I’ve been tagged by three different people to participate in the 8 Photos of Happiness project hosted by Ariel’s Little Corner of the Internet.

Rules and explanation for participation:

• Thank your nominator/s and link them in your post.
• Link to the creator (Ariel’s little corner of the internet)
• Post your 8 photos of happiness;
• The photos can be anything that represents a moment, object, place or feeling that makes you happy.
• Pop in a brief description of the photo, why you chose it or let the photos do the talking!
• Spread the happiness and tag up to ten other bloggers!

Now before we get to the photos, let me give thanks and pay homage to the peeps who nominated us. Paved by Pawprints, Clowie’s Corner, and My Brown Newfies.

I spent almost an entire day going through photos. You can probably find some (if not most of them) somewhere on this blog, but I like the idea of having my favorites all in one place.  Some of them are pictures of the dogs being happy, while others have deeper meaning for me.

This photo makes me happy because it screams to me of trust. Delilah was pretty aloof when she first came to us, and the fact she not only let me put the eye mask on her, but she kept it on while I took the photo and then stayed in the room with it on for a few minutes…it showed me we were doing something right.

I love this photo of Sampson. There is a muddy little brook that runs along one side of the field where we walk. In his younger days, Sampson would run back and forth in the brook, submerging his face, then he would roll around in the field. Just watching him was a joy to behold. In fact, you can see a video of it on my Youtube channel HERE, if you’re interested.

Delilah loves to swim. Besides food, I’m not sure there is anything that brings her greater joy. She’s not a big fan of fetch on land, but throw a toy into the water for her, and she dives right in. Again, and again and again.

I love walking and I love walking with the dogs. This was before a million other people started walking their dogs at the park and before Delilah started taking off on me. Looking back on this I remember how much joy we all got from our walks.

Speaking of walking, before Delilah joined our pack Hubby, Sampson and I used to walk every weekend. This is one of my favorites, as Hubby and Sampson contemplate the path ahead of us. This one is also bittersweet, because it reminds me of a time when I wasn’t alone in caring for the dogs.

This picture was taken when the entire family went to Florida for our daughter’s wedding. Hubby and I stayed the week after the wedding to enjoy some R&R. One day we rented a boat and went out in Tampa Bay. We found this little cove where the water was clear and calm and we could get out and swim. You can tell by my smile how happy I was.

It took a while, but Delilah really started to relax and let her fun personality shine through. In this photo she rolls around on her back with a bone in her mouth. This dog who was so aloof with people and barely wanted to be touched, is offering her belly up for a rub. Another reminder to me of how far she’s come.

Last but not least. I love when a dog smiles. Some people will tell you that dogs don’t smile. Show them this picture because there’s no mistaking that grin.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this exercise as much as I have. Now I’m supposed to nominate a bunch of others to participate as well. I hate that part of these challenges because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, SO I’m nominating all of you who haven’t done this yet!

It’s a fun thing to do and don’t you want to have all of your favorite photos in one place?

Well don’t wait, get cracking!

This is the Thursday Barks and Bytes Blog Hop hosted by Heart Like A Dog and 2 Brown Dawgs. Grab the badge and the linky code and join us!

Please only link up blog posts and as a courtesy to the other hoppers, please add the linky to you post and/or link back to the hosts’ blogs.