25/52 "Garrison Duty"
Simon at Fort Worden State Park. This park is where an Officer and A Gentleman was filmed.
26/52 "After the Parade..."
Simon at the Fourth of July parade here on the Island.
27/52 "Tour Guide Break"
Man, it was 97 degrees here last week. And for those of you who live here, you know what I mean when I say it was miserable. We Seattle folks are totally beside ourselves when it gets that hot, we wander around like sparkly vampires and hiss at the flaming ball in the sky.
So, my sister in law was out and we had a great time, but the last day she was here we decided to scoot by the little town of Port Gamble. It was hot, and we had ice cream, and of course, Simon had to go pose for me against this cool walkway and fence. I have to say the tourist in the background is what makes it for me-- she was a bit confused as to what me and the short dude were doing. ;)
Now for the funny -- well, not so funny part of my week. So, the other day I get up to a bunch of messages that said, "Hey, congrats on Simon making the Daily Puppy!" :D
Now, I have never HEARD of the Daily Puppy, so I am utterly confused.
Long story short, I didn't submit him. Someone else... er, "borrowed" my pictures off of my DA site. I had a feeling because the shot of Dusty and Simon isn't on too many places at all, it was more of a personal snapshot because technically, it's not the greatest, it's just cute. <3 I think it's in scraps there or dug in my flickr site somewhere.)
I went there and realized, wow, um, not only had they "borrowed" photos but that they'd changed Caleb's name to "Charlie," and had them as THEIR dogs with bios, and fake birthdates and everything! XD (Poor Caleb. Now we can really tease him about going to Candy Mountain. Inside joke. If you don't know it, go look up "Charlie the Unicorn" on You Tube (but beware, it's a bit er, not kid safe for language!)
I was totally baffled, but I wrote a very nice letter to the Daily Puppy explaining that they were my dogs, and I was very flattered that he was chosen and that I didn't mind sharing the photos at all, but that it wasn't me who submitted Simon, and I'd like my dog back. ;) I do embed my stats with the Nikon, including my name, etc, so yes, those were my shots, haha.
They totally emailed me back quickly, apologized, and fixed everything for me. I didn't mind, now that I was able to write his real biography and explain that he's my dog. I now have control of the submission process, and the person on there with the photos is actually me.
I couldn't believe it though - this person was giving out private messages and accepting thanks as if they were their dogs and photos! I honestly feel like there's something really creepy about someone taking your dogs and saying that they're theirs. How odd, honestly.... really, I'm baffled. It's sort of hilarious in a way though, Simon's a victim of identity theft! ;)
I will say next time they do this, I'm setting Caleb on them. He's been practicing his RAR face. ;)
8 comments:
How sad that someone so wants a Cardi (or two) that he/she must lie about having one or two. It's sort of flattering that they chose your guys, but a little creepy that your guys are being stalked.
I can't even imagine why someone would do that. Funny thing is that your dogs are so recognizable. I could probably point Simon or Caleb out of a group of pictures anywhere. Some people's children!
Weird......
Got a link to the Daily Puppy pic?
Be sure to give Charlie some loves for me...
(I think that might piss me off a bit. You are taking it much better than I would.)
Actually, what was worse, Penni, was that the dog yesterday, an Aussie with a tail from Germany was also "lifted" but off of a professional's site. :/ I surf the photo sites a lot, so I was like "man, that dog looks familiar..." and within 15 minutes of hunting around, yep, I'd found the photographer. The thing was is it was pretty obvious -- all of their pictures of the dog were from that shoot, and that shoot alone. I think if most ordinary folks go to a site to share their dog with pictures, you bet they're going to have a bunch from Christmas, to winter, to... lying on the couch! I have a feeling that there are a LOT of photos that have been "borrowed" recently, and really, it's not the site owner's fault. :/ Why would you think someone would do that?
I emailed the photographer who emailed me today and she barely speaks English. I offered to help if she needed me to tell them that the photos were stolen and that this person didn't own the dog that she said she did either.
It's funny, I'm thinking this is a kid who's doing it, not an adult. The way they write makes me think the person's young... but I could be wrong. It is flattering, sure... but it is also kind of creepy. It could be quickly used for bad purposes, too. Like faking a dog for sale that they don't have, etc... :/ I mean, my photos are watermarked, but still, doesn't mean I'm going to see them, and there's really no way out there to prevent someone from copying them if they really want to.
Hahah, Chaos! That was the thing -- it was kind of funny, so many people went, I saw Simon - people I really didn't know, wow. I think that's really flattering. Then again everyone knows his name where we live. "Oh, that's that Simon," they say, or, "that's one of the Pet Store Corgis!"
... I usually don't get anything but someone from the shop asking me where to find Mayo in Costco, since I look like I must work some sort of retail that they know from somewhere!
Ron -- here! http://www.dailypuppy.com/dogs/simon-the-corgi_2010-07-12
I actually am shaking my head. I think I see three or four more photographers that I know that have had their work 'borrowed' -- argh. I'll try tracking them down and seeing if that's the case.
Okay! Charlie will always accept cuddles and love, Nancy! XD <3 I know, I've been saying "Hey Charlie!" to him all day. XD Sheesh. Oh, I'm ticked, and if they get caught by the site owner they better get a serious smack for it. :/
ah the joys of the internet.
my friend had her dogs photos stolen and someone even put them on dogster with a new name, bio, stories, the whole works. very creepy. she contacted dogster and they took it off, but weird. like who does that?
and then there was the dog food ad- a photo she took ended up on an ad for dog food in europe some where....
First, I love the top photo! That cement wall has so many tones/textures to it. It looks like a backdrop in a photo studio.
Second, the whole dog identity theft thing is weird and creepy. I can see if someone stole one of your photos to enter it in a photo contest. Their goal would be obvious, but why bother to go to all the effort of claiming somebody else's dog as your own. The world sure is full of oddballs!
Well I may steal Simon... but not like THAT! He'd fit in a coat pocket, right??
I hope it's a kid doing the fake submissions, as then there's a little bit of excuse and not as creepy. Bad, yes, but if it's some dumb kid, it's not as 'scary' as some creepy 30+ year old living in their parents basement, sifting through photos of random dogs online to post as theirs! LOL
My beloved female rat Shelby, who I bred, and had bred her line for many generations, magically became a male, and after her death, moved to California. Someone was taking deposits for this litter, using Shelby's photos as the 'sire'! If Shelby was alive I'm sure she'd have been humored, but since she'd passed there was no one to find it funny ;)
Dea and Traum were on some business site, advertising some service. Luckily the guy running the site removed it right away when asked politely- he'd found it on google image search and thought it was public domain.
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