Casey

As I mentioned in my last post, it was impossible to pick a favourite so I'm not sure where to start with the blog posts, but Casey definitely made me laugh the most when I was looking through the photos.

 
Most of the pictures of him are of him convincing me to hand over the cookies.

First there were cute looks. "Hi there nice lady.  Wanna give me a cookie?"

Then there was the "Can't you see I'm starving over here?"

Then there was full out begging.  "Please, please pick me over all my other brothers and sisters!"

Then he got more serious and started giving me the evil eye.  "Seriously lady, hand over the cookies or I'm going to take more drastic measures."

Then he took it back a notch and tried the baby seal approach.  LOL

All his tactics worked of course because he was impossible to resist. Just look at this face!!!!

You're the Cutest

About 8 months ago I went over to a friend's house and discovered that she had purchased hooks to hang her dog leashes and stuff on that had cute little frames over top.  I'm not sure how long she'd had them up for, but they still had the pictures in that they came with!  Um, hello!  Girl with a camera over here.

So today, I finally made it out to photograph her crew.  Well part of her crew.  I only managed to get pictures of her 7 dogs.  I didn't even glance at her cats, and even her newborn baby Noah didn't get more than a quick hello.  I was too busy watching the doggie chaos around me.  In 50 minutes, I managed to fill up 3 of my camera cards.

I think they are going to get more than one blog post but I thought I'd at least introduce them all...

First up is Sophie.  Sophie is a sweet golden who unfortunately hasn't been feeling the best these last few weeks.  In fact she gave everyone quite a scare last week and she still has her bad days, but she is still having some good ones too.

Baylee had me at hello.  I just love her scruffy wildness!  Baylee had been left behind at an "Odd and Unusual" Auction and Bobbi couldn't just walk away from her.

Roxy is the tiniest chihuahua ever!  And she had the goofiest expressions.  I could have photographed her all day.

Alfie is the most recent arrival and while he isn't technically Bobbi's, he seems to have adopted her.  I'm not sure what his mix is, but he was fun and feisty and reminded me quite a bit of a border collie at times, although he is not nearly as big as one.



Casey spent most of the time off exploring and looking for poo to roll in but near the end he discovered I had food... and was doing everything in his power to convince me to give it to him. He even resorted to begging and pleading.

Zoey realized immediately that I had food and she followed me around giving me the sweetest expressions that I couldn't resist.  I'm sure she gained 2 pounds in the time I was there.

And last, but not least was Jessi.  She had just been groomed the day before and was still a little miffed at the situation.  It took her the longest to decide I was trust worthy, but she too was eventually won over by cookies.

Every time I looked down there was a cute dog at my feet so I told them "I think you are the cutest".  In the end, I must have told them all that.  They were all so different, yet all so cute!  No wonder Bobbi ended up with 7 dogs.

Billy Boy

Billy is with the Windy City Canine Rescue.  He came from horrible circumstances but despite all that, he is such a sweetheart.

Chewy

If you've ever been to the Paws on the Run Daycare, odds are, you'll have met Chewy.

Often you'll find her sleeping in her box on top of the filing cabinet but other times she'll do her best to climb aboard yours shoulders. The first time she does it to someone, the expression on their face is priceless - they are always so shocked and she makes them feel very special.

The dogs love her - Ben cries every afternoon on his way out the door because he is so anxious to spot her, Rudy often gets kisses (with both paws on either side of his head), and Milo usually gets love bites on his forehead.  She is obviously quite gentle as they keep coming back for more.

The clients love her too - Cooper's mom brings her treats, Charlee's mom brings her toys and Jackie's kids come running in just to see her.  We often come to the front to see Chewy lapping up the love from various clients.

I'm astonished by the number of kids (and adults) that peer through the window looking for her.  She is obviously a neighborhood favourite and often goes to the window to say hello to her fans.

Even though it is a dog daycare, the place just wouldn't be the same without her!

Surprise!

Barkley's mom Lorie mentioned in June or July that she'd like to get Barkley photographed as a surprise for her husband Andre. We chatted a bit and just left things as "one day soon".  Then a month or so later, Andre came in and mentioned he'd like to book a session for Barkley.  Yikes!  So Lorie and I decided we needed to move forward and as if on cue, Andre went away on business.  This was our chance.

So a few weeks ago, I met the handsome Barkley and Lorie down in Peenaquim Park for a session.  The light was gorgeous and the grasses had ripened to the same colour of Barkley's fur.  It was perfect timing.

Barkley loves to fetch.  Well actually, he loves to run around with something in his mouth.  And if you deprive him of his toy, he makes due with whatever he can find, namely giant rocks.

The only time he had a serious look on his face was when you were holding his toy. I think he was concerned for it's safety and whether or not he'd get it back.

When you gave it back to him, he got all goofy and relaxed again.

He never wanted to let go of the toy (or rock for that matter) and he was starting to learn all my tricks of getting back the ball.

Thankfully, he didn't seem to need us to throw it to have a good time, so we generally just let him have it.

He occasionally stopped running to strike a pose, and when he did, he did it well.

Thanks Barkley and Lorie for a great time. Andre I hope you enjoy your gift!

River Season

I LOVE taking pictures down by the river.

The rocks, the splashes of water, the fur well defined by wetness....

Too bad "river season" is almost over for the year.  I'm going to miss it.

Agility Weekend

I had the pleasure of photographing the Go Dog Go agility trial this past weekend.  If I didn't have to edit 1,000's of photos every time, I could photograph agility every day.  I LOVE watching the dogs run.  They are so graceful, athletic and smart!  You can see how much the team bond grows between dog and owner after they've done agility together for a few years. It looks like the experienced dogs almost read their handlers' minds and are able to turn on a dime with the merest flick of the hand.

Saturday was a beautiful day for agility - sunny but not too warm.  It was perfect.  Sunday, not so much.  Sunday it rained ALL day.  But I was dressed for it.  I borrowed my husband's fishing rain gear, wore long underwear and a wool sweater underneath it and I managed to stayed toasty and dry all day despite the fact that I did nothing but sit on the ground for hours on end.  I wasn't a fashion statement (at least not a good one!) but at least I wasn't shivering.

I tried to pick out a few favourite photos of the weekend for the blog and failed miserably - there are just too many.  So instead I put some into a slideshow that you can see here.  I randomly chose pictures from throughout the two days.  If you want to see more, you can always visit the gallery to see all the pictures from the weekend.