I first met one of these dogs (Mr. Chubbs, in fact) during Mini-Sessions at 3 Dogs & A Chick – see his ridiculously happy, smiling face here on Facebook! So I was absolutely thrilled when his parents, Ashlee & Joseph, invited me back to their house to meet the rest of their pack! As soon as I walked in the door, all SIX dogs converged on me, and it kind of made me feel like I was the victim of a relentless, multi-tier assault. With super-adorable assailants, of course! Let me introduce you to them!
Maggie (left) is actually just as cheerful as Cleatus (right), but she wanted to show off her serious side.
Tink is the eldest of the family at 11, and this shih tzu gets to come to work with Mom & Dad every day at one of the veterinary clinics they own! Lucky dog!
Romy isn’t exactly an “outside dog” but we eventually got her to brave the elements (of the gorgeous sunny day), and she really lit up when the toy pig got involved!
I am so taken aback by how beautiful Desi is that I can’t post just one photo. Look at this sweet, pretty girl!
And last but certainly not least, Mr. Chubbs, enjoying a blissful solo escape to the front yard.
Thank you so much for such a wonderful afternoon, Ashlee & Joseph! I have MANY more photos to show you, including all the ones we took inside the house! I can’t wait – so I’ll see you soon! :)
Here’s just a quick post since I’m out of town (in Portland, Oregon) on a “working vacation”… these pups should look familiar! I suppose you could call this an extended Sneak Peek since their mom has to be so patient before she can see the rest. Enjoy, Lori!
You probably expected to see golden retrievers, labradors, or perhaps setters of some kind upon reading this post title. Those are outdoorsy breeds that probably love kayak trips, right? Well I have a surprise for you: this session features a miniature poodle and a rat terrier! Ha! This is just one of the things I love about dogs: breed “standards” oftentimes don’t matter at all! Each dog is unique, with his or her own likes and dislikes, and you just can’t pigeonhole a dog because of his or her breed. My clients have pups with totally individual personalities and I love capturing that!
Gracie is a ten-year-old miniature poodle that her mom rescued from a puppy mill. This poor, sweet girl has given birth to 149 puppies in her lifetime. Did you hear that? Should I say it again? One hundred and forty nine!!! Some love and TLC is WAY overdue for miss Gracie. Chief, on the other hand, is just ten months old, and he’s a little more wary of strangers than Gracie. But I’m so glad he found such a great family so early in his life! These dogs’ dad, Andrew, will be deploying soon, so we did our best to get him some great photos of his furkids before he leaves!
Gracie is a natural in the kayak!
Chief was… a bit unsure. :)
Don’t they make a cute pair?
I hope you enjoyed their Sneak Peek, Kirsten! I’ll see you soon!
When one of my favoritest long-time clients heard about two lost dogs in the Cantonment area, she jumped at the chance to help them. They had clearly come from the same family, since they stuck together so closely, and they’d been well cared-for: their coats were smooth and healthy and neither was underweight. So Lori went through all the possible channels of finding their owners: posting flyers, asking vets and groomers for info, searching online, posting notices on Facebook and other websites, etc. Unfortunately they hadn’t been microchipped. She even kept them at her house (with her dog Rio) for a while as she worked towards finding their home. She was super-thorough, and when I asked her how the search for the owners was going, she would respond that nothing had come of it yet, “but I’m not going to stop. I can’t imagine what I’d be going through if this was Rio – I’m doing everything I’d want someone to do for him.” So clearly, these dogs had the best possible person looking out for them.
But the original owner couldn’t be found, so eventually, Lori welcomed the two dogs into her crew! She named the labrador Riley and the dachshund Frank – short for Frankfurter. And while Frank’s definitely keeping Lori on her toes – or perhaps that’s stating it lightly – he’s a sweetheart, and Riley is going to be a great buddy for Rio as well.
Frank is all about attitude.
This photo makes me smile because it’s most very peaceful, very serene… but as you can see, Frank’s leash is hand-tied to his collar. He chewed through it in the first five minutes of our session!
Look at Riley’s EYES! Love them!
These dogs are lucky to have been found by you, Lori – I can’t wait to show you the rest of their photos!
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!
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!!
