REALLY appreciate it if you could take a few seconds to vote! Voting is open until August 16th and you can vote once per day. The contest is sponsored by Yakima Racks and the winner receives gifts from Ruffwear (Bailey’s favorite dog gear outfitter), Zukes (Bailey’s favorite treats!) and a $500 Yakima gift card!

In other news, this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is One Shot, Two Ways. The idea behind this challenge is to show the same subject from two angles and I have a fun example to share. The following two photos show Bailey flying through the air about to catch her duck. They were taken from two different cameras at the exact same moment during the same jump. Cool, right?

The first photo was taken head-on by a professional photographer (Key4Prints). I happened to catch the second photo from the bleachers at the exact same time… just as Bailey was contorting her body and snapping her mouth open mid-air in an attempt to catch her duck. While the professional shot is clearly a better photo, I kind of like the second shot because it helps you appreciate what a huge jump this was. Bailey ended up winning her division at this event with a 24+ foot jump!

Thanks for stopping by and, again, thank you to everyone that voted for Bailey in the photo contest!!!! (You can vote here: http://bit.ly/146NFcQ )

27Jul2013

Seeing Double… A GSP House Guest!

Posted in Adventures at Home, Bailey by Annie T

Just before Christmas 2012 Matt’s parents rescued a beautiful German Shorthaired Pointer and named her Bella. Prior to her rescue Bella was discovered by a forest ranger wandering around in a New Jersey state forest (in cold winter weather!!) and she was underfed and seriously in need of a loving family. Lucky for Bella, Matt’s parents welcomed her into their home and she is now enjoying a comfortable, happy life with her new family!

Bailey and Bella are really similar in size and coloring. We sometimes joke that Bella could be Bailey’s sister… after all, Bailey was the runt of a 10-puppy litter born just 30 minutes from the state forest where Bella was found! Biological siblings or not, Bella and Bailey are great friends and we take care of Bella when Matt’s parents are out of town. We have Bella this weekend and I had fun doing a mini photoshoot with the GSP girls.

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As you can see, Bailey and Bella are in a constant competition to steal each other’s toys. Today they were vying for the same orange squeaky toy. Aren’t they cute?

Bella sticks her tongue out at Bailey

“Why does Bella get the toy”

Bella

Bailey sneaks up on Bella

We don’t know what Bella’s background is, but she definitely has good hunting instincts. Today she discovered a monarch butterfly in my flower garden and spent quite a while stalking and pointing at it. Bailey used to point at butterflies but seems to have lost interest in them… now she focuses on squirrels, groundhogs and birds!

Bella points at a monarch butterfly

Bella

The object of Bella’s affections

As I write this post we’re watching TV in our home office with the two dogs. Bailey is snuggled comfortably on Bella’s bed (because Bailey is a HUGE bed hog!) and Bella has generously decided that that’s OK and she is alternating between lying on the floor at Matt’s feet and curling up in an awkwardly tiny ball on Bailey’s very small bed. What a good pup! Soon we’ll put both dogs to bed so they can rest up for another fun day in the back yard tomorrow!

Does your dog have a best friend? Tell me about them! 🙂

Related Post: Our Four-Legged House Guest (Hershey the Chocolate Lab)

18Jul2013

DockDogs Eastern Regional Championships 2013

Posted in Bailey, Trips by Annie T

Less than 72 hours after returning home from our St. Lucia honeymoon Matt and I packed up the Subaru and set out with Bailey to the WISP Resort in western Maryland for the 2013 DockDogs Eastern Regional Championships! If you’ve been following my blog for a while you may remember that last year at the 2012 Regional Championships Bailey earned an invitation to Worlds by placing 4th in the Elite Big Air division. Bailey didn’t do quite as well this year but we still had a blast!!

