1. Go exploring. As your dog gets older, they may not be able to handle long walks or runs like they used to. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy some quality time together outdoors. Take things slow and let them stop to smell the roses (ok, the pee mail, but same concept 🐶). Check out some new trails or neighborhoods. This is a great way to get some exercise while also stimulating their senses with new sights and smells.

2. Play brain games. Just like people, dogs can benefit from a good mental workout. Try hiding treats around the house and giving them a little scavenger hunt. Or get a puzzle toy that encourages them to think critically in order to get the reward. I love this shaping game to keep my dogs mentally sharp and tire them out in the bad weather when outdoor activity might be limited.

3. Take them with you when you run errands around town (weather permitting of course). I like to take my dogs to Marketstreet Lynnfield, an outdoor mall with dozens of stores that welcome dogs and a Polkadog bakery to pick up some awesome treats. Or grab them a “puppuccino” at your local coffee shop while you grab your morning coffee. Not only are these fun activities to do together, but it’s also a great way to socialize your senior dog — something that’s important for dogs of all ages.

4. Have some “senior playdates.” While most senior dogs have no interest in hitting the dog park (it’s kinda like the club scene for dogs and most of our seniors have outgrown that craziness). But getting together with their doggie friends is still important. My dogs love romping on the beach or in the woods with their dog and human friends This will give your dog a chance to keep fit and have some fun.

5. Teach them some new tricks (or brush up on old ones). Dogs of all ages love learning — and it’s never too late to start! Whether you teach them how to roll over or simply brush up on their basic training, teaching your old dog some new tricks is a great way to keep their minds sharp as they age. Not only that, but it gives you both something fun and rewarding to focus on together—and who knows, maybe you’ll even end up impressing your friends and family in the process!

What do you and your old dog like to do together? Drop your favorite idea in the comments, Twister is always looking for more fun stuff to do 😊. So let’s get out there and have some fun with our long-time friends. They’ll love us even more for it!

The holidays are a wonderful time to spend with family and friends, and many of us like to include our furry family members in the festivities. As we approach the busiest travel week of the year, I thought I would share my top 3 tips to make traveling with your dog this holiday season as stress-free and happy as possible.

1. Get Your Dog Used to the Car
If your dog isn’t used to riding in the car, start by taking them on short trips around town before embarking on a longer journey. This will help them get used to the car and make sure they’re comfortable. If your dog seems nervous or anxious, try playing calming music or trying one of the many natural calming products to make their journey more enjoyable. A crate or doggie seatbelt is a good way to keep your dog contained, secure and safe while driving.

2. Pack Their Favorite Things
When packing for your trip, don’t forget to include your dog’s favorite toys, blanket, and treats. Bringing along their crate will give them a safe place to rest and recover for all the festivities. This will help them feel more at home in an unfamiliar environment and make the trip more enjoyable for both of you. Also, be sure to pack plenty of food and water—nothing will put a damper on your holiday fun faster than an upset tummy from different food and water 🤢🤮

3. Plan Your Stops Ahead of Time
When traveling with your dog, it’s important to plan ahead and make sure there are plenty of rest stops along the way so they can stretch their legs, have a drink of water, and potty. A little planning goes a long way towards making a road trip with your furry friend stress-free and enjoyable for everyone involved.

We hope these tips are helpful as you prepare to hit the road with your furry friend this holiday season! Remember, if you take the time to plan ahead, you’re sure to have a stress-free trip that everyone—two-legged and four alike—will enjoy. Happy holidays!

A few ideas to keep our pets safe in this HEAT!

I don’t know about you but this heat has me feeling a bit like my buddy here. I think I’m melting…. And I know Twister feels the same (Believe, well she’s crazy and will gladly lay out in the sun on a day like today unless I make her come in – and I do, no worries). And with temps predicted in the 90’s all week, I thought I would share some of the things I’m doing to help my dogs stay cool (and sane) on these HOT days. Some of the simplest ways of keeping our pets safe in the summer heat, hopefully, don’t even need mentioning (but I’m going to anyway 🙂 – not leaving your dog in the car (even for just a minute), walking early in the morning or late evening when the temperature is a bit cooler and making sure they have access to water at all times.

