Teaching a New Dog Some Old Tricks

While I've been teaching Brady the usual dog tricks: sit, lay down, drop-it, and come hither, the tougher trick is learning to sit still while your photo is being snapped.
To prepare for Brady's first sitting, I hung a black cloth backdrop on 2 metal stands and placed another cloth on a wooden deck chair. I put Aloysius, Brady's stuffed dog on the chair to make it look especially inviting. I had little doggie liver treats in my pocket at the ready. Finally, I put on a lovely, lilting Feng Shui CD to soothe the "beast" in him.
I did all the right things, so why was Brady's first inclination to risk his life (not really!) and leap off the chair to the unyielding hard-wood floor?
(see exhibit A below)


Brady, Don't do it! You have so much to live forrrr..!
(Note: no little furry animals were hurt to make these photos.)


After a handful of treats (doled out individually or in halves to prolong the delicious experience), Brady finally sat up in the chair for about 10 seconds. This was long enough to get the picture above (exhibit B) which would have been perfect, except, he blinked. Oh, the trials and tribulations of trying to get the Pulitzer Prize winning shot of an unwilling puppy...

The next day, Brady's brother, Joey came with his peeps, Emily and Paul for an early morning breakfast play-date. Em and Paul brought bagels with plenty of shmear and a little smoked salmon.
After a delicious breakfast that couldn't be beat, we had a field day in the studio with the pups. One of us would be the "animal wrangler" making high-pitched noises using squeakers

or our own off-tune voices and the other would "shoot like a bandit" taking a ridiculous number of exposures to get the one below
(exhibit C).


And this one...

And this one.
Working as a puppy model is pretty exhausting. You have to pose with teddy bears and footballs without tasting or gumming them every five minutes. You have to sit still even when you want to run across the studio or leap in the air for a crunchy treat.
So, Brady and Joey finally collapsed into a deep sleep right there on the photo set with the classy black backdrop hanging behind them.

So, Em and I did what any respectable photographers would do.

We framed the snoozing pooches as elegantly as we could taking advantage of their sudden willingness to cooperate without question.
Now, if we were photographer, Anne Geddes, we would have dressed them as dragonflies and placed them on a giant cabbage leaf or something...


What a handsome set of mutts, don't you agree?
I think I shall title this one, "Dog Tired".
Happy 10 week birthday, Brady and Joey!
Can't wait for the 3 month portrait....