Photo of the day - 11/18

I haven't done one of my favorite photography subjects for awhile, so here it is - My dog, Dakota.

Dakota was a rescue from a working dog ranch. He was kicked in the head by a cow when they first started him herding cows and after that he refused to herd. He would beeline it back to the kennel whenever they took him out to pasture. I think the kick must have rattled a few brain cells in the poor boy's head. He is about the stupidest dog that I have ever had the pleasure to work with.

So here's a typical day with Dakota. Dakota is a trained agility dog. He learns from repetition. He doesn't try to figure out anything on his own. If you tell him to do something he will only do it exactly as you have taught him. My son and I like to go to the coffee shop for hot chocolate and lattes. They have a seating area outside that on nice days you can sip your drink and enjoy the Seattle "sun breaks". One morning we got our drinks and we set up at one of the outside tables. This cafe welcomes dogs on their patio. So I went and got Dakota out of the car. As I was walking up to the table, I said to him, "Dakota, go lay under the table" Boom. He was on top of the table and our drinks were on the ground. What the "heck"? And it was then that I remembered. The word table to Dakota is an agility word that means lay down on top the table. Nevermind that the table in the agility ring is square and only 20 inches tall, and the one at the cafe is 36 inches tall and round. To Dakota, it meant the same. To any of my other dogs, they would have stopped and given me a confused look and then blatently denied my request to "table" because they are intelligent enough to know that I didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

The ironic thing is Dakota is actually my most titled dog in the dog sports. He will work for me until the cows come home. He loves me more than anything else - except maybe a frisbee.