Sunday, June 10th was a big day in the Shamrell household: Bailey turned three! Does this mean she’s no longer a “puppy”? Oh who am I kidding, I’ll always call her my puppy! :)  (Side note: she’s 21 in dog years, so we’ve ordered a few age-appropriate beverages for her that’ll hopefully arrive soon!)

We celebrated the occasion with two walks, plenty of treats, a new knuckle bone, and CAKE! I spent the previous day in Ft. Walton Beach at the dog boutique 3 Dogs & A Chick, so really, I had very little choice in the matter. Their cute cake designs were just staring me in the face. I had to get one for her. They let me choose the color scheme, so I asked for the confetti sprinkles (because they’re fun) and pink writing, because Bailey’s a very girly dog. She is! – all her dog-sitters comment on how ladylike she is, and plus she’s so gosh darn pretty, so pink was a natural choice. Oh, and the cake is peanut butter flavored!

So in case you missed the album I posted on the Facebook page, here are a few shots of the cake… it’s so gorgeous I couldn’t help myself but photograph it.

Sometimes I love the details so much, that I think about being a product photographer… but then again I think those photographers must have a TREMENDOUS tolerance for boredom, because really, there aren’t any living creatures in their work! Just thinking about spending all day with inanimate objects (instead of dogs) induces a yawn. So I guess product photography is not for me.

Okay, there is a story behind why Bailey looks semi-miserable in this photo. We got her up in the chair, and the cake was in front of her all ready to go, and what do I do? Strike a match to light her candles, of course! But I didn’t even think that it might scare her (which is embarrassing) because she has no reaction to our outdoor tiki torches or any other fire I can think of… but I guess the actual creation of the flame was what spooked her. So she jumped out of the chair in a panic, poor thing. We finally got her back up and slid the cake in front of her, but she looked SO sad – the only way I even got her ears up was by saying “wanna go for a walk?” which of course we weren’t going for at 8:00 at night, so I guess that makes me even MORE of a terrible mom, taunting her with a walk. Sigh… so we took one halfway-decent photo and let her escape the terror of the dining room table.

She also had ice cream, which was the initial favorite – she licked it up quickly!

After cutting the cake into quarters (because it’s HUGE) this is what our freezer looked like. Pretty awesome freezer if you ask me! :)  (And yes, those are the TGI Friday frozen dinners in the background… we think they’re delicious so don’t judge!)

Here’s Bailey’s plan of attack for the cake: lick the entire exterior, THEN start nibbling. She didn’t tear into it, as I imagine many dogs would. Here’s a quick video showing the beginning of the process…

 
And here’s a longer video showing her dainty way of getting into the knuckle bone I wrapped for her… it was her main present because she loves these things, they are her absolute favorite toys, and it’ll last a few months no problem. It was fun to see her discover it so cautiously!

Happy birthday, Bailey – you’re a blessing to our little family and we’re ridiculously happy we found you. Here’s to plenty more birthdays with you!!

Tags: dogs, event, Florida, house, Pace, Pensacola, pet photography, pets, puppy