If you don’t believe me, you should’ve seen the SF Chihuahua meetup run by Kate, Mike, and Tim. You know there are stereotypes of Chihuahua owners but the meetups prove that chihuahua owners are very diverse. They have meetups every month with over 400 members. I attended their “Small Dog Christmas Extravaganza” this weekend and it was quite fun. The chihuahuas that I met seem to be pretty calm and are happy to just hangout in their owners’ lap.

I’ve been thinking of adopting a second dog for 2 years, but have not really had the chance to adopt one just yet because I wanted to make sure that I would be able to handle the responsibility. Getting Obi, I have to admit, wasn’t a well thought out plan. I decided to adopt him because he was a cute puppy… it was a rough first 6 month. There were issues such as separation anxiety, “accidents”, and much more. I remember one time, Obi was placed in an area with a puppy gate while I was gone, his 3 lbs self managed to bust the gate  down and run around amok in the house, setting the alarm off.  There was another time where Obi was running around my bed and decided to stop and pee on it while staring at my face, it was not fun to clean up. [ Let this also be a warning to those considering a puppy... be prepared for mischeviousness ]

We are all innocent of whatever you're accusing us of

Finally after about rounds of puppy classes with Sandi Thompson, Obi finally became the dog that I was happy to live with. He obeys commands and most importantly understands that the world is not his toilet (just the backyard).

Now, I’m in a comfortable place with Obi and I’m starting to notice the cute pooches that are up for adoption at the local shelters. Although this time, I remind myself not to be so easily persuaded by the cute puppy dog eyes. Sandi warns me that training a 2nd dog will be a lengthy process, one which requires me to train the new dog separately from Obi, as well as train the dog around Obi. But we’ll see. I’ve spotted some cute pups up for adoptions at the SF Chihuahua “Small Dog Christmas Extravaganza” that seemed to be friendly to people, and are female (i’m looking for a female dog to complement Obi).

Here are some rescue organizations that have dogs up for adoption. If you’re a first time dog owner, it might be worthwhile to check out an older dog that’s already potty trained and well adjusted rather than getting a puppy. You help the local shelter by saving a dog and you get to have a wonderful companion.

A Leg Up Rescue – http://aleguprescue.org/

Shake Wiggle and Roll – http://www.shakewiggleroll.org/about.htm

Grateful Dog Rescue – http://www.gratefuldogsrescue.org

Many of you from Twitter have commented on how Dogopolis’ photos looks nice and professional, and have asked me about the camera that I use etc.  Most of the time I use a Digital SLR but I also take a lot of the photos with  my iPhone camera. I would agree that a good camera enhances the quality of the image, but there are other things that you can do to get a great photo of your dog, even if you don’t have a fancy schmancy DSLR.

So here is a short tutorial for ya:

1. Get your dog used to the camera

Trust me, I'm a Poofessional

The first thing is to get your dog used to the camera. Most of you have probably snapped hundreds of pictures of your pup so this won’t be a problem but some dogs might not be as familiar with the camera, they might try to sniff it or get close to it because they’re curious about it.  If this is the case, distract them by giving them toys to play with or take them to an outdoor setting where they will be amused with plenty of other things and forget that the camera is there. In general, get them used to being in front of the camera by spending more time taking pictures of them.

2. Lighting
While Indoors, I find that natural lighting works best for the dog’s feature, try to look for indirect light near windows, pose your dog so the light is facing them and you are holding the camera with the light source behind you.

Outdoors, be aware of the time of the day and how that reflects the quality of the image. The best time to take photographs outside the house would be before 10-11 am and after 3 pm.  I find that the afternoon sun is a little harsh but if you must take photos during this time, do it in areas where there are some shade.

3. Pose
Dogs are pretty photogenic, they are naturally cute and they don’t care if they look fat in pictures. Once you get them used to the camera, you will find that it’s pretty easy to get a good picture of them. It also helps to have a dog that LISTENS to your command because you can pose them to stay still and tell them to pay attention to you. You can also make it fun for them by giving them a treat after you take a picture of them.

4. Close up is good
My favorite photos of dogs have been the ones that are a close up to their face, showing their expression. Don’t be afraid to put the camera really close to them, or at ground level. Experiment with different angles and position of the camera.

Turtle, Smiling on cue

5. Be ready and aware
Be ready and aware because you never know when your dog might be sleeping upside down with his tongue hanging out, and you want to have a camera handy because they might not be in that pose for very long. I like using my phone camera for this situation because it’s easy to use.

6. Have fun!
Have fun! If you’re having a good time, your dog will have a good time and you’ll have a great picture. Don’t stress out if the pictures are not what you expected. Keep taking pictures!

Bony Babies, Raw hide inside stuffed toy from bissf.com

I came across Bony Babies at the San Jose Pet Fair and have been begging my mom to chew on it. She bought it for me because she thinks it looks like me and little did she know that there is a surprise for me inside of it (RAW HIDE! yay). I talked about it in my previous post but I wanted to do a special product posting on it, as well as let you guys know where you can buy the product.

To learn more about the product and the company behind it go to www.bissf.com .  I will do some sniffing around regarding whether you can purchase it online or not but I definitely would recommend this product

Why?

Because it’s one of those toys that will take me a long time to destroy and it keeps my mom happy because I will be tired out afterwards. It looks like me! And it has a treat inside that will also take more time to chew.  Also, the price point was pretty reasonable at $9.

You may also buy it online at http://bestinshowsf.com for $8.50 !

In honor of me getting fat, I tweaked the twitter whale over capacity illustration. Enjoy!

Obi is Over Capacity

My favorite vendors I would have to say would be :

(1) Mona’s Munchies

Mona's Munchies Cute Logo

Why? Because they have a really nice selection of cookies/baked goodies for dogs AND they have SQUIRREL SHAPED COOKIES! For some reason, it looks really delicious to me.

The most delicious cookie on earth

(2) Gussied Up Dog Boutique

Why? Because they sell toys that is shaped like me!  The doxie shaped toy is also chewable and get this, it has a RAW HIDE in the inside!!! I can’t wait to tear it up but my  mom says she wants to keep it fresh… I think she’s nuts. *whine*

I have met my arch nemesis!

Biting my Arch Nemesis' Butt

For more info:

Mona’s Munchies, visit her blog at http://www.monasmunchies.com/
Gussied Up  http://www.gussiedupdog.com/