mutt strutt

Happy Tails Pet Photography, along with top dog Chloe, will be participating in the Milton Mutt Strutt in May to help raise funds for the local Oakville and Milton Humane Society. Last year's event raised more than $17,000 for homeless, abused and neglected animals in the region. Since Chloe is adopted, this cause has a special place in our hearts.

We'll be doing the 5-km route. This won't be the first charitable event Chloe has taken part in. Each year she enthusiastically paw-ticipates in the Terry Fox Run to raise money for cancer research.

We're looking forward to strutting with all the dogs and their people! For more information about the event, visit the Oakville and Milton Humane Society's website.

Rub a dub dub

The snow has melted and spring is in the air! Of course, that also means lots of mud and lots of puddles. And Chloe loves mud and puddles! After several days of ball chasing, rolling and walking through it all, she was starting to be a little stinky. Okay, a lot stinky! So we took her to the local Mutt Life store, which has DIY dog baths. They also provide organic shampoo, fresh towels and aprons so you don't get wet. Chloe did really well in the big tub.

There was a selection of shampoos – we decided on peppermint, which our noses really appreciated.

Next it was time to towel off and blow dry.

  To finish off, we gave her a good brush.

Everyone was super friendly – we'll be back the next time we need to give Chloe a good scrub!

And it didn't hurt that it tuckered our pup out. She needed a nap to recover from all the excitement. Our spring cleaning— for the pets at least— is done for now!

rugby | oakville, ontario, pet photographer

This is Rugby - he's a plus-size kitty.

Rugby is a senior cat, who just turned 11. He was adopted from a local shelter and has been in his forever home for several years. Did I mention he's large? He tips the scales at 28 lb - that's a whole lotta cat!

When I arrived, Rugby was a little unsure about the black box I kept pointing in his face. But that didn't stop him from approaching for lots of pets. He received plenty of reassurance from his owner Cathryn.

And he was posing like a pro in no time!

Of course there were lots of trips to the food bowl between shots. And there was no shortage of playing for this big boy - he is impressively agile for his size.

You can tell that Rugby is so loved - he has Cathryn wrapped around his chubby paw!

I love the no-leg look.

It's a lot of work being a top model, and Rugby made it clear the shoot was over when he promptly fell asleep. So cute!

facebook

I may be a little late to the social networking party, but I finally created a Facebook page for Happy Tails Pet Photography. I'll still be posting all the latest news and photos to my blog, in addition to my Facebook page. But I'm hoping Facebook will allow me to meet a few more friends of friends ... or dogs of dogs? So, the next time you're online and updating your status, drop by my page and hit the big blue "Like" button! You can find me here: Facebook.

it's all in the details

One of the things I love about dogs (and cats!) so much is that each one is unique. Sure, you can tell a dog is a certain breed, but it's the details that make someone's pet special. It's those details that makes pet photography so fun for me.

If you put my dog, Chloe, in a field with a hundred other goldens, I'm sure I would be able to pick her out. I know the bump on her head - she won't win any dog shows because of it, but it's one of my favourite parts of her.



And those sad eyes ... she uses those beauties to get what she wants!



And her nose, which she uses on a daily basis to sniff out tennis balls in the most unlikely places during our walks.



I also like focusing on the paws, tail and ears ... all the little bits and pieces that capture the entire essence of a pet. What feature do you like most about your pet?