Excitable, enthusiastic and energetic are just three adjectives I could use to describe Shay and Nitro the Bull Terries when I photographed them for the front cover of Pet Prints magazine.
I met them and their Mom, Casandra, at Delta Park in December last year to shoot some portraits of them individually (pretty easy) and together (nigh on impossible) for the latest issue of this fantastic pet magazine (it's a complimentary mag that you can pick up at your vet or vet store).
Not only did we have lively hounds to contend with, I was watching dark storm clouds approaching very quickly, so we had to work fast which meant getting some good sits and stays on the go. Nitro went first to show his sister how it's done. he did it so well that his photo made it onto the magazine cover.
Shay is just a baby still and despite being very easily distracted, she sat brilliantly balanced on a log.
Mom had to do some wrangling to get them all together in a shot. Thankfully she'd brought a friend along to the shoot so he could attempt to get the dogs to look in my direction, we're 33.3% of the way there in this pic.
Bull Terriers are an interesting breed. I photographed some of the dogs Bull Terrier Rescue have in their care last year and witnessed first hand what damage a lack of early socialisation can do to this breed. They are super high energy, bond with people very strongly and HAVE to meet new dogs, people, children and cats from the get go if they are to be problem free dogs. Sadly they often end up being abandoned because their owners didn't put in the effort early on. You can read up more about the breed and rescue organisations that support them in the Pet Prints Magazine.
Thankfully Shay and Nitro are super happy and well integrated dogs. The main challenge we had was getting them to stay still for more than 5 seconds, they really did both have ants in their pants.
Gigantic rain drops and the rumble of thunder ended our shoot quite abruptly. I have been caught out by rapidly changing weather a few times at Delta Park, so I'm very good at making a quick dash to the car under the cover of my reflector.
I love to photograph dogs and their humans, so if you'd like to commission a family portrait with your pooches, please get in touch with me.