But what to do with high-energy or just plain bored dogs when this heat stretches on and on and on… Here are a few things that I like to do to keep everyone sane on these hot days.

• We make sure to get a good play/training session in early in the morning before the sun is up and the heat is on or my guys will be crazy all day.
• I have lots of frozen marrow bones and stuffed Kong toys to chew on when they’re stuck inside. Licki mats and snuffle mats are another great option to keep their minds and bodies occupied.
• We play foraging games inside and out. What’s a foraging game you ask, instead of putting their food in a bowl, simply scatter it in the grass outside or on the floor inside and let them hunt it up. Or take some yummy treats and hide them around the house and let your dog use his nose to find them.
• I make doggie frozen treats, by freezing bone broth (from the pet store) with some treats in a small plastic bowl. Pop it out of the bowl to serve and let them stay cool while enjoying a healthy treat.
• Since we’re cooped up in the A.C, now is a great time to work on teaching a new trick or two and working on their fitness exercises. Wait, what there are canine fitness exercises??? Yup! My dogs play agility, so we have some equipment that we work on but here are 4 simple exercises that you can do right at home with your dog from the comfort of your air-conditioned living room.
• SWIMMING! My dogs LOVE to swim. Especially Believe, she will stay go out and just swim around forever, especially if I’m out with her. You do need to be mindful of water quality issues, especially the risk of blue green algae blooms in this super hot weather. But this is the ultimate way to beat the heat. Your dog not the swimming type? A wading pool or just a run through the sprinkler can be great ways to cool down.

So those are my top ideas to keep you dogs cool and occupied during this heat wave. What are some of your ways to help your dogs beat the heat?

Want more info on this topic, here is some great information from the ASPCA

a pet photographer’s baby dog turns 10, WHAT!!!

---

I still remember when he came home. He was so squishable and sweet and definitely an old soul. He was also extremely handsome (you may think I’m a bit biased, but I don’t think so). And being a pet photographer means that I photographed him ALOT. You can see how thrilled with modeling he was in the third photo – he had perfected his bored supermodel look. I’m so glad that I have so many images to remind me of those early days. Those days when he was tiny and new and when neither of us really knew anything about the other. Images to chronicle time passing and the love growing.

yes, really, at a dog photographers workshop. It was that good!

I mean, look at that view (and an Aussie named Pickles – how does it get better than that?)

Last month I was lucky enough to attend Houndvision, a workshop for dog photographers in breathtakingly beautiful Lake Tahoe, CA. I spent a week surrounded by some of the most talented dog photographers in North America doing what we love most – creating images of adored dogs for their incredible people. And to spend the week photographing alongside two of the BEST dog photographers in the world was a dream come true. I have to confess that getting to meet and work with my pet photography idols (insert a little overgrown, fan girl squeal here), Nicole Begley of Nicole Begley Photography and Kaylee Greer of Dog Breath Photography was SO MUCH FUN.

We photographed dogs in some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. Edited and critiqued our images each day. Swapped stories and laughed and hot-tubbed and ate SO MUCH amazing food provided by our chef, Arica (I KNOW, not having to cook was worth the price of admission 😊). It was truly one of the most exhilarating and amazing weeks of my life.

⬇ And getting to photograph this rockstar, Princess Cookie, at sunset, IN Lake Tahoe, priceless ⬇

Now that I’m back, I can’t wait to share images from the week. And even more importantly to share my passion for creating images that will capture your pets in all their glory. To preserve the amazing moments you share and help you decorate your home with portraits of the wild hearts in your life.

I believe we all need to keep learning and growing and it’s especially true for artists. I attended this workshop to push myself out of my comfort zone a bit. To continue to improve and grow so that I can offer the best artwork and experiences to my clients. Our precious dogs deserve nothing less.

Sessions for the Adventurers

So I’ve decided that in addition to my standard portrait sessions I’m offering another kind of experience. Inspired by the wide open vistas and gorgeous places I visited during this trip, I’m adding a “Wild Hearts” session. These sessions are for the people and dogs who live to be out in the wilds. If you and your dog are most at home hiking and climbing and fording streams, this session is for you. I will go along on your adventures and capture the moments you share in your favorite places. These sessions include a full day of adventuring and photographing your dog and either a large piece of wall art or an album to relive your adventures every day. Contact me for more information and stay tuned to see images from my first Wild Hearts session!

just like Octoberfest, but with DOGS!

