Sadly, this may be my life. How appropriate that it’s a Boston in the image. In my defense, Chloe gets much more excited about Christmas than any human that I know. In fact, sometimes the excitement gets the best of her and she begins to open presents under the tree days before it’s acceptable to do so. She loves opening presents. And she loves anything that I pick out for her, which makes shopping for her fun. You should have seen me at the pet store this week trying to convince Kev that the pups NEED a plush piggy that actually oinks for Christmas. Seriously. They’d be in heaven…

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  • Christy - Cute e-card!
    Your a very good mommy! 😉

  • Christy - That was supposed to read:

    You’re a very good mommy! 😉

I just received something in the mail that I am very excited about… My very first ever business cards! Woot! Love them. I tried to take a photo of them… but it’s dark, and late, so you’ll have to trust me on this… They’re beautiful. I’ll post the files below my sub-par photo so you can see what they should look like. But here they are in all their glory…  

And what they should really look like…

 

Don’t worry, I plan on also printing some non-canine business cards shortly!

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  • Vanessa - Looks great!

  • Shelley Paulson - Wonderful! I’ve been thinking about getting into dog photography. Have you found there’s a good market for it?

  • Dana - These look great – hope you end up having to get another set due to all the busines you get for 2009. 🙂

  • maria - they look awesome.
    if they’re from overnight prints (rounded corners look familiar)–watch the lines. it’s hard to tell but overnight often rounds the left and right so that they DON’T match. maybe i’m super picky but it drives me batty, especially when a business card is something you can easily be judged on. feel free to call them up, our last set of 500 cards has this angle thing going on where one of the corners isn’t quite round all the way–make sense? just a heads up.
    aside from that business card rant, i love the new cards and especially the pictures you shot! great work!

  • Nicci - They look great! Very eye-catching!

  • Christy - They look fabulous!

  • Emilee - Your cards are so cute!!! I need some new cards, mine are so… blah. Where did you have your printed from?

  • Rachel - These are so cute! Did you design them yourself? I love the red color and the rounded corners. Very nice!

  • Jamie - Love your cards! If they are from overnightprints, it’s where I get mine from too. Love the rounded corners. They really do make a difference. I love your designs and colors and tag line- all awesome.

Sometimes you just need to ask for help. The introduction of Lucy into our family made it evident that Chloe needs it. While it’s hard to believe that a girl with such a sweet face can turn around and be so mean… I have to admit, Chloe has issues. Aggression issues, specifically around food, or any other edible material for that matter {bones, snacks, etc.}. You can see how anxious it makes her. We’ve been dealing with the issue by isolating her when she eats, but we want to do more. Apparently, she also has stranger anxiety. She goes insane barking at other dogs outside of the house, as well as strangers. One day she was approached by a man on trail… He says, “Oh, look at that cute Boston,” to which she responds with ferocious snarling and barking in full attack-mode. It’s scary, and frustrating, and embarassing.

Our vet recommended taking her to a veterinary behaviorist. There’s little that makes you feel like more of a failure than hearing that your dog needs therapy. Honestly, how can I be trusted to raise a child {someday} when I can’t raise a pup without mental issues? Fortunately for all of us, the visit to the behaviorist was very reassuring. She felt that Chloe is not an overtly aggressive dog, but is responding out of anxiety. And while it will take a lot of work, it is something that we will be able to control and improve. We were given a treatment plan that includes a great deal of information; signs of anxiety, obedience training, and behavior modification. The idea is to systematically desensitize her to situations that generally make her anxious, and provide counterconditioning so that she no longer associates those situations with her fear. Gosh, even dogs can be emotionally complicated.

I’m optimistic about all of this. I’ll share her progress with you. Here she is… the deceptively-sweet looking, crazy girl…

And the baby, loving her new bed…

On another note, CONGRATULATIONS to my little sister who finished her very first marathon yesterday in Las Vegas. YOU ROCK! She is one of the strongest people that I know, in all aspects. Six knee surgeries couldn’t keep her down. I love you, Christine!

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  • Christy - What great pics!
    Awww poor Chloe. She’ll be okay though. And you’ll be a great mommy to those 2-legged kids when it’s time! 🙂

    Our kids are holy terrors. They’ve been known to be called land sharks for a reason. haha They hate strangers and other dogs and sometimes each other. I wonder sometimes if it’s because of how we treat them (like babies) and so they are unsure about who the alpha male is. Yeah, I’ve watched a few Dog Whisperer episodes. 🙂

    I wonder if it is too late for a veterinary behaviorist for our chis. Hmmm.

  • claire - that is rough, but i totally understand! roux (our older dog) isn’t aggressive, but she definitely has anxiety issues. she’s going to start doggie therapy in january, and both her and the puppy are going to be doing extensive classes. i totally know what you mean though, i keep thinking, what did i do wrong raising her??? i can’t imagine being the parent of actual human babies! you’re definitely doing the right thing though, and it’ll all work out!

  • leesia - these are beautiful shots! i feel your pain on chloe’s issues…we have a little iggy/chi mix and from the day we rescued her she was slightly bonkers…lots of anxiety but the worst is her fear aggression around dogs bigger than she is (and that’s just about every dog, since she’s 7 lbs) and i don’t even know if it counts as aggression since every time she starts something she always comes away needing stitches and the other dog is unharmed (she once provoked a badger into biting her and she got four stitches for that). it’s a nightmare taking her for a walk because we have to run away when we see another dog…and my second dog picks up on what she does (he won’t do it if she’s not there) so it doubles the noise and embarrassment…hope the doggie therapy goes well!

  • Emilee - I know how you feel, too. Buddy gets aggressive (not red zone, thankfully!) around strange dogs, aggressive dogs, and strangers. It’s worse with other aggressive dogs, but we’re working on it. I’m glad when he barks at strangers (from inside the house) because I know that I have a great protector and guard dog. He gets tense around wierd looking strange people we meet on the street, too. I don’t know what kind of dog training you like, but I love Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer. Be the pack leader! Good luck with Miss Chloe, she’ll come around! I swear, Lucy looks like a stuffed animal! Adorable!!!

  • April - Thanks everyone! It’s reassuring to hear that we’re not completely alone {and that Chloe is not the only crazy dog out there. Ha.} I’ve been watching some of the program on Animal Planet {we don’t get the channel w/ Cesar Millian. Boo.} and some of the ways of training that I’ve seen are similar to the things mentioned by the behaviorist. I’m optimistic about Chloe’s training. Now we just need to get Lucy into some puppy classes so she doesn’t pick up any of Chloe’s bad traits. =) Good luck w/ all of your little rebels!

  • melissa - Hang in there! you’ve got a couple of cuties! Do you ever watch It’s Me or the Dog on Animal Planet? You can learn a lot from Victoria…she’s awesome!

Who can complain about a session that consists of dancing, playing in the leaves, and reading a book about a lab pup {just like their very own!} named Marley? We had a blast and were lucky that the November weather was mild enough to allow us to play outside. Fun times. Here are a few of my favorite images… and if you’d like to view a slideshow of the session, click HERE! 

And I love this one because it totally speaks of being 3 years old…

One more of Samson, just because I love him…

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  • Dana - I love the slideshow – looks like a fun family!

What I love most about this time of year… Fire!! I’ve always wanted a fireplace. And ironically, it was the only thing on my househunting list of must-haves that I got. I’m ok with that. Really. But our next house must have a jacuzzi tub. Until then, I will relish the time that Kev and I spend curled up in front of our fireplace…

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