Peace and Poop

Directly following my little whine here about how I've been feeling lately I thought I'd take the dogs and go searching for some photographic inspiration. We ended up clambering (Note: I clambered, fearing for my life, the dogs strolled gracefully) down the hillside to a popular local fishing spot

Once I made it down the slope in one piece (note to self: next time I go on a photographic adventure...real shoes not flip flops) I released the hounds so they could wander and I could focus on picture taking

pretty, huh?

We were all having a wonderful time exploring. The dogs were running around, sniffing and darting in and out of the water and I was trying to take decent pictures without losing my flip flops in suctioning mud.

Of course, being a responsible pet owner, I called for the dogs every few minutes and kept my ears open for sounds of trampling through the grass and trees.

I looked up from shooting at one point to see both dogs sniffing around in a meadow on the other side of the stream. I stopped to watch them and soak in the moment of peace and solitude. It was one of those unexpected instances when I am reminded of how lucky I am to live where I do and I am completely satisfied with the experience of my life. Unfortunately the moment ended abruptly as I watched Sugar suddenly drop to the ground and begin to roll ecstatically in the grass.

All you dog folks out there will have an idea where I'm headed with this, for those of you unaccustomed to dogs and their body language here's something to keep in mind when dealing with canines in general: Rolling around on the ground in great abandon means one of two things...

a) "Yay! This sunny, warm ground feels so damn good on my fur! It's great to be a dog!" or

b) "Yay! There is some seriously gross stinkiness right here on this ground. I must roll around and spread it all over my fur...like a puppy mudbath! It's great to be a dog!"

Can you guess which of these Sugar was experiencing? I'll give you a hint...

That would be Sugar - joyous in her coating of horse poop. How do I know for sure it was horse poop? Because I spent the 10 minutes after snapping this pic trying to hold Sugar still in the stream in order to clean her off as best I could, while at the same time getting intimately acquainted with the substance.

Thus ended our peaceful afternoon by the stream.

If it wasn't for those moments of peace and gratefulness I wonder if I would find it so easy to laugh when faced with a pet covered in poop? I hope I never have to find out.