We took a walk around the property on this blustery day. Here’s a gallery of our pack. Just click on a picture to enlarge.
Tag Archives: golden
Forester Friday … A Forester’s New Dog
Saving Sailor
Gallery

This gallery contains 44 photos.
Originally posted on Sneaking Bliss:
A year ago, while talking with my friend, Jill, at Saturday Night Golden Retrievers, I found out she was placing a male dog named Sailor. Sailor was 17 months old and had a bit of…
Hunter Puppy
The photo I used for this drawing appeared in the post Forestry Friday … What A Difference A Decade Makes.

Hunter’s motto was “It’s good to be Hunter!”

It must have hurt to be that cute. He was always Hunter puppy to me, even when he was old. Makes me kind of misty.
Pen and ink prints available at Fine Art America.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/woods-dog-timothy-livingston.html
Popping By The Pole Yard
We never know who might just pop by the Pole Yard. While driving through the yard the other day this rooster pheasant was strutting down the road. Unconcerned, he took his sweet time. I stopped, not wanting to run over His Excellency, and took some pictures to record this auspicious occasion. He finally moved out of the road, but seemed somewhat perturbed by the inconvenience.
We lost a dear canine member of our family today. Tom-dog you were loved very much. I’m reblogging this post by my wife, Mary. I don’t have anything to add to this today.
“Our animals shepherd us through certain eras of our lives. When we are ready to turn the corner and make it our own…they let us go.” Author Unknown
We knew this day was coming. The average lifespan of a retriever is 10 years. Tom-dog was 14 years, 8 months when we said good-bye today.
He came home to our youngest son many years ago and was the grand-pup of our first retriever. In the learning hands of a growing boy he was trained into an outstanding hunter and companion.
When his boy grew to manhood, left for college, got married and started his family, Tom stayed with us. In the years that have followed, this magnificent family member has been greeted by 3 rowdy grandkids that he loved dearly.
Tom-dog always loved kids. It is only fitting that Tom-dog’s grand-pup, Jake, now resides with Tom-dog’s first person and family.
A Gift Of Art
I’m reblogging a post today from our blogger friend Divya. Her blog is http://divyaadusumilli.wordpress.com and I encourage you to go visit. It is a wonderful blog. Last week she contacted me and my wife, Mary, http://thebackdoorartist.com/ about drawing a picture from a photo I took of two of our golden retrievers. This is her post of our dogs. Thank you Divya, we love the picture. What a beautiful gift you have given us. Blaze and Hunter were the dogs that appeared in the original post, https://theforesterartist.com/2012/08/25/blaze/.
Drawing Surface: The Boutique AT Paper Mill Shop, Luxury Artist Pad a4 (Made in the English Lake District)
Some of you might recognize these innocent faces in a photo taken by The Forester Artist. This is an attempt to replicate in my drawing book the pets of the Livingstons, The Forester Artist and The Backdoor Artist, who have kindly given me the permission to sketch and post publicly. I am very inspired by how real life images are the subject matter of Tim and Mary‘s illustrations, and you can find some in FireStorm in the Forest by Red Tail Publishing. They are very helpful and I am greatly delighted to have them as blogger friends (and the first ones on WordPress).
As I gathered, on the left is Blaze and on the right is Hunter…and caught in a wonderful moment by Tim. The sketch will do half…
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Nellie In Watercolor, Part 4.
As I sat down to upload the latest on Nellie’s progress, she came in and laid her head across my keyboard. I scratched her ears and then got up, because she wanted out. Settling back in to finish the post, I only had to wait about 30 seconds before the “boof boof” came from the front door, so up again and let her back in. Comfy again and ready to start, then she’s back. Head in my lap, because it’s 6:02, and we are late for breakfast. Breakfast is 6:00 am sharp. Back up to feed Tom and Nellie. Tom is our 14 year old golden. Sit down again, but then Tom is done and needs out, so back up. Once more down, and then here comes Nellie and she’s done and wants out. Up again. Finally, down and ready to finish. “Boof boof”, back up to let her back in. Now we can finish. A typical morning around here. I can’t understand why I don’t get more done.
I thought I might finish this painting this weekend, but it didn’t happen. So instead I will just give you another installment. I’ve done most of her final shading, and now need to finish the pheasant and the background detail. More to come.
Along For The Ride
It was a happy morning when I left the house today. I opened the door and said, “Ok girls left go,” and two golden retrievers raced each other out the door and to the truck. I usually take two dogs with me when I go to the woods and they ride in the back of the truck. According to my dogs, all of that empty truck bed is being wasted with out a dog. Today we traveled to the coast. It was a hot day inland but cool on the coast. It was good day to take my furry buddies along. I loaded up the mother-daughter duo of Nellie and Blitz. Once secured we headed west.
Taking the dogs to work has its own special requirements. The summers here are hot, very hot, 115 degrees hot, so the dogs can’t go every day. Today it was in the low 90s inland, but only in the 60s on the coast. It was a good day to ride along. This is the time of year when the road department is doing all kinds of road construction. When traffic is stopped by the flaggers, I try to stop my truck so the dogs are in the shade. I can’t always do it, but I do it when I can. The dogs have taught me that they need a break every couple of hours to air out.
When it’s hot they need a swim too, and the stops are more frequent. A soaking wet dog is the best air conditioning on those hot days. When we stop for a break, I like to pick out a remote spot away from the highway where they can safely get out and run loose.
I like to pick a spot with water, preferably swimming water, because as every golden knows a drink of water taste best while you swimming in it.
After a drink, we have to fetch a hundred or so sticks and then eat grass along the riverbank. Then it’s time to load up and hit the road. Down the road we go with a couple of brand new sticks to go with the other forty already in the back of the truck. I travel through many of the same areas frequently enough to learn all the good places to stop. I will use those places over and over again. That way I know what to watch for. When picking a spot to stop I also look for what to avoid. Around here, poison oak is near the top of the list. The dogs don’t care about it, but they aren’t the ones that get it. It’s miserable when they give it to me and even more miserable when we bring home for my wife. Not good, because then we are all in the doghouse.
Other things to avoid are rattlesnake areas and foxtails. For those of you unfamiliar with foxtails they are a nasty sticker that will bore into the dog’s noses, ears and between their toes requiring a trip to the veterinarian. Often an inspection of the site is in order before the dogs unload. Taking them along definitely takes a little more time and care, but nonetheless it is a joy to have them ride along. When we get home, I have two very tired and satisfied golden retrievers. They crash out on the rug after a long day on the road. Over the years, I’ve had my share of canine emergencies that I had to deal with. So, just remember when taking your dogs to work that sometime things happen and you have to be ready. When the dogs are so well traveled and so active they have more opportunities to get into trouble so be careful out there, but have fun.