We have always had dogs in our lives from the day I met my husband. Starting with Tuppy, my Welsh-Corgi, Buddy our yellow Labrador, Shadow our black Labrador, to Abbie our Cocker Spaniel…
Then came Maggie into our lives. All our dogs have been mixed and from rescue centers and Maggie was just a puppy. Not even house broken. We went through the terrible twos with this one but Maggie was different from all our other dogs and has a special pull on your heart strings. She came into our world when our daughter Jennifer was a Junior in high school, with the looks of a small German Shepherd but clearly mixed with a few other breeds. All through college Maggie was under our care but knowing one day she would go and live with Jennifer. I thought it was hard watching Jennifer go off to college but when Maggie left for South Dakota – I felt true to the moment “Empty Nester”. I also felt that with Jennifer’s schedule of band and work and her boyfriend Andrew’s schedule (now fiancée) that Maggie would miss us… how wrong we were! Andrew never had a dog before and this was his chance to try new tricks and play with a dog. Maggie was now with a younger couple who kept her busy!
The older parents (us) enjoyed the freedom of not having pet responsibility. No dog hair on my outfits, no leaving events early to check on the dog, travel without pet setting – it was great but when you get my husband and Jennifer together – something is always purchased and Thanksgiving of the year Maggie moved away, Dixie was brought into our lives. She wasn’t in the puppy stage, was potty-trained already but still a youngster. She knows who owns her – Dad and her excitement of when he comes home from work is entertainment every night. Her uniqueness about her is – she looks Hound and Dalmatian and the big thing is… she doesn’t bark. EVER! Ok. I say that… she does bark, but only when she’s sleeping!!! SLEEPING!!! She doesn’t bark at the door bell because she knows that the odds that a nice person is bringing smelly yummy food, why bark at them?!? She doesn’t bark at other dogs and unlike all our other dogs who were anti-social to other dogs, Dixie loves to play with other dogs and visits the local Camp Bow-Wow often and is a favorite there with the staff.
But back in South Dakota, though Maggie shared the love equally with Jennifer and Andrew, Andrew wanted his own dog and within the past year they too went to a pet rescue and brought home Nala. I’m not sure what she is, they had tests done on both dogs and I have completely forgotten what Nala is but to me… Nala is Nala. She marches to her own drum but at the same time if something has been torn up, or gotten into – Nala is the fist to be questioned. Nala reminds of me Dopey from the seven dwarfs (Maggie would be Doc and Dixie would be Happy).
Now – when you get all 3 of them together – the dynamics totally change. Maggie is the oldest, at 10 years – she’s our ‘teenager’. Wants to hang out with the adults because she doesn’t want to be stuck with the ‘kids’ Dixie and Nala. She would rather lay her head on your lap and listen to you talk then romp around and bite and chase each other’s tails like Dixie and Nala do. And if Dixie wants to try out something new, Nala is sure to follow or take lead which could lead to trouble for both of them.
So getting all 3 of these silly puppies into a studio while on winter break for Jennifer and Andrew – out of their element, into something new that requires sniffing EVERYTHING… this was no easy task. We took lots of treats and I scheduled extra time because I just wasn’t sure how this was going to go. I also wanted Andrew and Jennifer to take pictures and see what a studio set up was like. What you see is each of their personality – each of them posed differently as much as we tried to get them to do the same thing and offered the same treats. Getting them to sit for a few seconds and not think they were in trouble was a task, but we did capture some amazing shots. We had numerous photo bombs from different dogs while we were focusing on one of them (Nala is sitting on the sofa behind Maggie in Maggie’s image). Pet photography isn’t something I will get into – but I do love having my seniors with their pets (ohhh a cool new post!) but for this one – say hello to Maggie, Dixie and Nala –
(You can follow them on Instagram: #MyPupMaggie #MyPupDixie #OurPupNala)
