Tips For A Successful Photo Shoot Including Your Dog

When asked, “Can I bring my dog?” My answer will be an excited, “Yes!”

My fur baby, Kovu, is the sweetest Texas Heeler who loves to run, jump, play, and knows quite a few tricks.

She brings joy to me everyday and is an important member of my pack. She is a well behaved dog, but I know she can be a handful without exercise. It’s my job to help her exert this pent up energy everyday. This is especially true if I plan on having her around new dogs, people, or experiences. I love having family photos with her in them. I’ll often joke, “she’s the best instagram dog.” What the internet doesn’t see is that it takes some work to get her to pose and cooperate.

When you plan to bring your dog please make sure you tell your photographer.

Seriously though, this will help so I can plan accordingly for the best photoshoot. Some trails don’t allow dogs. I hope you understand that I will not photograph your pup on a trail that is clearly marked with “No Dogs” signs. We may lose valuable daylight having to go to a different place for our session. Thankfully there are a ton of places in Northern Michigan where your dog is allowed. Just give me a heads up so I can share some locations in advance.

Tire out your dog before our session. I suggest a vigorous exercise that leaves your pup with their tongue hanging out before you load them into the car. If your dog loves ball, great! Throw the ball for them at least 10 times. It’s best to do this immediately before leaving the house. If you can’t do that, at least spend an hour in the morning dedicated to tiring out your animal. This will be huge for our session. You won’t want your dog pulling you all over as we are trying to capture the perfect photo. You can’t blame them for being hyper if they’ve been cooped up and this is their first real adventure of the day?

I get it, dogs will be dogs. Having them pull is not the end of the world. If you do relieve some of their energy, I promise it will make things easier for us.

Have your furry friend’s favorite treats on hand when you come to our session. This helps so that you can direct them, or you can hand me treats to get the dogs attention. Pairing this method with weird loud noises, I will get at least a handful of photos with them looking directly at the camera.

Lastly, understand that they are dogs and while you may have envisioned a perfectly posed photo, it doesn’t always work out that way. As will all of my sessions, I’m trying to capture your true personalities, and that includes your pups too.