Here’s another one from the Big Dogs Huge Paws project.
Meet Grumpy, a Newfoundland/Bull Mastiff puppy.
Liz has been one of the single biggest supporters + fans of my photography business since day one. I have a tremendous amount of professional respect for her, and we have a serious love for dogs in common. I photographed her rehearsal dinner before her wedding, and took photos of her lovely Lab, Hannah, who has since passed away. Liz + her husband, Phil, recently decided they were ready to take the puppy leap and heroically got not one, but two 8 week old puppies: a Chocolate Lab [Harlow] + an English Bulldog [aptly named Mike]. They are as smitten with these puppies as you will be once you see the photos, and are thus totally unfazed by all the chaos that inevitably accompanies the arrival of two two-month old puppies.
Many of you will remember little Waldo from this post in January. Now four months old, Wally is significantly larger than he was the last time I saw him, although at 37 lbs he still seems miniature compared to Kinley who is now weighing in at 75 lbs. He may be small, but he is a sturdy little guy and is one of the smartest puppies I’ve ever met. And one of the most difficult. Poor Lauren is getting a crash course in raising a puppy with this guy, because he tests her all the time. When Lauren gets frustrated I tell her the same thing my parents used to tell me when they made us go camping in zero degree weather: it builds character.
Difficult though he may be, he sure is a handsome fella and a surprisingly compliant model. It helps, too, that Lauren lives in a fabulous little town in Eastern Washington called Palouse, which is just brimming with perfect photo backdrops.
Waldo is just barely small enough to fit in his favorite spot of the car, which is on the floor at your feet. Give it a week and he is going to be devastated when he can’t squeeze himself down there anymore.
My personal favorite:
The local Great Dane Rescue recently contacted me about putting together a multi-level marketing campaign for their rescue and for the breed in general. I’m super excited about the project for multiple reasons – I have a soft spot for Danes, I love working with breed-specific rescues, and I thrive on overbooking myself. So all in all, a perfect fit. Really, though, I think the project is going to be amazing. I will keep the blog updated as the project progresses.
My first shoot was last weekend, and because I’m arranging so many of these shoots right now, I wasn’t sure what age/breed/color this specific rescue was going to be. Lily turned out to be hands-down one of the most gorgeous puppies I’ve ever met in my life. She came to rescue at just four weeks old and very nearly lost her life to Parvo. Meeting her now, the only sign of this rough start is her size (she’s small for a 9-week-old Dane puppy at just 18 pounds). In every other way she is 100% a puppy – and like any other puppy is either on the go or dead asleep. We got some photos of busy Lily, but the best ones were at the end of the shoot, when she was sleepy + cuddly.
She’s had a rough start, but I think it’s safe to say that Lily is going to be well-loved for the rest of her life.
Lauren has been my best friend since we were 8 years old, and I don’t mean we happened to know each other when were 8 years old and reconnected later. Lauren and I have actually been pretty darn close since we were 8 years old, which is just about 17 years now. We’ve always been crazy in love with animals in general and spent a long time riding horses. Lauren never had her own horse, but that didn’t stop her from always being happy for me when while I had my horses. When we got Roux and Kinley Lauren wasn’t in a position where she could get a dog of her own, but she nonetheless listened tirelessly to me tell story after story about these puppies, even though I’m sure at times it made her sad not to have her own. So you can see just how exciting it is that this weekend Lauren brought home her very own puppy.
Waldo is a 7-week-old Rhodesian Ridgeback (ridgeless, like Kinley). He weighs 8 pounds. He’s approximately the same size as a large bag of uncooked pinto beans. Neither of my dogs were that little when we got them (and I am therefore skeptical that they ever were that little – it takes a rather generous stretch of the imagination to believe Roux could ever have been so tiny). As fate would have it I was in Seattle the weekend she picked him up and we arranged a photo shoot. And, thanks be to the weather gods, it was actually sunny.
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As if he’s not cute enough as is, baby Wally has developed this unbelievably adorable habit of burrowing into Lauren’s coat head first and taking a nap in there. I’m beginning to think this something of a breed characteristic, because both of my dogs would surely burrow into my jacket if they thought they could fit. Instead, I routinely tuck them into blankets – on the couch for naps and every night before bed. It may sound a little overboard, but it’s our silly little routine and I’ve even caught Alex participating in it a time or two, so I’m not the only one.
I think a scientist somewhere should do a study on what happens to the human brain when it encounters a puppy. It’s like the cuteness overload short circuits all other functions. Everyone who comes across little Waldo is rendered basically speechless, except for the occasional declaration of how darn cute he is.
(You photogs out there will notice I have become very fond of my new tilt shift lens. Very fond indeed).
Congratulations, Lauren. I know you’ll be a great puppy mama to little Waldo and I can’t wait to hear about all the adventures you’ll surely have. I love you!
(And Waldo, too).
