Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a guest post by Randall Johnson, who has contributed other guest posts on dog behavior.
I’m one of the Dog Behavior Blog readers who asked Dr. Slobodchikoff to publish photos of Raja and I want to thank him for finding a way to do so. It was nice to finally meet this key personality. In return, I’m submitting a photo of one of my three dogs, Suzie, an all-black miniature pinscher, who was adopted off the street in 2005. Photographing any all-black animal involves a set of unique challenges, especially for non-photographers like me, but this one was taken outside a few months ago, against a lighter-colored background and with plenty of ambient sunlight, so if you squint your eyes enough and focus on her face, you can see the outline of her dark brown eyes. Like other members of her breed, she’s bold, brassy, and very clever. She’s also a bit of a ‘daredevil’, who chases the occasional motorcycle that passes by the house in a canine version of radical sports. To my chagrin, my other two dogs now occasionally join in the chase, which, fortunately, lasts only to the end of the block. Then, they stop, turn around, and saunter back to the house, looking very pleased with themselves. I know this sounds like an anthropomorphic interpretation, but there’s something about their facial expressions and overall body language that sends a clear, recognizable signal of satisfaction.
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