thank Dog. photography

10/31/2024

For the chronically online… Pesto.

This did not go at all as envisioned. I have a full penguin costume for Doobie (my dad’s - now my - PBGV) for him to wear and sit next to Buck as Pesto’s little (in comparison) dad. I’m not sure the world’s best wrangler could have made that happen, but I wasn’t close trying to do it by myself. Plus Buck’s a terrible model himself. I also added in a ton of mud to mix with white blankets since I didn’t realize it was going to rain. And to say I’m rusty behind the lens is an extreme understatement. Oh well. Happy Halloween!

For the less online - here’s Pesto: https://www.visitsealife.com/melbourne/whats-inside/animals/king-and-gentoo-penguins/visit-pesto/

03/04/2024

My tiny little itty bitty boy is one year old today!

12/30/2022

My house was way too quiet and still so I decided to foster a little guy. He’s almost ready to find his forever home (through DFW Rescue Me)…

Puppy (technically “Moo” but he’s only heard that once or twice) is probably about 3 months old. He was originally identified as a boxer mix but I think he’s a pocket pittie - he looks bigger in some of the photos but he’s a pretty petite little dude. He’s very busy - there are approximately a dozen toys on my living room floor at any given time. But he’s also very snuggly - as I type this, he’s dozing on me. He likes to be close - preferably touching. He’s really a very sweet little happy boy! He is a puppy so he has sharp little needles for teeth and he puts most everything in his mouth, and we’re working on housebreaking (still has a ways to go).

12/15/2022

I don’t usually post these things when they’re so raw, but I have a foster puppy that I’ll want to share soon and it feels weird to share him without disclosing…

I lost Bird last week. She had her annual in the beginning of November. I reported that she was eating but not very well and seemed lazy, but my vet wasn’t terribly concerned - she’s 10 (a few months short of 11) and seemed pretty normal otherwise. After her checkup, her appetite didn’t pick up - and around Thanksgiving, she basically quit eating and clearly did not feel good at all. I got her in to my vet when they opened on that Monday morning… He said that on a bad news scale of 1 to 10, it was a 10. Cancer. Spleen, liver, all over her lungs. He said it could be days - maybe months in the unlikely event it was lymphoma. It was 10 days.

Bird was both the most difficult and the easiest dog I’ve ever had. She was squirrelly, unpredictable, and short-tempered. But she was so smart - too smart - and just wanted to please me. I could leave the front door open and she wouldn’t consider going anywhere. She gave great big hugs and “sang” on cue. She loved the water - outlasting labs in the pool or herding waves along the beach. She’d learn a new “trick” within minutes (except sitting up - she could never figure that out). She was sometimes a bully, deciding she was going to take down twice-her-size Belle, and she never learned her lesson despite Belle repeatedly pinning her. Really, she mostly just wanted to be with me. She was a one person dog and I was her person.

I’m in shock - and denial. And I miss my Tiny. So here are a bunch of random photos and a few videos of the little weirdo from my phone…

07/18/2021

Since today would have been her 15th birthday, I thought it was as good a time as any to share. I lost Belle six months ago.

I started to write out a long post about everything that happened, but basically... it was sudden and yet not really. She had had her first seizure in January 2020, a week after Bear died. It wasn't the only one, but they were largely kept under control, continuing to happen about once a month or every other month. She gave me a scare in September, but that turned out to be related to a medication. After that, she was doing really great - slowed down and a little deaf, but easily mistaken for a dog 5 years younger. But on January 6, 2021 (really wasn't a great day), she had another seizure, only this one wouldn't stop. So I had to say goodbye in the vet's office (not at all as I'd hoped/planned). I had 14 1/2 years with her - amazing for a newf - but it still wasn't long enough.

I miss her. A lot. She was very much a momma's girl. And such a drama queen - I don't know if I realized how dramatic a dog could be before her. She cracked me up. She was stubborn, laid back, and without many cares in the world. She was more than happy to just be the princess while Bear and I took care of everything. And so beautiful - she'd actually seem confused if she met someone and they didn't tell her how pretty she was. I know she was happy I was home all day everyday for most of her last year, but I also know she missed Bear a lot (she and Birdie were not friends - Bird made that very clear). The cats actually seemed to help - it was rare for her not to have a cat curled up by her.

So for the first time in a decade and a half, I'm without a big, sweet, easy dog. (God love her, Bird is none of those things - well, she's arguably a dog...) It's been an adjustment.

Random photos that made me smile - some crappy, others less so.

07/18/2021

07/17/2020

My big pretty girl is 14 today! She’s started acting her age a bit but she’s still trucking along - 14 is pretty ancient for a newf. Still the prettiest girl around.

06/25/2020

If she can do it...

01/23/2020

Thank you all for the kind and sweet words about Bear. I know many (if not most) of y'all have gone through something similar -- many of you with dogs I was lucky enough to meet. We're hanging in there.

By "we", I specifically mean me and Belle. I knew his death was going to be hard on her, but I don't think I realized until after he was gone that she probably hadn't spent more than an hour or two separated from him since I brought her home over thirteen years ago. We said goodbye at home -- she was there with me, and she understood. But I do think she's heartbroken. He was most definitely her big brother, best friend, and a bit of a hero to her.

I had wanted to take more photos of the last couple weeks of his life, but he really wasn't much up to it. I did manage to get a few of them -- with Bear doing what he always did... fretting over her.

01/18/2020

Bear would have been 15 today, but he didn't quite make it. Three weeks ago, I said goodbye to my heart dog. I struggle with the words to use to describe him, his death, and the grief that comes along with it.

"Grief, I've learned, is really just love. It's all the love you want to give but cannot. All of that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go." -Jamie Anderson

Bear was serious but goofy. Stoic but unreservedly affectionate. Tough but gentle. Protective but patient and tolerant. But mostly, he fretted over me and Belle - unflinchingly unconditional in his love and loyalty. He wanted nothing more than to keep us safe and happy. I only hope he thinks I did right by him. I tried.

I miss my dog.

09/25/2019

I photographed Chuck (and his sweet, but crazier sister) several years ago. When the art director for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reached out to me looking for a photo of an adorable dog with “soft” eyes for the cover of a book called “Dog is Love,” there was no question I’d submit Chuck. I often see my dogs’ personalities in dogs I shoot and Chuck was very much the Bear of Karen’s crew - an old soul that wanted nothing more than to take care of her.