If these look like the eyes of a wolf, they are. Well, sort of. Boomer is a Malamute/wolf hybrid. He was adopted from NorSled rescue, along with his housemates Bentley and Rocky.

I’ve met wolf hybrids before and have to say, they’ve never been what I’d call warm and fuzzy. More like aloof, steely. A little bit wild-feeling. Not in a bad way, but in a way that doesn’t exactly make getting up-close-and-personal seem like a good idea. Especially with a giant camera lens.

Boomer, however, was really welcoming. He’s a talker, so we chatted back and forth as I took his picture. He seemed to enjoy the variety of sounds only an experienced dog photographer is willing to make. Out loud, in public.

Thanks Boomer for giving me such a warm, non-wolfy welcome :)

Clyde is one of those dogs who just oozes cool. He’s shaped like a Rottweiler (complete with nubby tail) with the coloring of light brown sugar.

Before becoming big brother to two little boys, Clyde lived on the streets. He was born homeless and spent the first year or so of his life that way. When Clyde’s new family met him at the Berkeley Humane Society, he was a little timid and a lot skinny, but after 6 months of good living he’s doing awesome. Clyde is now so friendly that he kept fogging up my lens. Not many dogs will get *that* close to my camera :)

Whisper was nose deep in a gopher hole when I met her. According to her human, gopher hunting is one of Whisper’s favorite sports (and she’s quite good at it).

She came up for air a few times -  just long enough for me to see an earthworm (but no gopher) writhing around in the hole. Both me and Whisper’s human were pretty happy about that.

Before I return to the regularly scheduled Daily Frolics, I thought I’d introduce the spotted feet from yesterday’s post: Dutch, the camera-shy half of my dynamic duo.

My sweet, doe-eyed Dutchman is a pet photographer’s worst nightmare. He hates cameras as much as his little pug brother loves them – and because cameras have a hard time capturing black and white in the same picture, cameras hate him right back. Dutch is the official face of Frolic for both of these reasons.

He’s single pawed-ly taught me everything there is to know about photographing shy dogs and forced me to get really good at technically challenging exposure problems. Thanks to Dutch, camera-shy dogs don’t have to fear the big black eye of my Nikon… and I know how to photograph a black dog and a white dog in the same body.

We’re baaaack!

I took a little time away from the Daily Frolic to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, get caught up on a few ‘regular’ Frolic projects and spend some quality time with a new piece of Nikon gear and my own dogs.

My guys Dutch and Pug are ridiculously loved, but were starting to feel neglected because of all the recent Frolic activity. Dutch hates cameras and is more than happy to have me point my Nikon at other dogs, but Puglet is a different story. He, like all good pugs, thinks the world revolves around him.

So… much to Dutch’s relief and Pug’s horror, the Daily Frolic is back. Monday thru Friday, rain or shine :)

Nina spent the first 13 years of her life as ‘Pinta’ in someone’s backyard. When she was surrendered to Animal Care and Control, Grateful Dogs rescue took her in. They gave her a new name and a chance at a happy new life. She quickly found her way into the heart of her foster human Kim and now has a wonderful home.

Kim mentioned that Nina wasn’t well socialized (living in a backyard and all) and can be shy around people. And she was a little shy… until I offered her a treat. Then she couldn’t get enough of me :)

I met Zoe yesterday outside Crepevine in the Castro. I was supposed to be enjoying lunch with friends, but there’s no way I could ignore the ridiculously cute puppy sitting at the next table. I mean, could you?

While Zoe snacked on some sort of hoof, I chatted with her people and found they’d just adopted her from Rocket Dog. It was their first day of what I hope are MANY happy days together :)

Pixie is one of those dogs you can’t help but fall in love with. She had my heart in about 3 seconds, and I’m not alone. Pixie has won the hearts of many people.

Her story isn’t entirely happy. If you can’t tell, Pixie has no eyes. She lost the first one to an infection and the second to the family German Shepherd. If it weren’t for a caring vet who took her in instead of “putting her down” when the second eye was injured, Pixie would not be here today – making me and lots of other people happy.

Following the surgery to remove her remaining eye, Pixie spent a month at the SF SPCA before a local rescue (muttville.org) asked a volunteer to foster her, to make room for another dog at the shelter. That was back in June. Her foster human, Pam, fell in love and is now Pixie’s forever home.

Pam told me Pixie has adjusted really well to her new life without eyes. She gets around just fine, loves to cuddle and is very friendly to everyone (including other dogs). Pam described Pixie as a very loving, sweet and brave little dog- and she is every one of those things. And more :)

I met Milo the same day I met Harvey. It was windy and drizzly and all the humans were dressed in boots and warm coats. Perfect beach weather… for dogs.

Milo was running in and out of the water playing with a ball and just looked so… happy. When I asked his humans to tell me a little bit about him, they said Milo was found under a friend’s house in Berkeley when he was 4 months old. Eleven years later, he’s still enjoying trips to the beach with his people and a dog-sister named Bella.

I love happy endings.

Boomer is one of those mixes that looks *exactly* like the sum of her parts.

Chow + Corgi = Boomer!

Even though she looks like a fuzzy puppy, Boomer is about 5 years old. She was adopted a few years ago and named after a character on Battlestar Galactica. When not hanging out at a friend’s in SOMA, Boomer works hard to keep the workplace cute at iSocket, a Bay Area tech company.