Your dog really like to taste the fig.
c5tiger, that fig does not look ripe
It was more ripe than it looks but I don’t like a truly ripe fig. I usually eat my figs before what most people consider ripe. I like them when they start to hang down but before they start to wrinkle, while they are still somewhat firm.
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My VDB is going to be ripe any second! Yes! Well maybe 2 weeks…
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Not to be “THAT GUY”, but Richard I think you need to give your VdB figs a little more time on the tree. Let them shrivel and droop just a bit more and you’ll be in jammy fig heaven. IME, if you see latex you are too early. YMMV.
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Nice shot, great color, and contrast.
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I would agree, but then he wouldn’t have got that shot. It was worth it. You could cook or dry them to concentrate flavor. Oh I do see latex in that shot at 3 o’clock.
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In my location I need to harvest about 12 hours before peak, otherwise the doves will eat about 1/2 of them - typically at 5am. So I check each tree just before sundown. Any fruits I pick that are just short of peak will finish ripening overnight indoors. 
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Same problem here at my place, only it is the scrub jays, mockingbirds, thrashers (they are the WORST with their huge curved beaks) and the Towhees. I’m like the “yard to be” apparently, because of my figs. I can hardly get a Panache for myself. Oddly, they really go after the Panache.
Here the birds have no idea what a fig is? At least this year. VDB is named correctly. What a striking fig! The first one is at last ripening on my plant. Really not far behind you guys. A testament to the hot summer we are having here! Yesterday in the evening light it looked more purple. I need it to hang more, getting there. It sure goes through a lot of color changes. I’ll pick it when it starts to crack.
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Drew,
Is your VdB ripe yet? Good luck.
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No, I’m going to give it one more day. (leaving town tomorrow) The plant has about 40 figs. It’s turned purple now.
Interesting the color changes,and the neon-like colors.
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40 figs!
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A guess, let me go count them…
Wow, how strange, I counted, and I counted 40!
Florea, and MBvs have about as many. All are 2nd leaf.
Florea has been producing for a couple weeks now. I pick 1-3 figs a day. I picked 3 today. Maybe 15-20 left.
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Down here in coastal-influenced southern California, early January is Fig pruning time. And so here is my VdB cut back to 34 inches. 
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Richard, looks nice. Does the heavy pruning remove all of the breba bearing wood? I planted a vdb last spring and it produced a dozen or so main crop fruits. It has a much stronger fruity taste and somewhat sweeter than my other fig which is Celeste. But both are very delicious. Not sure how hard to prune this spring.
It would in your climate. However in my climate the spring is not warm enough to warrant a breba crop – but fortunately the warm weather lasts so long here the new shoots keep bearing until … now!
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Are you at all worried about pruning during this (much appreciated) rain? Do you take any post pruning precautions? Looks great!