What could be better than a gorgeous fall day spent with your dog. How about adding in beer, food and music? There’s even a costume contest and a (non-alcoholic) beer brewed especially for dogs! And the best part, you’ll be helping to raise money for the Kenary Brain Tumor Research Fund at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as well as the MSPCA while having all this fun!

The fight to conquer brain cancer is a very special cause for me. My brother(-in-law), Kenny, was one of the most funny, generous, full of life people you could have ever had the pleasure of knowing. An amazing husband, father, grandfather and friend to all he met. And he was lost last year to (expletive deleted) brain cancer. So I am honored to be one of the sponsors of this years Dogtoberfest and to be helping to raise money to beat this disease.

So what can YOU do to help? Well, you can grab your dog and head over to the Harpoon brewery this Sunday for a fun day with your dog while supporting two great causes. You also need to stop by my booth and say “hi” and let me love on your dog 💗🐶🐕‍🦺 💗 while you enter to win a complimentary pet portrait session from Donna Kelliher Photography!

Want more information? Ready to buy your tickets? Wanting to try to doggie beer yourself? Go to the Harpoon Brewery website, https://www.harpoonbrewery.com/event/harpoon-dogtoberfest/ for all the details and I hope to see lots of you there

1. Get down on their level.  While you can take really cute photographs of your dog looking up at you adoringly :-), you’ll usually get much better results from a lower vantage point.  I’m usually kneeling or lying on the ground during my sessions. 2. Choose an uncluttered background.  Look for an area without distractions or clutter behind them to keep the focus on your beautiful dog. 3. Natural light is best.  Indoor lighting can give strange color casts to your images.  Play around with both bright sunshine – great for black dogs – and shady areas to see which you prefer.  4.Fill the Frame.  Don’t leave a lot of empty space around your subject unless it’s part of your composition. Get up close and personal.  Since I’m typically photographing dogs I don’t know well, I use a long lens during my sessions so I can zoom in closer without having to get into the dog’s space and maybe stress them out.  5. Get their attention.  I use treats, toys, noisemakers, kissy noises (sometimes making quite the spectacle of myself 🙂 to get the dogs to look at me with a happy expression.  6. Capture their uniqueness.  Does your dogs have a quirky smile, a floppy ear, a favorite toy –  make sure to capture and celebrate all the wonderful things about them.   7. Remember to get photos of you and your dog together.  They’re never with us long enough, remember to capture and celebrate the bond you share. 8. Let them play. Sometimes the best photos aren’t the posed shots but just dogs being dogs. Make sure to capture the candid moments that you share. 9. I saved the most important tip for (next to) last – PATIENCE. Dogs do things on their own schedule, we can’t ask them to “look at the camera and smile”. Patience is probably the biggest key to pet photography. Keep it fun, take your time with lots of breaks for sniffing and belly rubs. 10. And last but not least, if all of the above don’t work, hire a professional ;-).

I’m always excited to order new products to see if they’re a good choice to offer to my clients. If I love the quality and how my images display on a certain product, then and only then, do I add it to my offerings. And by having these product samples to see and hold, my clients can make informed decisions on exactly the artwork that is perfect for their homes. This sample will be hanging at Canine University in Malden, MA (www.CanineUniveristy.com) if it passes my quality control. So, I thought it would be fun to get your input on which image I should choose for this product.

So now I want to test out a large acrylic wall piece and see if it’s something I want to offer my clients in the new year. I’ve seen samples and they’re gorgeous. Acrylic Artwork is described as “a sleek and modern treatment for your dazzling images. Fine Art Prints get extra depth and radiance when paired with our polished acrylic”. So what do you all think? Tell me which one you would choose?

There is nothing to test a pet photographer’s patience like trying to photograph their own dogs. I probably shouldn’t admit this as a dog trainer and pet photographer, but my dogs are terrible models. They’re certain that as soon as I lift my camera to my eye, it must be time to get up and come visit me. I swear they do have a “stay”…. most of the time.

