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Meet Oakley and Louie, two absolutely adorable shichons. When they arrived to our photography studio, their mom asked what she could expect from the session. I gave her my usual reply of, “I have no idea.” 🙂 That’s the most honest answer I can give someone when photographing their pets. Some pets LOVE the attention they get during a session, while others need some major motivation. Oakley and Louie were terrific! We started off with just allowing them to roam around on my posing table and giving them treats there. Some dogs associate being on a table with being at the veterinarian’s office, which generally isn’t a pleasant experience for most dogs. After the dogs were comfortable being on the table and realizing that this might not be so bad, they settled in.
This is the first shot we got. The dogs look sweet, but they’re a little further apart than I’d like them to be. We actually ended up splitting this image and creating two separate portraits from it.
Oftentimes when working with multiple dogs, one looks good while the other does not. Here, Oakley is sitting up perfectly, while Louie is preparing to launch off the table.
Still not quite there. Oakley must have smelled delightful that day.
I must have barked or meowed or used a duck call or something to get the head tilt out of Oakley. Louie . . . Louie!
Brotherly love or is it neener, neener, neener?
Wow! Sitting close together AND looking at the camera!!! After getting this shot, I suggested we try to change the position of the dogs.
So, Oakley decided to lie down and do this.
Better. 🙂
Better yet! Love the head tilts! And they’re even in the same direction!
Louie is starting to upstage his brother with his adorable smile . . .
. . . and Oakley is getting annoyed with him.
These two were so much fun in the studio. I asked their mom how they behaved at home because oftentimes that behavior is vastly different from how they act in the studio. Here, Oakley and Louie were sweet and mannerly and calm. At home, they play hide and seek around the kitchen counter and have chewed through the support leg on one of the kitchen chairs! Every toy that comes in their BarkBox has been destroyed within a week of its arrival.
Speaking of chewing, these two remind me of some Star Wars characters you may be familiar with:
Playing fetch with these two? You’ll only be playing with Louie and you’ll need to steal the toy back from him. He has yet to learn the drop command. If you throw a toy to Oakley, he’ll fetch it, but he won’t return it. Instead, he plays with the toy where it lands. Sometimes, he’ll even sneak up on his brother as he is retrieving the toy and pounces on him! What a riot! 🙂
To learn more about shichons, here are some helpful links. Thanks for stopping by!