Smile Like a Dog » Pet Food Express My Mutt

Ike K-9 Cop

Mark — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 02:40:09 +0000

Photo of the Day – October 17, 2011

Ike, the handsome fellow below, is one of 7 San Francisco Sheriff’s Office K-9s I worked with a few months back to help raise awareness for the Cover Your K-9 fund which helps provide California K-9s like Ike with custom bullet-proof vests. Check him out.

I also have a blog programming note. Since I started blogging the photo of the day I’ve gotten some feedback that it would be more practical to provide a weekly summary on the blog since I already post the shots individually on Facebook. Great input, folks. So, that’s what I’ll be doing every Monday. Today’s list just covers the last three days but starting next Monday, I’ll post the week’s prior shots in a neat little package. Thanks for the input, folks and please let me know if you have any other ideas or requests

Ike Protecting and Serving

Photo of the Day – October 16, 2011

Enzo

Photo of the Day – October 15, 2011

Empress

I Spy Chai

Mark — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:19:13 +0000

Photo of the Day

This spy in training is a Siamese-mix named Chai I worked with a few weeks ago for a Pet Food Express My Mutt poster. A lot of folks ask me how I deal with cats — especially if they’re on the skittish or sly side — and I always say that we’ll work that part of their personality into the shots we get. Sometimes less is more…

Chai the Spy

Bonus Pic

Chai was also kind enough to pose against some lovely purple leaves. Gotta love a kitty with a good sense of color

Pookie Redux

Mark — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:44:21 +0000

Photo of the Day

I love repeat performances so today I present you with a cute little guy graced this blog last year and has only gained in star power. I present My Mutt superstar, Pookie, who’s Dad got him a second poster this year to help honor Muttville. All the other senior dogs thank you, Pookie! Sidenote: Pookie’s dad calls his fur-style “troll hair”. I just love that!

Pookie

Bonus Shot

Pookie makes that rug look good!

Waldo

Mark — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 04:03:18 +0000

Photo of the Day

Waldo, a senior Shih Tzu mix rescued through Muttville, chews up the scenery on his My Mutt poster photo shoot in downtown Sausalito, CA

Waldo in Sausalito

Bonus Shot

Thirsty?

Muggsley and Ginja

Mark — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:50:16 +0000

My, my how the summer has flown by. This blog has been woefully untended so I’m remedying that with an extra fun post today. Muggsley and Ginja are great pooch pair from Burlingame who’s mom signed them to be My Mutts in the store downtown there. She had the awesome idea of photographing the two in the back seat of the truck they love to drive around with her in and I couldn’t have come up with a better concept myself. We got warmed up in their awesome back yard where they have a cool wooden bridge spanning the creek that flows through there and then moved on to ye olde truck. Check out how they did below. Muggsley is the stately, elder Great Dane-Pointer mix and Ginja is the Portuguese Water Dog.

Ginja

Muggsley

Crossing that bridge!

They needed Muggsley on the movie poster for Bridges of Maddison County

Muggsley the Pensive

Not sure how much that dog in the window is. Why do you ask?

Ginja goes with a sly, ironic look...

...or a straightforward "I just love being driven around" look

Y'all come back now!

A Triple-Cat Threat

Mark — Wed, 18 May 2011 04:40:21 +0000

Wow, where have the last two weeks gone. I’m emerging from the vortex for part one of a two-parter — a shoot a did a few weeks back up in Marin for a three-cat/one dog household. Because the cats were so much fun I’m giving them their own sneak peek (you know how cats are about attention) and I’ll follow on soon with one just for Dexter the poodle.

For now, I introduce to you Max, Bogie and Jake. They’re all fun but my personal take is that Jake wins the class-clown award.

Enjoy…

Max

Bogie

Jake

Bogie is not off his rocker, he's under it

Sure wish Jake had shared that catnip with everyone else

Max is not amused when Jake plays with his foodBogie enjoys yoga and long walks in the park...

Methinks someone is plotting something

I think we need to get Max a gig as a Tag Heuer model

Modest as always

Dottie & Walter

Mark — Thu, 05 May 2011 04:35:02 +0000

Dottie and Walter are just about the cutest old couple I’ve ever met. Dottie, a little gray poodle recently adopted through Rocket Dog Rescue is 8 and Walter, a white maltesey-terrierish mix is 15. For their My Mutt posters we wanted to try something a little different so we took them down to the Mission and photographed them in Lilac Alley in front of some of the wonderful murals painted there.

Both were a bit reserved and overwhelmed by the location so, as a fallback we decided to spend a little time back at home where they were more comfortable. You be the judge for which ones turned out best. I think they look great in all of them.