But what is a pet photographer to do on a lovely spring day during a pandemic when there are no client sessions on the schedule. Take their own dogs out for a session amongst the blooming forsythia, of course. Armed with string cheese, my camera and dogs we headed out for some “fun”. I quickly remembered my dog’s modeling challenges. And found myself getting frustrated.

Clients are forever telling me how patient I am. Especially if their dogs are being a bit, shall we say, exuberant during their session. They frequently feel embarrassed with with their dog’s antics and can get frustrated trying to just get them to hold still for a nanosecond. This session reminded me how that feels. Let’s face it though, it’s not natural for dogs to sit still in exciting new environments while some stranger points a big camera at them. Especially when there are lots of great sights to see and smells to check out (and maybe pee on). Some dogs are just a bit nervous in new situations and need more time to warm up to this whole idea. Others are SO HAPPY to be in this fun new place that they can’t possibly sit still. I’ve shared my life with both types of dogs, so I always respect where they’re coming from. I believe making my subjects feel safe and the session fun for THEM is my duty during every session. So, I constantly remind my clients to relax and have fun with the whole experience, naughtiness included. We’ve got plenty of time (my sessions don’t have a time limit and we can always re-schedule if a dog is too stressed by the situation).

So, it was time to practice what I preach :-). Patience, remembering to take a deep breath and keep it fun! I’m very happy with the end results.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• April 12, 2020

On this Easter Sunday, we enter another week of social distancing, working from home and our new lives with a scary pandemic. I think all of us, our dogs included, could use something new and different as a little distraction. As much as our dogs are enjoying having us around more to let them out of the house and back into the house and then back out of the house ALL day long, I thought I’d share some fun ideas for different ways to keep our pups entertained. So, I’ve complied a list of ideas and resources to get you started. Feel free to add something new you’re teaching or doing with your dogs to the comments below.

• Scent Games

Our dogs sense of smell is 40-50 times greater than ours. We all know of the amazing feats search and rescue dogs perform. So why not teach your dogs some fun games using this amazing ability of theirs. I enjoy playing a version of “Hide and Seek” with my dogs by hiding treats around the house and then sending them off to find them. I start by letting them watch me hide them in pretty obvious places and then fairly quickly make the hiding places more challenging. They think it’s super fun and it can keep them busy for a long time. For more scent games you can play I’ve included a couple of links below.

https://suzanneclothier.com/pdfs/Scent%20Games.pdf

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/indoor-scent-games-for-dogs/

• Tricks

Tricks are not only fun for our dogs to learn, they’re fun to show off to your friends. Some, such as “sit up” and “bow”, are even great to keep them strong and limber. Try a few from the list below.

https://dogtime.com/reference/dog-training/34027-10-fun-impressive-tricks-can-teach-dog

Need more ideas and in-depth instruction, “The Everything Dog Training and Tricks Book” authored by my friend and guru Gerilyn Bielakiewicz and photographed by me 🙂 is an awesome resource.

https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Dog-Training-Tricks-Book/dp/1605500224

• Training Games

While my dogs love to play fetch and chase their frisbees, we all especially love brain games. Shaping (the process of teaching a behavior in little steps) games are great since they are such an amazing mental workout for our dogs. “101 things to do with a box” is one of my all time favorites. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

https://www.clickertraining.com/101-things-to-do-with-a-box

• 

• 

• Food Toys

There are more ways to feed your dog than in a simple, boring old bowl. There are puzzle toys, slow feeding bowls, snuffle mats and the classic stuffed kong toy. You can even just scatter their food in your house or yard and let them hunt it up. These ideas are perfect for when you have work to get done and want to keep your dog quiet and busy. Below are some food toy stuffing ideas.

https://www.kongcompany.com/learn/stuff-a-kong

• Virtual Training Group

Looking for a positive training group for more enrichment and play ideas. My friend and fellow trainer Jenny Stieglitz has started a FB group just for you. Check it out at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SavvyCanineClub/

• Reading List

What? You haven’t taught your dog to read yet…. what have you been doing all this time :-). Okay, these ideas are for the humans here. Two of my favorite non-fiction dog books that will offer great insights into our dogs and how they feel and think are: The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell and Bones Would Rain from the Sky by Suzanne Clothier. For some other ideas:

https://us16.campaign-archive.com/?u=4c2848b623ab6cf1f28959e5a&id=b9120b0fa0