Incidental Photos

I woke up this morning and went outside to play with the dogs. I got them running around the yard and Caspian was chasing and retrieving his toy. After we all got tired out I decided it was time to let them in. As I was letting them in I realized we had a rose that had just bloomed and the sun was shining on it perfectly. This has been the only rose that has survived the deer so far this year so I decided now would be a good time to go put and photograph it. I was happy when I got out there and saw that there was still dew on the rose and the other flowers in the yard. So I took a "few" photos. 300+ photos later I decided to go back in the house. Sometimes the most enjoyable photo sessions are the ones you never intended to have.

Caring for older or sick dogs

It seems to me to be one of life's cruelest twists of fate that humans are so long lived and animals that are so devoted to them have such short life spans. Our dogs are our consummate companions. In many ways they embody the best things that humans should aspire to be. Yet we don't have enough time to spend with them on this earth to learn those valuable lessons.

Due to the different breeds of our dogs and the life spans that imparts on them three of our four dogs are nearing the end of their natural lives in the same time frame. My wife and I have been aware of this impending situation for some time now. Unfortunately it has been sped along as our seven year old female Bernese Mountain Dog was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. The prognosis from our vet is not good. They estimate only two to four months to live. 

We also have a seven year old male Bernese Mountain Dog, who is the litter mate of our female and were brought into our home together and a fourteen year old female Siberian Husky mix. Our Husky has times of pure joy where she seems like a puppy but time has clearly taken its toll on her. Our male Bernese Mountain Dog has hip dysplasia that has increasingly robbed him of  mobility.

Today I wanted to do something nice with a couple of our dogs so we took our two Bernese Mountain Dogs to the park to just hang out and sit by the pond. This seemed like a nice idea to me. A little time to relax and enjoy each others company. While it was a nice time it also reminded me of how little time we have left with our treasured companions. It was clearly evident that they could not enjoy the trip as they once had due to their physical ailments.

Fortunately though slowing down all of our dogs seem to be happy and in good spirits. They are always ready to play and snuggle. The quality of life they have is of utmost importance. It would be great if they could live longer and stay with us, but that would be selfish. I will not do anything medically that while possibly giving us more time with the dogs will simultaneously compromise their quality of life. 

The most challenging thing for me is that we as humans must make these decisions for ourselves on our companion animals behalves. I think every day that only if my dogs could talk and tell me what they want and what they need we could truly make the best care decisions for them. Humans can assist in choosing their treatments and determine what course of action if any they want taken. If only our dogs could help us with this.

If only our sick dogs could say to us "I love you , but its time to let me go."

A project that I have had in my mind for a while has been to do a photo book of dogs in the Finger Lakes region. The book would showcase dogs in all aspects of life from shelters, to family pets, to working dogs, and show dogs. I have been slowly building up a portfolio of photos that would fit in this type of project and I think I am ready to start really get down to work on it more seriously and try to make it happen in the relatively near future.

I would really like to photograph some working dogs doing their jobs that they were bread for. If you have a working dog such as a herding dogs that tends a herd or a hunting dog that you take hunting for example and would be willing to allow me to photograph it for this project please comment on this post or otherwise get in touch with me.

This would be best if you live in the #FingerLakes region of #NY or the Northern Tier of #PA.

#Dogs #Photography #DogPhotography #DogBook #Book #PhotographyBook

Devastating news for our dog Cami

Received some pretty devastating news today. Our dog Cami has been having a lot of health concerns over the last several weeks. She hasn’t been eating much lately so after trying a wide variety of food with very little being eaten we took her to the vet. The vet initially thought she may have been having a bad reaction to the pain meds she was on resulting in an irritation of her GI tract causing her to not want to eat. She prescribed some antibiotics and gave her a couple of shots. I was glad to hear this diagnosis from the vet as it gave me hope for Cami’s recovery and return to good health. But something in my gut told me that it was something more than that. After several more days of Cami not eating she went back to the vet this morning for a more extensive work up. My wife Debby was going to drop her off and then I was going to pick he up when I got out of work. Fortunately Debby ended up staying at the vet. The vet was able to determine very quickly that Cami has lung cancer and Debby was able to take her home so she didn’t have to stay at the vet’s for any unnecessary time. Sometimes being right is not a good thing. I love our vets they always lavish love, attention, and empathy on our animals when they are there and I appreciate all the work they do as they patiently answer our questions and provide us with the information we need. I am glad we have been able to find such great veterinarians to provide wonderful care for our animals as I know they will work tirelessly to guide us through this difficult time as we decide how best to care for Cami.  I am glad that at least for now Cami still seems very happy and active despite her reluctance to eat so I am hopeful we will have more time with her. So now Debby and I will summon the strength to confront the difficult times that all animal lovers must go through as our beloved companions face the ends of their all to short lives. We will do everything in our power to make sure she has the best life possible for what time remains.