We recently adopted a new dog, Paxton.

Paxton is enjoying some time outside.

Our newest addition

This is our newly #adopted #dog #Beethoven we just went and met today and brought home.  We are hoping he will integrate ok with our 4 other dogs. We also are planning to change his name because he doesn't even respond to his current name and we want to have a name for him he can associate with his new loving fresh start. So what are some #name #ideas. #suggestions foreverhome #fureverhome #adopt #home #dogfamily #doghome #pitbull #pitbullsofinstagram #pittylove #pitbulllove #instagood #instagramdogs #dogsofinstagram #dogstagram

Personally and professionally I enjoy photographing dogs. One challenge in photographing dogs can be in photographing dark colored dogs particularly all black dogs. I have had lots of experience photographing black dogs. I have had two different black dogs in my life. I have also photographed multiple black dogs at our local animal shelter. I have spent quite some time photographing them to various degrees of success. With lots of practice and experience I began to get good at creating nice photographs of all black dogs. The more control of the situation you have the better your results can be. However we do not always have as much control of the circumstances in which we photograph as we might like, particularly when photographing animals in a shelter setting. The biggest key to photographing black dogs is the light. If we are able to get the light right we are able to bring out the texture in a black dogs fur or the color in their eyes. We can bring out at least some element that shows their personality.

Check out these other tips for photographing black dogs from Mother Nature Network: http://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/how-to-photograph-black-dogs-and-cats

Before We Let You Go

This is a photo from the last full day I was able to spend at home with our dog Bella before we had to let her go to her new home.

Stopping to help a dog

Today on my way home from work I saw this huge soggy dog standing on the sidewalk in the pouring rain. I thought should I stop and check on him. But maybe he's just out front to go potty and their human was watching from the door. Then soggy dog started walking away as I slowly drive by so I pulled over and watched and soggy dog kept walking. I thought am I really going to be the person that runs out in the pouring rain to check on a dog..... Of course I am. This soggy but friendly Newfy was wondering away from home and luckily had a collar and tags on. Thankfully he had only gotten a few houses away from home when I saw him and stopped. So I held his collar and walked him home rang the doorbell and have him back to his human who was very thankful.

First Lure Coursing Event

I photographed my first Lure Coursing event today. Check out the photos.

The Mystery of Caspian: Behavior: the good, the bad, and the ugly

For those of you that don't know. My wife and I had a dog named Caspian come into our lives at about the middle of 2013. Caspian being part of our lives has been a mixed bag. We love him but we have definitely had to do some very serious thinking in regard to him that I never imagined I would do.

Have you ever said something and each time you say it you can't help but think how ridiculous it sounds. Like it doesn't even make sense but you know in your heart it is true even if it is incompatible logically? Well, that is the very essence of the story of having Caspian in our lives. I think that when we talk to the average person about our story with Caspian they look at us like we're not making any sense. I think dog lovers that are committed to helping dogs, particularly shelter dogs have a better understanding of where we are coming from. But I still sometimes feel like some of them might think we are crazy.

So here is the quick version of the story of Caspian in our lives:

My wife, Debby, was enrolled in Karen Prior Clicker Training Academy working towards becoming a certified dog trainer. She was going through the program with our Bernese Mountain Dog, Buck. Unfortunately Buck is getting older and has some health concerns and simply could not keep up with the program physically. Debby needed a new dog to go through the training with. Our other dogs were not good candidates for various reasons each different for each dog. By the way, at the time we had 3 other dogs. We decided a good option might be to work with a local shelter and see if they might have a dog that could benefit from some added training to make them little more adoptable. Caspian fit the bill. He had a little bit of a history of not getting along with strangers. He also reportedly had the potential to bite. We met him without dogs and it was a successful meet. Everyone got along and he seemed to be perfectly comfortable with us even as strangers. So we decided to foster him as he went through training. We have since adopted Caspian.

Caspian is an energetic dog and for the most part a very well behaved dog. For a dog coming from a shelter where he had been for a long period of time he fit in well in our home with us and our 4 other dogs. He is a loving and very snuggly dog. He will climb right into your lap. and curl up on you. He always wants to be with his humans. Very much a Velcro dog. It seemed odd that a dog with a reported history of problems with strangers would so quickly adapt to two completely new people.

After a bit of time we saw what his one problem behavior is. Sometimes when he is being petted he will suddenly snap at the hand that is petting him and "

try" to bite it. It seems like he is not really trying to bite us because it feels like if he really wanted to bite us he would. He usually does not successfully bite and he does not keep trying to bite. It's just a quick snap and then it is over. Sometimes his teeth will make contact but not actually bite. Once he bit Debby hard enough to cause some pain. He has never broken the skin or otherwise hurt us. What is most challenging about this behavior is that as far as we can tell there are no warning signs to tell us when he is going to snap at us or indicate that he is unhappy with being petted. So with this very cuddly dog who seems to crave attention and human contact and seems to want to be petted it is hard to determine the best course of action. The other problem with the snapping behavior is that it is relatively infrequent. It does not happen on a regular basis. I doubt if it happens more frequently than maybe once a week at the most and there are times when there are long stretches without it happening and then short periods of time where it happens frequently. In addition to this behavior Caspian appears to have some stereotypic type behaviors such as pacing around the coffee table and spinning that may be associated with anxiety.

We have sought advice from various dog trainers and our veterinarian. Some think the best course of action is to have him euthanize as he present a potential danger. We are currently looking into medication to see if that will help him and we are in the process of getting in to see Cornell behavior specialists to see what they think and find out what advice they have to offer.

We have been told we sound like people in an abusive behavior when we talk about him because we always say that he is so good 99% of the time but it's just the other one percent that is a problem. Perhaps that is a very apt comparison. We talk about how much we love him and we want to help him. He is so fun to play with and loves to fetch and gets along so well with the other dogs. We say he doesn't want to hurt us and he isn't otherwise aggressive towards us. We walk about how good he is and how well manners and affectionate, but there's just this biting thing. He is the perfect companion dog that I have been wanting since our lab passed. Affectionate, cuddly lap dog, that is energetic and ready to play and can go for long walks and hikes. Perhaps we are just overlooking a critical flaw because we want this relationship to work out so bad. We both recognize how ridiculous it can sound to say how good he is except that he tries to bite us some times.

We do our due diligence with regard to protecting both Caspian and others. He is not exposed to situations where he could harm others.

The question is are we unfit to make an objective assessment of the situation because our emotions are compromised? Or are we the perfect people to make an assessment of the situation because we have the first hand knowledge of the situation and know every aspect of his behavior both the good and the bad?

So, now the question is what do we do if Cornell also recommends us to euthanize him? How would we handle that situation? They are pretty much the experts in our area and if they don't feel it is a safe situation We may just have to make our peace with that.

We are trying to do what is best by Caspian. We want him to have a happy healthy life without harming anyone.

Sample of Chemung SPCA animal photos

Here is a sample of some of the cats and dogs that I have photographed recently at the Chemung County SPCA.

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.