Mini Mini Session

Brrr! The first day of spring sure doesn't look or feel like it! I can't wait to see that very first blade of grass - I might just throw a party or take a week off of work!

Exciting news! I have a mini session scheduled for the 13th of April! My Facebook page reached 50 likes so I had a drawing for a free mini session. Three people were solidly interested, so I cut some paper, folded it, put it in a bowl and had the dogs pick the winner! It took a little bit as Bender and Axle mostly wanted to lick the bowl but finally Bender plucked out a winner!

I'm looking forward to meeting Ashley and her dogs, Gunner and Dakota! Gunner is a 3 year old golden retriever and Dakota is a 7 year old cockatoo! Excitement! Now hopefully all the snow is gone by then...

So with all of the thinking of the mini shoot, I decided to do some location scouting and do my own mini shoot with Bender. It was cold, and he shivered pretty much the whole time, poor guy! The wind was cut by the buildings around the alley, but when its around 15 degrees its still cold! He did well with staying put, though wasn't apt to look at me (lots of back of the ears and head shots!). Managed to get him into a doorway, then something behind me in the alley caught his attention so he was looking past me. I fired off a bunch of shots, then decided our mini adventure was going to be cut short as per the cold weather.

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Visited Tri County Humane Society yesterday and snagged lots of pictures of volunteers as well as some of the critters!

Blackberry

Lucky

Lucky also happens to be a vampire...

Safari

Wally

Love this guy, Wheaties! He's super sweet, but would not come out of his kennel with a leash on!

Tuesday and Dog Park

Greetings! 

The Tuesday session at Tri County Humane Society went well, though most of the dogs were in quarantine due to one of the dogs having kennel cough :( There were a handful of cats that needed some pictures as well as an ongoing project of photographing the volunteers and staff.  I can't say I've every really been that much of people photographer - I'd rather catch them being themselves and doing assorted things vs posing them and getting direct face pictures. Guess I will need to practice some more on them!

This guy is Charlie, a chesapeake bay retriever with a serious underbite!

Gigi, who wasn't a big fan of my camera in her face

Milton

This is Sam. He is big and fluffy and I LOVE his whiskers!!!

Sam's kennel mate, Winnie, a shy but talkative calico 

Scotch the female orange kitty

French Fry

Tigger, female orange cat

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We are still getting snow up here in Minnesota, but the weather broke and it was super nice the other day, so I took Axle and Bender out to the dog park for some run time. There were no dogs, which was perfect. Axle was happier than a clam when I pulled a tennis ball out of my pocket, while Bender was content to sniff a lot before he joined in to chase and play keep away.  The lighting was a big harsh, but the weather was beautiful as was the sunshine! Also metering for a black dog and a light colored dog at the same time was interesting! Shot with my 70-300mm. 

Axle and Bender

Axle

Bender catching up to Axle in a game of chase

Sniff, sniff, sniff...

Axle has the longest tongue...

Bender

Bender with the ball

Bender the Foster Pup!

Bender the foster pup! The sweetest and cutest pittie pup you'll ever meet!

First off, a little back story on him. He was picked up as a stray in January and was housed at Hawk Creek Animal Shelter in Willmar. My boyfriend and I ventured to Willmar to fix a teeth issue, and decided to visit Hawk Creek. A big headed, brown and white pittie stole my heart, while a rottie shepherd stole my boyfriend's. We were unable to bring either home that day.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and an image of the very same pittie, with the same name (Bender) shows up on my facebook feed sponsored by No Dog Left Behind, which rescues, fosters and adopts out dog who are in need of extra help. Seeing the picture, I just had to help out! Contacted a couple of people and arranged to head to Willmar to snag Bender while looking for a forever home. There was a slight worry about him being male dog aggressive, but I was confident that I could help this pittie. Read lots and lots of things about aggression and maintenance as well as learning the triggers.

The day arrived to snag him, as did a ton of snow. Pushed the date back two days on a warmish, nicer day, stopped by Hawk Creek and snagged the wiggly, happy, pulling 48 lb brown and white pittie. Casey, who works at Hawk Creek, gave me the run down on him. Turns out the dog aggression is towards unfixed male dogs. Whew!

Brought him home, and introduced the gang. Icey was nervous, but she wanted to play a bit, Mick wasn't sure of Bender, but didn't mind him. The problem child Axle, was way amped up as he usually is around other dogs (he has dominance aggression towards other dogs so he presents very aggressively). Bender wasn't a fan of Axle's bad manners, and the two had a small spat as Bender is reactive to aggressive type dogs. Walked them home and kept the two separated on a crate and rotate system. Bender settled right in, though the transition was a little slower with the gang esp Axle.

Slowly Axle began to calm down, and he and Bender were allowed to wrestle. Another quick spat over a coveted toy (Bender has some toy guarding issues) then the two were instant buddies. They wrestle constantly, and follow each other from room to room, mostly because Axle wants to play all of the time! Some issues with toy guarding, but by keeping an eye on Axle and Bender and removing the toy when they both want it seem to help. Will have to work on a leave it command as well as give.

Oh I wish I could keep this guy! He is smart, athletic, a cuddle bug, as well as puppy playful (he and Axle are both about 1.5 years). He snores, snorts like a pig when he's sniffing around, loves to go for car and bike rides, loves popcorn but not carrots and gives lots of kisses! He is an amazing ambassador for pitbull type dogs. He interacts very well with people and dogs, and has amazing dog manners. Needs a little work on commands and pulling but otherwise a wonderful dog!

Tuesday Humane Society Session

Greetings all! Nothing like more snow up here in central MN! That being said, the snow put a damper in heading to Willmar to snag the pittie Bender from Hawk Creek Animal Sanctuary. Tomorrow, weather cooperating, will be the day!

Another adventure at Tri County Humane Society! I'm starting to get a rhythm and habits for each time I head out there. Head in, greet the ladies working, snag a list of animals that need pictures, sign in, snag my nametag and a scrub top, go over my list of animals that need pictures to figure who was who, then either throw on a jacket to take outside pictures with the dogs, or setup in the all in one room with the cats. This time I brought the 4x6 card I designed to inform people that animal's cage was empty because the dog or cat was having their picture taken. It worked wonderfully!

I love going to the humane society to take pictures of the ones I can't bring home!

Cinder, a playful grey tabby was my first (and third) set of pictures. We were in the all in one room, when a volunteer asked to use the room as there was a family that wanted to do a meet and greet with a puppy. No problem. Cinder was scooped back up and put back into her kennel. Snagged some pictures of the tubby Misti, then Cinder and I ventured back to the room for more pictures!

Chubby cat Misti

Tooley the orange female!

Little miss Stella!

Next were the dogs! 

Spartacus was first! Small fluffy, maltese mix I believe. He was a panting, I want to get out of this place mess until I brought out the cat treats (I didn't have any dog treats on me!). He proceeded to sit like a gentleman as well as stand on his hind legs!

Tisha was next! She's a pointer mix, who is very smart! She could smell the treats I had in my coat even before I had shown them to her! She would sit well, though taking treats involved practically eating my whole hand!

The last of the dogs I got to take out was Ronnie. (All the others had red cards or deposits on them) Lucky Ronnie has had his picture taken a bunch of times! I hadn't realized that he had had pictures done, so I snapped up a bunch more! He's a small cute little character and is a playful little dude!

I also snagged some pictures of Deedles and one of the pittie mix Roman who was a giant baby!

Deedles (D)

Roman