Big dogs don't do agility. (This is because agility is an obstacle course with, for example, jumps that are 15 to 20 feet apart and 2-foot-high tunnels that the dogs must run through. Big heavy dogs have trouble with the jumping. Big fast dogs have different problems--For example, an Irish Wolfhound would most likely clear 3 obstacles with a single bound and end up halfway into the next county before realizing that he was supposed to turn sharply into a tunnel--where he'd have to crawl on his hands and knees to get low enough to get through it while all the other dogs are blasting through it like the midnight express.)
So--this is a problem because months ago DuncHarris asked for a photo of a huge dog with a tiny breed, but my dog photo ops all come at agility trials. I've been waiting for months for a big dog--any big dog--to show up at a trial. Other than that, I don't ask for much:
- The dog has to be amiable and get along well with other dogs, or putting him in a photo shoot with an unfamiliar wee tiny dog could be messy, seeing as how his mouth would be the size of the entire little dog.
- They have to have at least contrasting coat colors to show some variation.
- We need to assemble both dogs' owners and me at one time, among all of our competition runs (which is tough anyway, but I also run 2 dogs at different levels, so I'm pretty much always busy).
- It has to be in a nice place for a photo without too much background (tough with hundreds of other people, dogs, equipment, tents, and so on around, usually on an enclosed site surrounded by, well, STUFF).
And then--my friend with the Chihuahua mix comes running. "There's a Great Dane here!" she says.
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