I am so pleased to introduce you to this fun pack of dogs! Comprised of two old labradors and young beagles, I knew it would be a fun session because I enjoy being with these two breeds so much. So I was greeted at their front door by Bailey the beagle’s bark – no, actually, it’s not really a bark. It’s more of a screeching scream that may have once started or ended with a “woof”! Haha! It’s definitely a one-of-a-kind sound, and – I’ll be honest – I jumped a little bit! But Bailey was all talk; turns out he’s a total sweetheart, and so are all his siblings. He and Daisy (both beagles) are 2-3 years old, and both labradors (Rusty and Zoe) are in the 13-14-year-old range. This means that the labs pull rank when they want to, but the beagles can run circles around them – and during our session, they did!
This is Rusty on the left; he bears a few signs of aging but he’s a happy old sweetheart, mostly content to slowly trundle around the backyard. Bailey’s here on the right.
Daisy is the other beagle of the family, and she was nice enough to put on her eyeliner for our session. On the right is Zoe, who was only happiest when she was as close as possible to her mom. Look at those happy floppy ears, and sweet eyes!
FAVORITE MOMENT: Up until the end of our session, Rusty was a slow-going wanderer. He wasn’t too keen on listening to commands; just did whatever he wanted, which mostly consisted of watching everyone else run around while tottering around the yard/beach. He got a bit excited for treats, but at that age, it’s a bit difficult to define “excitement”; he pretty much just perked up his ears and followed the treat with his eyes until you eventually gave it to him. Then he’d munch on it and go back to trundling around aimlessly. That’s fine; it’s what he wanted to do. So with almost three hours of this behavior, I kind of figured that that was simply his personality and we wouldn’t get any real “action” out of old Rusty. But we finally let the dogs get in the water at the beach at the very end of our session; they had been good and we knew they’d love getting in. SUDDENLY: Rusty sprang to life! He was jumping, running, flailing around! (Sorry Rus, but you were flailing.) He was a puppy in an old dog’s body! It was incredible! He was FULL of life and joy! And while I’m sure he was sore the next day from his spurt of energy, it was a magical moment. I was so thrilled I was there – both to help create it, and to capture it.
Rusty, Zoe, Bailey, & Daisy: thank you for a wonderfully fun afternoon. I absolutely can’t wait to see you & your mom again soon!