Dottie

Walter

Pretty in Pink

Walter on the move

Happy to be a momma's girl

Checking things out from a higher altitude

Dottie scopes out the action in the kitchen

Walter is soooo fly

One happy (and sort of sleepy) family

Gracie and Woodrow

Mark — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 23:56:42 +0000

I love photographing pairs of animals that have been together for a while. They tend to operate as couples and it’s a lot of fun capturing that dynamic.

I worked with Gracie and Woodrow at the end of March at their lovely San Francisco home. Woodrow, the older of the two, has an eye condition that makes him very sensitive to light so I couldn’t use any sort of flash. He also keeps the hair around his eyes a bit long so even though they’re a little hard to spot, those baby browns are indeed there.

Both dogs, particularly Gracie, love their toys as you’ll see in the shots below and we ended the session with a rousing game of fetch in the side garden. Check em’ out

Gracie

Woodrow

Jockeying for position

The one with the most toys wins

What was that levitation spell again?

Just let her keep talking, Woodrow

Such a nice couple

Gracie the art aficionado

Lavender is definitely Woodrow's color

Care for some cheese with that ham, Gracie?

Senior but spry

Gracie should get a pilot's license

Blue Are You

Mark — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:51:06 +0000

For anyone out there who lives in or near San Francisco or is planning a visit soon I’ve got a new destination to add to your list: The Palace of Fine Arts. Yeah, I know, it’s not really new but it had been closed for the last 7 years for renovation and we’ve only been able to view it from afar. Now you can actually walk around inside and under the dome and, let me tell you, it’s worth the trip.

It’s also a darned nice place for a My Mutt shoot and that’s where I met with a nice girl named Blue a few weeks back. Blue is a beautiful pitbull adopted through Rocket Dog Rescue and we really couldn’t have picked a better spot for her session. See how she did below and chime in with your favorite shot to help us choose which one gets used for the poster.

Under the newly renovated Palace of Fine Arts Dome

Blue at the Palace of Fine Arts

Beautiful architecture...sigh

That's just the way Blue rolls

Sniffing in the scenery

Blue's not sure about all this attention

Wheeeee!

A perfectly lovely place to play fetch

A Blue breather

Blue

Such a happy girl

Alpacas in Oakland: A Bittersweet Tale

Mark — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:08:01 +0000

As a pet photographer I’ve had the opportunity to photograph all sorts of different animals over the years but last week I met my first Alpacas — a herd of four hanging out in the wilds of Oakland, California of all places. They live in harmony with 30 chickens, 4 dogs and 2 humans and the whole crew gets their marching orders from the chihuahua…naturally.

These Alpacas are rescues and when they first arrived in Oakland there were just three of them: Bandi, Molly and El Fuego (yep, he’s red). However, it turned out Molly was pregnant and 2 days before I was scheduled to photograph them out popped little El Rojo — a beautiful, red 21-pound bouncing baby boy. Now that made it interesting enough that my wife — who ordinarily doesn’t accompany me on shoots — was ready and waiting in the car to head out that day before I even had my shoes on.

We got there and immediately learned several important things: 1) Alpacas are really beautiful and since they don’t have lanolin in their hair, they don’t smell at all 2) El Fuego is a total flirt 3) Don’t touch an Alpaca’s head 4) If you try #3 you will get spat on. Can you guess who figured out #4?

The shoot went really well and you can see a bunch of photos below and even more on this gallery. However, this is where the story does get a little sad. Unfortunately, two days after we were there I learned that the mom, Molly, suffered a seizure and died. This left El Rojo in a fairly touchy situation since he really needs mom’s milk to feed for the first few months. Fortunately, El Rojo was in very capable, resourceful hands and his adoptive parents were able to find another lactating female several hours away who bonded with the little guy and is letting him feed for the next few months until he’s strong enough to return to Oakland. In the meantime, another female has joined Bandi and El Fuego to keep them company and will stay on once El Rojo returns.

A very bittersweet ending but, fortunately El Rojo looks like he will be fine and we were able to get some touching shots of him with his mom. So, Molly, I dedicate these to you and good moms everywhere.

El Rojo - a 4-day old Alpaca

El Rojo and his mom, Molly

El Rojo next to mom

Molly nuzzles El Rojo

El Fuego, El Rojo and Molly

Bandi wonders when she'll hear back from her dentist and stylist

El Fuego serves up some ham...

...and a side of cole straw

The Mighty El Fuego turns on the charm

Hey, El Fuego, that's my wife!

The Red Team: El Fuego and El Rojo

Farewell, Molly