December 2, 2012

White Dog raced the others who dragged Steve behind down into the basin of the Park and then waited for all to check their breath. She was leading a scouting mission to create a "short list" of locations that would work for the family photo session scheduled for the 16th.

The photographer is a little nervous about photographing SIX pups and we humans all at once and we decided that familiar surroundings would make everyone more comfortable (and hopefully more cooperative). So we were at our favorite "hilly" Park early Sunday (about the same time we have set up) to do a test run.

Steve's thought is that we go a half hour or so before we are to be photographed, the WDA would have a chance to exercise and play and work off their excess energy. So today he walked and ran and chased with them for 30 minutes. Then he came over and joined me at one of the spots we thought might be good...a wind block of mature evergreen trees as the background. We asked the White Ones to sit with us. It took a bit of work to get everyone to stay grouped together and not wander off but we DID prove it was possible.

What we learned, though, is that we are going to need a person in front of us, like Michael, who the Army knows and will respond to. Once we are all in place, he will need to draw their attention toward the photographer so everyone is looking in the right place. This, we fear, will be challenging. We all decided that a natural looking shot trumps whipping everyone into stress and nervousness, so on the actual day we will accomplish what we can by voice commands and treats and keep our expectations realistic.

The Park is still relatively empty at 10am on Sunday so we should not have too many distractions and the photographer is skilled with photographing people with their pets (although never so many she confides). White Dog is our best model and is very skilled at posing even professionally; she is also our biggest diva and if the "mood" is not right, then....YoYoMa is a natural ham and reacts well when he is in front of the flash; Oso is calm and placid as always and if he is being held (which will probably be the case since he is so small) will not wander off or turn away. Nuka will be fascinated with every movement around her which may be good at getting her to look where we want or her head will be swivelling all over the place...Puff will be anxious and it will be hard to get her to relax and not look as though she were have arrest photos taken. And Quinn, our camera-shy boy, he will be the hardest of all. With shooting outdoors we at least hopefully won't have a flash but The Mighty Quinn does not react well to the entire concept of having his picture taken.

But see, it IS possible. This is from when Fergie and Jake visited us over the summer at the same park.
Of course we did not yet have Oso and Quinn was at home minding the ranch.

The WDA is an amazing melding of personalities and that is ultimately what we hope the photographer is able to capture in her work. Whether everyone is sitting in line and smiling straight into the lens isn't really the point. The dry run was worthwhile and gave us a great excuse for an early morning trip to the Park, now we have to think about baths and spas, and brushings...and "don't forget wardrobe," the Diva adds!