Yesterday.

Yesterday, my plan was to head to Wakefield to take maternity photos of my friend Trista with her two cutie pie kids. I suggested we find a dock for some shots I had in mind. Turns out Trista has a friend who happens to own a house right on the Gatineau River. Sweet!
Here's where we started.

We took a few Mom with kids photos here on the dock. We decided to move on and that's when we heard this strange squealing sound. Trista mentioned there is a dog living at the house down the river, and that's probably the dog barking. Then we saw something in the water and realized it was a very small puppy. That squeal sound was the sound of a very scared pup. While Trista gathered up the kids, I raced over to the river to scoop the frightened pup from the water. She was shivering and quite terrified. The focus of our session changed from maternity shots to "OMG, how cute is this puppy" session.

I immediately wanted to take this sweet little thing home with me. Dan would absolutely kill me! Trista was eyeing this puppy too and mentioned she and Pierre were thinking of getting a dog at some point, maybe not right at this moment, but she was bonding to this pup as much as I was. However, her hormones are totally berzerko so her maternal instincts were kickin' in and well, to quote Molly, "I think the puppy likes us more than you"....

In the parking lot near the bridge we met a woman who was doing some landscaping. Her dog was close by and I thought maybe she'd loan us a dog leash just to get us through the photo session. She was able to give us some rope, Trista used her headband that we twisted to make smaller to fit around the pups neck. We were good to go!

The puppy made her way into the photo session. I mean really, how could she not? Look how cute she is!!

And this is on the ride home....

And with all the distractions,  we still managed to take some lovely photos of Trista! (I have to add that I'm holding a puppy in my arm while taking these photos).

The puppy is now with Trista and her family where she's getting lots of love. What a crazy fun day.
And after all that excitement, the kids fell asleep so quickly on the ride home.

Nosey Horses

Pixel's Lucky Day.

Pixel's rescue is out of the US - believe it or not I found her picture posted on Facebook with the caption 'last day' above her.  She was in Baldwin Park animal shelter in California, that has a very high kill rate.  I emailed the english setter rescue trust of america to see if they could save her and it just worked out that the current contact for that group is based in Lincoln, CA.   Long story short, Maryl pulled her and I convinced Curt to let us take her - she flew up from San Franscisco!  

More Turkish!

Indy

 If you bring your dog along on a portrait session, I will take photos of him/her. Oh yah.

Demo has begun!

This little boy loves all this action and the big equipment. I think he could watch this all day long! But for me, I'm fine to just watch him being cute. ;-)

Beauty and the Beast

There are still small signs of beauty in the yard...

despite all the destruction by this bozo!

My weekend.

Crazy Sam.

Come out, come out, where ever you are! Dan calls me to bring my camera. Apparently he heard whimpering sounds from under the deck. What a goof ball! Maybe it's cooler? 

Photo Session for Delilah {kids}

The Weekend!!

Ernie

Ready. Set. Happy!!

Am I a bad owner?

The situation surrounding Sam and our mailman is causing so much stress. We've put up barriers, and barricades to help the mailman feel more safe when delivering our mail. Moved the box to the sidewalk. Having someone come and photograph your yard, apparently my license plate is important to photograph too. And suggesting that the dog might unlatch the gate...and while we're at it, I hear he can cook me dinner and make my coffee in the morning!  Anyway, yesterday I put an anti-bark collar on Sam. I'm feeling so guilty. I've never seen a more stressed or lifeless dog. He would lay in the grass and not move the entire time. Between the collar and whatever else was going on inside, he is a mess. No more collar for him. I can't do it. This morning he's been nudging me, so I picked him up and he's curled up on my lap sleeping. A 40lb dog on my lap. He's nervous now. I feel like such a bad owner. I'll work with him, using other methods to control his behaviour but I can't believe I resorted to being so cruel to him, because our mailman is afraid of dogs and he himself won't take steps to understand how to deal with them. I can work to control Sam's behaviour but I'm sorry Mr. Mailman, I can't take responsibility for your feelings. That's something you need to work out on your own.