It's a challenge photographing a basset hound-pit bull..

When I can convince Madge to allow me to take her picture, I then have to confront the dilemma of fitting her elongated body into the frame.

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She's probably thinking: "Oh jeez, he's pointing that little black thingie that lights up at me again. I hate this. But I'm too comfortable to get up and hide, so I'll just put up with it until he gets bored."

Squeeze her head, stubby legs and big paws into the frame, and you lose the back half of her.

Okay, this is a little better. I got almost everything, except for the rear paws and part of her tail.

I tried this angle, and got almost all of her, except for the tail. Had to stand all the way on the other side of the room, though.

"No Pictures, please!"

 Sometimes, Madge seems like the Greta Garbo of the canine world. On Sunday afternoon, she was romping around the living room with Kirby, looking totally flamboyant and wonderfully photogenic. The second that I picked up my iPhone to take a picture of them, she rushed to one of her hiding spots. Jeez, I don't think William Wegman ever had this problem--maybe I should email him for advice.

That evening, we also discovered that Madge seems to be a little worried about the ringer in the new $29.99  VTech phone-answering machine combo that Martha just brought home from Target. The first time it went off, she perked up her ears in alarm and started growling. Apparently it has several different ringtones, though, so I'm going to experiment and see if there's one that she can tolerate. Maybe I should write to VTech and suggest that they put the ring tones for various models up on their web site, so that I could test them out on my dog before I buy the phone. Of course, I could also just disconnect the ringer entirely. Other than fundraisers for animal rights groups, I think the only calls we get on the land line are from our neighbor Susan. Oddly, Madge is afraid of her too.