Chula - Pet Photography

The plan is to get Chula adopted. She is my foster pup and I have precisely three months to find her a home. If I don't she will be stuck here at Alaqua. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad place, but I know she will not do well in a kennel. She is already skiddish in new places as it is. I can't imagine her being in a kennel. She's a great dog. Minds well. Knows how to sit, down, come (most of the time), and she's crate trained. Seriously, if there is anyone in Northwest Florida looking for a fairly trained young dog, who LOVES her master, this is the one for you. Once she gets to know you, she'll stick by your side for anything. I'd keep her myself, but it turns out you can't have more than two dogs in base housing. And, realistically, three dogs is a bit excessive for the often moving military life. So here she is... born mid-September, Shepherd/American Bulldog mix, spayed, crate trained, and ready to go! If you know anyone interested in adopting her please contact Alaqua Animal Refuge at 850-880-6399.



I hate to split these two up, but what else can I do? I'm sure they'll get over it. Not like they have a choice.



Chula loves this little pool. She dunks her head in as far as she can and swirls it around :) It's pretty hot here these days so it's a pretty good idea.



This is THE BEST shaking dog pic I have ever gotten. I have tried quite a bit too. Pretty stinkin' hilarious :)

Cocoa

I love this dog. I don't love all dogs. I can be picky. Small dogs have to seriously work for my love. This dog though? Instant. I think Cocoa has been here a week or two. Not sure how she was not instantly adopted. Clearly not everyone shares my affinity for large puppies with floppy ears. Do I need another dog? No. Can I turn down a puppy? It appears I am capable of such things!

If you live anywhere near Northwest Florida and want to adopt this puppy. Check out her link and call on her!

More Change

Hello internet world. It has been a while and I was doing so well with posting regularly! I went into internet hibernation due to some serious changes going on. It seems we wait for weeks and weeks and then BAM! everything is immediate! Well, what if I am not ready to leave Florida? Leave Florida you say? That's right, this trip is coming to a quick end.

Turns out Brian was not meant to be an EOD tech. He is no longer in the program and as of today we officially have orders to Hawaii! It has been a crazy couple of weeks with all kinds of changes and waiting for information. The dogs will have to go through quarantine and I was pretty stressed about that for a bit. Turns out Shugo is still clear cause the FAVN test is good for 36 months. We'll make it just in time. But then there's Chancho... it crossed my mind to find him a home for about one day. If only I could find the perfect home who would take both Chancho and Chula... unlikely. And in reality, I don't want to get rid of Chancho. He is a part of the family. So, there are some other plans brewing and we are still waiting to get a move date, but we are officially moving to Hawaii and I am officially keeping both my dogs no matter what! Below is a very excited pup cause that is how my life feels most of the time. Exciting, crazy, all over the place. And right now I am excited about new plans and some upcoming changes :)

Chula - Alaqua Animal Refuge

Alaqua is addicting. There is so much to help out with and it's nice to be contributing to the community. This is my first time ever doing so much community service with one particular place. And, to be honest, I have probably spent more time volunteering with Alaqua than I have with any other place throughout my life all combined! I have just never really done much volunteering. At least I am now though! So many different things they have going on and so many different ways one can volunteer. I feel as though I have done a little of everything almost yet I know I haven't! Chula is my new "thing" :) I am now also a foster parent! Please do not be confused by the picture... this is Chula. I promise :)



Chula is Chancho's sister. And by sister I mean litter-mate, not half sister, or look alike. They are positively 100% brother and sister! We found Chancho on craigslist. He was free and had two sisters with him. We went out there to find a odd situation. I didn't really like any of them a ton, but I felt obligated to save at least one. I considered for a moment taking all of them, but thought better of it. They all freaked out when something fell over and made a loud noise. One puppy in particular (Chula) never recovered. She was yelping the entire time we were there (about 30 minutes) hiding under a truck. We couldn't get her to come out and I knew she would be lucky if someone took her. Who would want a whiney/yappy dog like that? I know it seems heartless, but we are Barkers... we don't want barkers. Needless to say I was not one bit surprised when I saw her picture posted on FB and she was in fact, out at Walton County Shelter. I immediately knew it was Chancho's sis cause she looks just like him and is the same age. I figured I would call the next day to save her, but then realized that we can't spend the money to adopt her and spay her etc. I emailed Laurie Hood (founder of Alaqua) and asked her to pick her up as an Alaqua dog and I would foster her until adoption since I know they don't have any space at Alaqua. Less than one week later she's here!



Below, Chancho is on the left and Chula is on the right. Definitely siblings. At Alaqua when they get a litter of pups they name them all starting with the same letter for organization. So I figured I would pick a C name and keep it Spanish too :) They have not been reunited yet as we need to have a quarantine period to be sure no one gets each other sick. Chula is very sweet though. Skiddish, but coming around quickly.