Bailey’s best Big Air jump of the weekend was 21’2″ and she grabbed 5’10” in Extreme Vertical. I think that’s pretty good considering that she hadn’t jumped off a dock since last November! 🙂 Here’s a sequence of one of her Extreme Vertical jumps:

One of my favorite things about DockDogs events is that Matt and I get to spend quality time snuggling with Bailey. She is not allowed in our bed at home, but when we travel to pet-friendly hotels she sleeps with us and she makes herself very comfortable on our bed when we leave her alone in the room. We have an ongoing battle where we try to shield the pillows with blankets (because, as much as I love Bailey, it’s not my goal to sleep on a pillow that’s been nuzzled by a dog dipped in DockDogs pool water!) but, try as we might, Bailey always burrows her way under the blankets and we return to find her nestled in a luxurious doggie pillow nest. (It’s adorable.) I’ll have to try to get a photo of Bailey on the bed next time, but for now here are some other photos from the weekend!

Bailey towing her yellow wubba to shore

Bailey and Matt

Matt and Bailey at the WISP Resort

Bailey

Bailey and her GSP friend, Flyer!

More Extreme Vertical

This next photo cracks me up… I always let Bailey watch the dog before her jump to get her excited but I didn’t realize that Matt was capturing the moment on camera! The jumping dog is Mojo, a fellow Delmarva DockDogs club member, and yes, that’s Bailey’s little head peeking over the side of the pool!! (And me making a funny face… I was telling her to look!)

Good times. Well, that’s about it for the event recap. Thanks for stopping by!

11May2013

Happy Birthday, Bailey!

Posted in Bailey by Annie T

It’s Bailey’s 6th birthday today! I think a photo montage of my four-legged best friend is in order, don’t you?

Hiding behind the tulips

Bailey ponders life with a ball in her mouth

Here are some of Bailey’s most memorable moments since her fifth birthday:

Qualified for Worlds at the DockDogs Eastern Regional Championships (July 2012)
Won Big Air and Extreme Vertical at the Monmouth County Fair (July 2012)
Diagnosed with Lyme’s Disease (August 2012)
Won Big Air and placed second place in Extreme Vertical at the Dover Summer Splash (August 2012)
Won Big Air at the Ocean County Decoy & Gunning Show (September 2012)
Competed at the DockDogs World Championships (November 2012)

Happy Birthday, Bailey!

22Apr2013

Weekly Photo Challenge: Up

Posted in Bailey, Challenges by Annie T

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is “Up.” As you may have noticed, I love to use photos of Bailey whenever possible in these challenges and it just so happens that jumping UP is one of her favorite things to do!

The first photo shows Bailey competing in Big Air at the Dock Daze event in May 2012 and the second photo was taken during the Extreme Vertical competition at the 2010 Delmarva Doggone Fun event. Bailey ended up winning with a height of 7 feet!

15Feb2013

Multiple Baileys and a Photo Contest!

Posted in Bailey by Annie T

Happy Friday! Check out this photo of Bailey… I entered it in a photo contest and, if we win, Bailey will get to have a professional photo shoot and be the “Cover Dog” of Delmarva Unleashed magazine! If you want to help Bailey in the contest please click on the photo. This will take you directly to the Facebook version of the photo where you can “LIKE” it to vote! Voting ends February 21, 2013.

The above photo shows Bailey in Dover, Delaware at a Delmarva Dockdogs practice. I created the image by combining five photographs of the same jump together in Photoshop. I especially like this image because you get to see five Baileys in the air and five Bailey reflections in the water. She also caught her yellow wubba like a pro. 🙂

Over the years I have created several sequences of Bailey competing in dock diving events. Here are a few of my favorites! (Click the photo to view the high-res version.)

Bailey at the June Bloom event last summer. Not the prettiest grab but she got it! (2012)

Bailey doing a place ‘n’ send style jump at a pond event in Frederick, Maryland. (2010)

Bailey makes a splash at Care A Lot in Virginia Beach. (2010)

Following her red wubba through the air at the June Bloom event. (2012)

A prettier Extreme Vertical grab at June Bloom. (2012)

Last but not least, a close up of Bailey’s expression as she takes off.
She’s all business! (2011)

Do you like any of the above photos? Tell me about it in the comments section. And please don’t forget to Vote for Bailey in the “Cover Dog” photo contest! Thank you!!! 🙂

1Jan2013

Weekly Photo Challenge: Bailey’s 2012 in Pictures

Posted in Bailey, Challenges by Annie T

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is “My 2012 in Pictures” but I renamed it “Bailey’s 2012 in Pictures” because that’s what it is! Here are photos of Bailey the Little GSP from every month this year: