Tessa Rose May 23, 2007

Tessa Rose lives in Naples, FL. She likes boating, playing with her “dob dob” and cracking stone crab claws. She came up to Orlando to visit her brother (who happens to be a person, not a dog) and we played at his house. She was totally great to work with- such a sweetheart! We played in a little lot next door where she had no interest in chasing squirrels or running into the street (love it).

Her main concern was where the liver treats were at any given moment and whether her Mom & Dad were still on the planet. She has this incredible German Shepherd’s “beak” that reminds me of a Jim Henson creation which only makes her that much more adorable.

She was an excellent model (it’s a South Florida thing, I believe) and we got done just in time for a raging thunderstorm to strike. (Luckily, I made it home in time to save the life of a door.) Thank you, Tessa Rose, for your patience and prettiness- you made my job so easy.

Willow- 2008 SPCA calendar May

I got to visit a 5-cat household today and if that’s not a test for my allergies, I don’t know what is (I’m allergic to animals, by the way- hee hee). Anyway, I passed that test as I didn’t end up in the hospital connected to an asthmatic’s machine. I actually think I’ve shocked my allergies into submission with my career choice. Yep, I’ve won the war (I’ve been off any allergy meds for over a year now- take that big pharma!)

Oh gosh, anyway WILLOW. Yes, Willow (a short-haired tabby) is the diva of the household. She’s 21 years old so being the only one who can by beer for the rest of the feline family helps a bit when applying for Goddess status. Willow is so funny. She has appearances to uphold so when she forgets where she’s going or why she walked into to a room (or to the left or right or on the carpet, etc.) she does a good job of pretending she knows exactly what’s going on.

We played a little bit in the house and then outside. And by playing I mean, watching her ignore me- ha ha. Her siblings were the ones who wanted to be on the cover of Cat Monthly. Which by the way is not too far fetched. Willow, ladies and gentlemen, is my first completed session for the 2008 Orlando Humane Society – SPCA Calendar. She will henceforth be recognized as Miss May and if you don’t like it, you can just move to another district. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of that and when they go on sale. Yay, fundraiser!

Anyway, Willow was awesome and I had great time with her Mom (person) and siblings (an attractive menagerie of the cat species).

The head man, Gus, also got in a couple shots because he told me I would “swim with the fishies” otherwise.

Happy Mother’s Day May 15, 2007

The first hardware casualty of the season occurred just in time for Mother’s Day. “Oh, you shouldn’t have…” I told you I’d share some pictures so here’s the most recent. The stinky thing is that once there’s a hole in the door, our boxer goes inside and basically makes a buffet out of things. On this particular day he chewed the end of an extra ethernet cable. Don’t panic, it wasn’t plugged in or anything, but now it never will be because one end is mangled.

Keep in mind that the photos you see don’t even reflect Maya’s best work. We don’t have any pictures of that occassion because it was at a point where we actually had hope it would stop. Now that we know it will just keep happening (she’s even on a new anti-anxiety medication) we can find the patience and humor to photograph. hee hee.

However, this is a serious issue and if anyone has any suggestions for making it easier on her during t-storms we have our ears completely open. She hurts hurself when she does this (you can see the “Manson” marks all over the rest of the door). Although it’s not a serious injury, having your gums bleed on top of being completely frightened cannot be a pleasant.

She ups her meds to a higher dose next week, so I’ll let you know how that goes.

On a lighter note, I have to share this pic of her in her favorite spot: the laundry basket. She gets into her “Exalted Fetus” pose- a yoga position she made up- and has a good ol’ time dreaming away. A pitiful bull if you ask me :-). This was in the middle of the afternoon and I hardly even had any laundry to pad it (which is miraculous in itself). I suppose she just likes being held together. Don’t we all, sometimes?

Miss Lady Godiva

I finally got to spend the day with Lady Godiva, the rat terrier, today. For anyone who doesn’t know, Lady’s in retail. She owns Houndstooth Bakery in Winter Park, FL. And because she’s such a nice dog, she lets her human Mom, Bo, pretend that she owns it. Bo gets to pay all the bills and perform all the manual labor while Lady has the very important job of demonstrating to customers how nice it is to relax in the latest floor model dog bed. Sometimes she demonstrates that all day. She’s also in charge of cookie quality control and babysitting the cat, George.

So, I finally got to hang out with Lady at her house and the park today. Now, Lady’s not what you’d call an “outdoors-ey type”. Although, she was a great sport about getting her feet wet this morning. And by feet wet, I mean the morning dew on the grass. She’s not a big fan, but she did it for a little cheese- heh heh. Thanks, Lady. However, as expected she drew the line at coming close to sand, water or anything that resembled the two (even a dock.) So funny! She did do the crazy-dog run at unexpected moments (which is what qualifies a crazy dog run- you all know what I’m talking about) so that was great to watch. She displayed a passion for turkey like you wouldn’t believe and gave me those little glassy eyes each time. She also has this great little nose that tries really hard to hop off of her face to sniff things. It’s so funny. She’s a great little independent spirit and I’m glad I finally got to have some one-on-one time with her. Even though I’m sure she’s mad at me because it prevented her from going to “work” today. Career women, sheesh!

Bridgette May 11, 2007

I had a really nice session today with Bridgette the poodle. She showed up all done up with a new ‘do and a pair of yellow ribbons in her hair. Miraculously they stayed in the entire time! After Bridgette’s Mom and I were told to leave our spot by a bunch of stupid ants, we settled on the other side of the lake and watched a wedding take place in the distance. The breeze was just right and Bridgette had a blast bounding through the freshly cut lawn (that came up to her shoulders- ha ha!) Her little poodle puff legs collected all sorts of things that day. She minded her Mom & I very well when we told her not to go crash the wedding. She did, however take offense to the child-size garden statues in the park. They got a good barking at. What did they think they were doing just standing there in the roses anyway? Hmph!

Tess

Thank you, Tess for a wonderful photo session! I was so nervous. Tess’ Mom waited a long time to redeem her gift certificate so she could get Tess used to humans. She was VERY skiddish and wouldn’t come near anybody. So, I thought I’d be there for like 8 hours and walk away with some very far away dog pictures. Ha! I got totally carried away and Tess became my new BFF. Skiddish, smiddish! She was all up in my grill and I’ve got the pics to prove it. She has definitely come a long way and she is hours of entertainment to watch.

She confiscated a giant rubber ball that the neighborhood kids had left in the park,
took ownership of a very old 7-11 Big Gulp that she found in the bushes
and played tug-o-war like there was no tomorrow. It was a beautiful day (one without humidity in May, in Florida- weird) and I really enjoyed her company…and meeting the rest of her family (2 cats who know they are very pretty :-), and two GIANT rabbits that scoot around out back.)

Hugga Bear, Honey & Sugar

Could anything be any sweeter? Seriously. Hugga Bear is the big gordon setter (read: giant camera hog). I just wanted to, well, hug him all day long. He was so full of love and kindness and he had to be the center of photographic attention at all times. Everytime I set my camera up to snap a picture of Honey or Sugar a giant black blob would move into the frame and just sit there. He was superb and so willing to please I just wanted to wrap him up and take him away.

Honey and Sugar are cocker spaniels whose faces I just wanted to squish and pinch. They were so frickin’ cute. Both had an affinity for chasing bubbles and were quite good at it, tag team style (Hugga was afraid of bubbles and opted to unstuff a toy instead.) Sugar was the mommy’s girl and needed to know where Mom was at all times and Honey was a little more independent (especially when the bubbles came out.) Both were also the sweetest, cutest, kindest little things I ever did see. I had so much fun working with all of them! Thanks you guys 🙂

Thor & Loki May 2, 2007

These guys were soooo cool. Both are very Great Danes. Thor is younger and all black and Loki is merle (did I spell that right?) First of all, Thor is really intimidating because he has a big bark, and all that, when you come to the door which doesn’t phase me but he was like 170 lbs and as tall as I was on four legs! Loki’s new thing was to bark at you from behind a couple of chairs at the entrance and that was so adorable. Thor turned out to be the sweetest “little” thing ever and I told his Mom that if he talked, his voice would sound like Mike Tyson.

Loki let me dress her up in her favorite snake toy and just sat there. I think she has a career on the runway if you ask me. She was so great and she was constantly trying to figure out ways to steal treats from my bag. Loki “The Viking God of Mischief”.

Thor was just a love bug.

I was talking to my Dad about the session because he has a Great Dane and he tried to get me to call those folks up so he could stop by and meet the dogs. I told him that would be weird and “No, it’s a client, not a playhouse and they don’t want strange old men just stopping by” so he settled for a detailed description of how super duper cool they both were. Thanks Thor & Loki!

p.s. I’m not really that mean to my Dad and if anyone likes strange old men popping by to visit people’s dogs just let me know and I’ll send him the message. 🙂