These two boys can't wait to meet her. When I put her in her crate and let them out of the front room they RUN out the door to the yard thinking she might still be out there and perhaps they could all be friends. I trick em' every time! And Chancho... mister pig who wouldn't leave his food behind for anything? I locked the boys in the front and gave them breakfast and went to the back to take Chula into the yard and there he was... staring through the sliding glass door hoping to get a glimpse of his sis as she passed through the hall :) I put her outside and immediately went to rescue Chancho's food from Shugo's mouth. I had to lock Chancho in his crate so he would focus on his eating and Shugo wouldn't steal it! Ridiculous... Soon though they will be reunited and it will be sweet :)

Horse Photography - Alaqua Animal Refuge

Saturday I had my first successful Horse Volunteer work day at Alaqua :) We got the horses groomed and got pictures of them for the website. There were a few that had to be complicated and wouldn't perk their ears up... *cough* Bucky *cough*... however! We got a great one when he was distracted by his girlfriend ;) His golden shot is the last one on the left.  Directly below we have Joe. All these horses are adoptable and they are all pretty darn sweet. Some of the Alaqua horses are rid-able and some aren't. I think I mentioned it before, but I am heading up the horse volunteer department at Alaqua. We have a really great group of volunteers who are in love with the horses and want to help out in any way possible. It amazes me as to how much Alaqua does with the small amount of staff they have on hand. It is such a HUGE facility and they are very dependent on volunteers to help them do what they do. I am currently working on a "Day in the life of Alaqua" project with the Alaqua public relations girl (Lori). Our goal is to show people that Alaqua is not what you would expect from a animal shelter. It's an amazing facility on ten acres, and probably the exact opposite from anything you have seen or experienced when visiting a shelter or animal control sort of place. So! At some point you will see shots for that and maybe even an article somewhere :)





Sarah.



Bucky and Spirit are in the "senior pasture" at Alaqua livin' the life!

Furry Fanatics Portrait Party

Saturday April 2, 2011 we are having a party. A portrait party! Furry Fanatics in Gulf Place has invited me, Joy Jill Photography, out to do a portrait party for their clients! We are having 15 minute sessions all day long from 10am to 5pm! This is the perfect opportunity to get your Mothers Day gift early :) Yes, that's right Mothers Day. Because it is almost upon us yet again. Bring your pet out to get some nice portraits done and if you don't have a pet that's OK! I photograph people too :) We'll have 15 minutes to photograph whoever you'd like. Furry Fanatics will have frames available for purchasing and all images will be posted online within a couple days so you can order prints or albums for Mother's Day! Please stop by Furry Fanatics or give them a call, 850.278.6902 to sign up. There are limited time slots and they are filling up fast!



So come on out to Gulf Place in Santa Rosa Beach on Saturday, April 2, 2011 to get some dog photography (or people photography!) done. I'd love to see you out there!

Horse Photography - Alaqua Animal Refuge

I went out to Alaqua Animal Refuge again today. There are SO many different areas a person can volunteer in out there, I am finding that I could spend all my time out there working on different things and helping out in different areas. Today I learned more about what is going on with the horses and what they need volunteers to do with them. I am definitely going to be working with the horses more since I am seriously lacking in the horse time now that I sold my dear Almond. If our next stop is somewhere in the states I am absolutely getting another horse. For now though working with the Alaqua horses will have to suffice.

I find it funny that every time we move I am always a little crazy bored at first and then before I know it I have too many things going on. Between photography, school, Alaqua, my dogs, and taking care of the household I am definitely no longer bored :) And due to my busy-ness I am posting a shot of a mini out at Alaqua. A little more of the artsy horse photography. I have a serious backup of images that I need to get through right now so I don't have anything new to post at the moment. Or, I do have plenty new images, but I haven't had the chance to even download them yet. A big thank you goes out to Brian who helped me photograph the dogs out at Alaqua today :) He went out there with me since it's a holiday and he had the day off. I am still working on catching up with all the animals. It's really an endless task, and I will never be caught up with the rate that they adopt out and save new animals. It's a good thing though and I am glad to be helping out the Northwest Florida community in any way that I can :)

Pet Photography - Alaqua Animal Refuge - Cats

Well, I have been posting entirely too many dogs on here and figured I should ad in some felines. Cats are wonderful creatures. Very simple. Don't require nearly as much attention as dogs. However, it is those exact reasons that make them MUCH more difficult to photograph. My barking, meowing, chirping, and any other weird noises I may attempt to make do ABSOLUTELY nothing to these things we call cats. Don't get me wrong, I love cats, but I refer to myself as more of a dog person. Brian is also a dog person, but he is not as kind as me, he refers to himself as a cat hater. Which is why I have vowed to one day own a cat :)

One project that I am working on is getting updated photos of all the animals at Alaqua Animal Refuge. For those of you who do not know, Alaqua is quite a large facility and there are 300+ animals there. So when I say I am working on a project, I really mean that it's a project! Pet Photography, dog photography, Cat Photography, Horse Photography. I am even finding new specialties of pig photography :) I am really learning to branch out and expand my area of expertise.

