I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Pets

Since I first stumbled upon the I Heart Faces website and began following (and now entering) the weekly Photo Challenges, I have been looking forward to a Pet themed week. My entire life has been punctuated with pets, and the very few moments when I have not had one in my life, I felt like there was something missing.

The moment I saw Electra's sweet, droopy hound dog face, I knew that she was mine. My husband and I like to joke that she only has one expression. We've even discussed making a poster called "The Many Faces of Electra" to hang on our wall. Whether she's happy, sad, excited, frustrated, angry, or afraid--Electra always appears forlorn. It tends to earn her extra treats and back scratches from unsuspecting people with good intentions.

There are exactly two circumstance that cause Electra's expression to actually change:

1. When we ask her if she is ready to eat (or wants a cookie),

2. When she spies one of the resident rabbits in the backyard.

The change is subtle, just a widening of the eyes and a sharpening intensity in her gaze, but it's enough.

When I saw Electra sitting at the patio door waiting to be let out, I grabbed the camera and waited, and it didn't take long for my persistence to pay off. Electra pressed her wet nose firmly against the window, as if trying to catch the rabbit's scent through the glass, and I had just enough time to snap the photo before she lunged at the door to get out and give chase. With her short half-Basset legs, Electra doesn't stand much of a chance of ever catching herself a rabbit, but boy is it fun to watch her try.

Be sure to head on over to I Heart Faces to check out the other amazing entries in the Pets Photo Challenge.