Kona is such a sweet and incredibly fun dog to be around! She is a year-and-a-half-old German shorthaired pointer and labrador mix, and for those of you who know about those breeds… let’s just say energy mixed with energy = a crazy good time! :)

We had a lot of fun letting Kona release some (a tiny fraction, probably) of her energy during our photo session. This girl is ball obsessed – to the point where she simply doesn’t want to give the ball back. Ever. Her parents tried to warn me that she wouldn’t want to give it back to us… did I listen? Nope. After the very first time I asked her dad to throw it, she was running around refusing to give it back. Happy as a clam. For quite a while! Until… a big bag of treats magically came out of my camera bag and she finally dropped the ball for a moment, which was just long enough for me to grab it. Whew!

We started the photo session out at Kate Sessions Park which overlooks San Diego – a very picturesque spot! After that, we headed to the beach in La Jolla for even more action photos, and Kona happily obliged! The moments of action might have been my favorite parts of our session, because shooting action is actually how I started out my photography career – with sports photography, in fact! And Kona certainly gave me a run for my money, because she doesn’t have a “jogging” or a “trotting” speed – it’s only MAXIMUM SPEED with her, haha!

I also want to take a second to compliment her parents – they have done an amazing job with training. It’s obvious that they’ve done a lot because Kona has great commands, and it can be really hard to train willful dogs. I was really impressed by her obedience – except when we’d ask her to sit and stay, after about 4 seconds she gets lazy and just plops down. Whether it was on the wet sand at the beach, on the grass, or on the pavement. It was hilarious! She is a cutie and a good girl who’s happy to work for treats. Let’s be honest though, she probably would have preferred the ball. ;)

A rare moment of calm… you gotta admit, she’s a beautiful dog!

I love it when she lets loose!

This girl is an athlete.

A beautiful dog, a beautiful beach… what’s not to love?

After having to reschedule our photo session twice due to weather, I’d say the third time is the charm! It was definitely worth the wait because (as you can see) everything came together perfectly. Clare & Connor, I’ll see you two again soon!