You might remember Colleen from a session that I had with her earlier this summer, and I was thrilled when she asked me to photograph her with her new Shih Tzu puppy Sully!  It doesn’t get much better than the sweet smell of puppy breath and puppy kisses, plus watching him curiously play in the beautiful autumn leaves thinking they are all toys was absolutely hilarious!  I really wanted to take this little love bug home with me, but I know that he is going to have a rather amazing and pampered life with his mom who loves him to pieces!  I literally can’t get enough of this little fella, and then watching him fall asleep at the end in his mom’s arms was the perfect ending to a perfect fall afternoon!

I was so excited when Bev Hollis contacted me about taking some lifestyle photographs of her with her dogs, Lily and Niles!  I eagerly accepted and then realized I had just agreed to photograph an amazing pet photographer with her dogs.  The pressure slooooowly started to sink in.  Oh boy!

Bev lives down the road from me here in Leesburg, VA and we have been friends for a while but this was the first time that I got to meet her sweet doggies Lily and Niles, and they couldn’t have been more wonderful!  They had me laughing the entire time – Lily was full of sweet kisses and Niles kept striking poses like a professional model, I suppose that is what happens when your mom is a professional photographer!  Mother Nature blessed us with the most perfect, west coast-esque, non-humid weather – we were ecstatic!  We had a fun time strolling around old town Leesburg, which was filled with so many colors, textures and the most beautiful light!  We chatted about life, photography and how much we love our dogs.  By the end I wanted to bring Lily, Niles AND Bev home with me!

I am still working on editing Bev’s photos but I wanted to share a few early favorites!  More to come soon!

Thanks again Bev – you guys rocked it!

Yesterday I took little Tater Tot to a dental specialist in an effort to save a large molar that she had chipped.  When the vet wanted to speak with me after the procedure to tell me that everything went great, I detected a hint of hesitation in his voice.  He continued to say that he had found a few troubling things that he needed to discuss and I gulped while my stomach began to twist into a tight knot.

They had taken a few x-rays of Tot’s teeth and found a small deformed tooth stuck under the skin between her canine tooth and tongue, laying sideways that never rose to the surface.  “Okay,” I thought “that’s not so horrible, my poor little mutant DNA Tot can survive like this.”  Then the vet told me a large cyst has formed around the tooth and it was an absolute miracle that they discovered this cyst when they did.  He went on to explain that cysts like this, if left untreated within a year eventually grow so big that it would break her jaw, eat away at the jaw bone, cut the circulation off to many other teeth and possibly even become cancerous.  I stood there with my poor little trembling pup in my arms who had just woke up from anesthesia and tried to process all of the information while looking like a deer in the headlights.

The vet went on to emphasize just how lucky we are to have found this cyst so early.  Cysts of this nature that hide completely undetected under the skin almost always go unnoticed until the dog’s jaw is already broken and it has caused extensive and extremely painful damage etc…  I began to think about how guilty I have been feeling that Tot chipped her tooth which resulted in having a painful dental procedure that I so wished she could have avoided.  It is not my fault that she chipped her tooth but I’m the type of person who can’t help questioning if there was something I could have done to prevent it.  I allow myself to feel guilt over things that I have no control over.

Suddenly yesterday afternoon I found my perspective drastically changing.  This chipped tooth that I had been agonizing and mentally beating myself up over turned out to be a complete miracle and could have even possibly just saved my little Tater Tot’s life.  In that moment I started to feel so very grateful.

It’s funny how when you least expect it – the things that we feel so strongly and surely about and label as “bad” can turn out to be a blessing in disguise – the same is true vice versa.  This has been a tough lesson for me to learn – and it feels like the universe sure brought it full circle for me yesterday.

The next time something doesn’t go my way – I need to remember that there might be a very good reason for it.  I won’t be so quick to label and judge it as “good” or “bad” and try not to beat myself up about it because the universe works in very mysterious ways!

Tot was miserable yesterday after she got home, and I think we all know that there’s nothing worse than watching your pet suffer, I would have gladly given just about anything to trade places with her.  Tot is a tough cookie with a high pain tolerance, so when she is constantly moaning in agony – you know she’s REALLY in a lot of pain.  Bless her little heart.  She was cooed over, babied and pampered all day yesterday (much to the dismay of Kiki who was very jealous and a little spiteful).  I told Tater Tot that I was sure she’d feel better in the morning – and she did in fact wake up feeling about 60% better today – thank goodness!

Being a photographer makes me a visual person by nature and I am always fascinated with photographic technology that allows us to look below the surface.  Here are two of Tot’s x-rays from yesterday.  (It’s possible that Tot’s cyst might be larger than what I indicated below, but I *think* that it is the darker gray area – I can’t remember exactly).

ETA: I was finally able to open Tot’s mouth and lift up her tongue.  I could see the cyst and it’s definitely larger than my arrows indicate below, the top of the cyst comes as high up as the text “cyst surrounding the tooth.”  Please be sure to check under your pets tongues every once in a while – I would have never ever thought to look there and my regular vet didn’t see it at her last check up several months ago either!  Yikes!

Images courtesy of Dr. Chamberlain.