So, feast your cat loving eyes on some cat photography! All of these cats are up for adoption and they are all quite the lovers. One even climbed onto my back as I was bending over photographing another! The first is my favorite. I call him, the birdhouse cat :)



As I photographed the next cat, I couldn't help but think of Anchorman... "I'm in a glass case of emotion!"

Furry Fanatics - Dog Photography

Well Saturday was a success. We had one pup adopted and a few people who went out to the shelter to look at the other animals available and a couple were adopted out there as well :) Any adoption makes it a successful day. I had a lovely time photographing a few beloved pups for those who donated to Heart Worm treatment. Below is this a sweet little dog who followed his mom everywhere. No leash or bribing required.



Next up is this beautiful Golden Retriever. He was VERY excited to see all the animals we brought and he really just wanted to play with them. We just had to set it up so I was shooting from the direction of the puppies cause he wouldn't look any other direction :) I know they are not super different, but I cannot decide which shot I like better. Votes anyone?





And last pup that was photographed was the lovely chihuahua. Such tiny creatures they are. I just don't even know how you are supposed to pet these dogs. I feel like one pat and I could knock him over! For that reason I am pretty sure I only pet him a little :) So, it was a good day. Thank you to all who came out to support Alaqua!

Furry Fanatics and Alaqua Animal Refuge - Pet Photography

Tomorrow I will be at Furry Fanatics with Alaqua Animal Refuge. Alaqua will be bringing out as many furballs as they can for a Valentine's Adoption Day. If you haven't been out to Furry Fanatics, this is the perfect opportunity! Tim and Julie are wonderful people who are serious volunteers for Alaqua and they just recently opened this cute little shop! There will be treats for the furballs and their humans and even some champagne to sip! Furry Fanatics will be giving 20% of their sales to Alaqua. There will also be a raffle for a beautiful Donna Burgess Gallery animal print - Matted. Every $2 donation gets you a ticket for a chance to WIN!

Also, I will be there doing portraits for anyone who wants them! A $15 donation will get you a digital file to print and post as you please! 100% of the money will go to Alaqua to pay for Heart Worm treatment for some of the animals that come in. Many of the dogs that come in have Heart Worms and the treatment is quite expensive. So come get a portrait done and donate some money to saving the animals :)


So, as you can see there will be a lot going on at Furry Fanatics on 30A this weekend. Hope to see lots of people out there!

Alaqua

Yesterday was my first full day at Alaqua. We were working on several different things for future events, the main one being the Canine Carnival that is March 5th. I also took some pictures of a few dogs. Some cute, some so hideous they are cute (that would be the last one on the left). There are tons and tons of animals at Alaqua. I asked yesterday and they said they adopt anywhere from 50-100 animals a month! That is so crazy to me.

Today I will be at the Dine for Dogs event. Dine for Dogs is this great thing they do with restaurants. They pick a day and a couple hours where they will donate a certain percentage to Alaqua. It's a good turn out usually and they have more and more restaurants getting interested. We'll be bringing a few pups in hopes to adopt and it should be an interesting evening.



I really like this dog below. He's pretty skinny and very energetic, but super sweet. And really, I just love larger dogs and especially dogs with a boxy head.

Chancho!

We got a new puppy! This is Chancho. We love the name Chancho mainly because of Nacho Libre, but it is also very fitting for this lil' pup because he is a serious pig. I love Nacho Libre. I just have t get that out there. And I love Chancho. I just got back from taking him to the vet and he is all healthy! Aside from a couple worms... but that is an easy fix! Yay for healthy puppy :)



I love his ears. Nice and floppy just like Shugo's.



Who could turn that away? Really. Shugo wasn't super sure about him at first, but they are now great buddies! We love to just watch them play. It's nice to have a pal for Shugo and I think he is happier with Chancho around.







Now below we have some baby pictures of Shugo. I think they look similar (minus the obvious color difference). Floppy ears. Boxy face. Sweetness. We are very curious to know how big Chancho will get. Are his paws as big as Shugo's were as a pup? Will we have two ginormous dogs? Only time will tell :)

The Kelser's

Well, this is Nick. He of course like most teenage boys does not like getting his picture taken, but I tried to make it as quick and painless as possible :) It's really a true test to my funniness... can I make a person doing what he does not enjoy doing laugh while doing it? Hmmm, I got a few smirks but I must say this kid was hard to crack. His mother of course new what to say to get the smile out of him, you can see it below in the images of the two of them. Very cute :) I am happy with the shots though and as much as he may not have liked it, I think we got some pretty sweet poses and GQ stares out of him!