Sheepish Grin Pet Photography

Well I’ve been saving Wyatt’s blog. Wyatt’s photo shoot was to be a surprise birthday present for his dad. So while he was staying at Stone Dog Inn, I went over and spent some time with this wonderful fellow. Wyatt is 11 years old. He was adopted when he was 5 years old and lives in New Hampshire. For an 11 year old dog, Wyatt is pretty spry.

He liked those belly rubs!

And those cool breezes.

Wyatt is such a handsome fellow. He looks absolutely noble in this photo. He was a very accommodating fellow. Wyatt really was a joy to photograph.

This is Lily. She is about four months old and is a Bernese Mountain puppy. Her mom, Nikki owns Stone Dog Inn. We’ve been trying to set up a photo shoot of Lily for a couple of weeks. I had taken some photos of her already with her brother Wyatt about a month ago, but this was just Lily solo this time. We tried two weeks ago but it was soooo hot. So this past Thursday, we did it earlier in the morning. The shoot took place at a family friend’s house. They have a gorgeous yard filled (and I do mean filled) with flowers everywhere. It was so beautiful and there were so many places to photograph, my head was spinning with the photographic possibilities. Combine this with the cutest and sweetest puppy ever – well what can I say – it just didn’t get any better than this.

Lily decided it would be fun to not only drink from one of the fountains on the property, but also fish around in it with her front paws. Seriously though, how can you resist this look, wet paws and all?

Lily is still pretty young, but she was very well behaved. Granted she didn’t stay in one spot for too long, but she sure stayed long enough for me to get some really nice shots.

Lily was pretty energetic during the shoot, but finally towards the end, she started to get a bit pooped out. While she was a bit tired, it was a great opportunity to get some shots of her on the porch. So Nikki scooped her up to bring her up the stairs.

Yes Lily was finally tired out but she was a trooper. I’m sure someone was a sleepy puppy when she got home that day.

I had planned to post a photo session that I did a couple of weeks ago, but I decided on something different. This morning as usual, the dog and I went for a walk. What was different this morning you may well ask. Well I actually took the time to really enjoy it. I mean really appreciate it. It was the swallows that started it. Hundreds of swallows, swooping, catching their breakfast on the fly. I stood and watched them. That alone was pretty joyful to watch. (Well unhappy for the insects of course, but…) And I thought about how lucky I was. Two years ago at the same time, I was working at a full time 8:30 – 5 job and I was so stressed that I was physically sick half the time. But here I was now, able to be outside and taking the time (a precious thing) to look at swallows circling in the sky. We continued on to the meadow. The weather was great, overcast and cool. I hate the heat. The temperature was perfect for me and my canine companion. He hates the heat too. And there was that hint of autumn, a tangible sense of change. The crickets were chirruping, the foliage was changing and there was that scent in the air. It made me happy. Because yes, my friends, I prefer fall over summer. Ahhh but you think I’m rushing summer. Nope not for me, can’t wait for those crisp fall days. But it wasn’t just me that was happy, the dog was too. He ran and sniffed and investigated in a way I haven’t seen him do during this long hot summer. I looked around and thought my goodness, this is just so simply beautiful. And this is what I love about photographs. I documented this. I have a visual reminder of our special morning walk. Every time I look at them I’ll remember this morning always. Mostly I’ll remember how happy my pup was simply taking a walk.

This is the “what are you doing with that thing and are you coming now????” look.

This week, I had the happiness to photograph Zayda. Julie, Zayda’s foster mom, who continually saves these puppies from kill shelters, tells me Zayda is a rescue from a high kill shelter in Kentucky. Usually theses puppies are rounded up by people who surrender them at six weeks and then the poor things get dumped at the shelter. Julie went on to tell me they usually get distemper or Parvo and die. Zayda, though, is one of the lucky ones! She made it out healthy. She is about four months old. I’ll bet she gets a permanent home quickly. She’s a sweet tempered and pretty girl. Zayda enjoyed her photo shoot. Since we did the shoot in the park across from the dog boutique, Pawsmopolitan, we all stopped in afterwards. Zayda was rewarded for all her efforts with special treats and a new toy. We all had fun!