For about a year I’ve wanted to photograph the whole puppy process: the birth + the eight weeks leading up to when they go home. Partly I liked the idea of documenting a process over the span of two months; partly I liked the idea of having a good excuse to hang out with brand new puppies week after week.
The project fell into place with the Elick family + their Golden Retriever, Bella. They added my phone number to the list of numbers to call when Bella went into labor and graciously had me over just about every week thereafter until the puppies went home in early February. (I missed weeks five and seven).
Put aside the fact that baby Golden Retrievers are irresistible, it was also fascinating from the perspective of someone who is utterly fascinated by dog behavior. Instinct is an amazing thing, as firm and unwavering as gravity. That Bella knew exactly what to do without ever having seen it is mind blowing. Somehow the abundance of technology makes me forget how extraordinary nature is.
The other part of this process that totally blew me away was how the puppies go from being hamster-like blobs to actual individuals in the span of just a couple weeks. I know there’s evidence on both sides of the age-old nature versus nurture argument, but holy cow these little dogs each had their own distinct personalities as soon as they were coordinated enough to exhibit them.
So here’s a comprehensive slideshow of Bella + her babies. It is 5 minutes, 18 seconds long. I know that far surpasses the 30 second attention span most people have for watching slideshows online, but I couldn’t slim it down any more than this. Eight weeks of puppies is hard to turn into 5 minutes.
A big thank you to the Elicks, and to Bella.
