I’d walk a mile for one of these smiles…

Some smiles light you up inside and out. Babies and children (of any age) can do that. Best friends, sweethearts, and family can do that, too. Our furry friends qualify as all three of the latter. Recently I began collecting photos’ of them trying to give me a human smile (one with teeth, that is). The results are both funny and scary. Funny of you know the furry-face and a mite scary if you don’t.

Biscuit	Jake
Duncan	Dixie

Biscuit is a shitzu fully calm and patient in the face of a constantly-in-motion puppy pack where the smallest member is still twice the size of him. Biscuit was totally unphased. His “mom” is a set designer who works on movies and theatre sets. Biscuit *knows* cameras. He is a sweetie fer sure, but his breed always reminds me of the New Jersey mafia.

Jake (a/k/a/ “Jakie” and “Beastie Boy”) has the full run of Sheltie herding genes. He runs circles around you (literally), barking his shrill “arf-arf!” until reminded to ‘stuff a sock in it’. He accepts cameras. Sometimes it seems like he is more resigned to them than anything else. His mistress takes many, many, many photos. Sometimes he is the focus (for many years he was the #1 focus but then the rug rats started coming…), other times he is a prop. Sometimes he is ‘de trops’.

Dixie tries so very hard to do what you ask her to but has a problem with the whole “stay” time concept. She totally gets it with food. She knows she will get the food if she waits for the ‘okay,’ and she will have to wait longer if she doesn’t wait for the ‘okay’ release word. She tries to get up close and personal with your face behind the camera. Consequently, she has more close-ups than Ms DeMille.

Duncan is the biggest ham. He loves being in pictures. He loves looking at the faces facing the camera… which means that the camera usually gets his butt. And he wriggles in his ‘sit-stay’ so much that his back end is a motion blur. He loves being in the middle of a group photo…but cannot bother to look at the inanimate camera (look at what? where?). He is far more interested in licks and snuggles with the people around him.

Actually, I kinda get that part, myself.