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The New Year Means Getting Back to Photos of Shelter Dogs
Closeup of Hachi

The New Year Means Getting Back to Photos of Shelter Dogs

Wow I was feeling rusty. Although I’d worked on a few fundraisers for the Montgomery County Humane Society (MCHS), but I hadn’t been out to take photos of rescue dogs since September! And it showed. I brought some of the wrong camera equipment and my settings were off. But I made due and worked the rust off quickly.
Hachi was the first dog I chose for a walk. He hadn’t been out yet and who can turn down a 1-year old lab mix for their first walk of the day. And thank goodness, Hachi already knew (pretty much) how to sit. One problem though, Hachi doesn’t like the big black monster that I raise to my eye, especially when it flickers bright light. The first 15-minutes of our walk was spent getting him used to the camera: click + treat, click + treat, click-click-treat, etc. The Lab brain is imminently trainable.
Rescue Dog Hachi from Montgomery County Humane Society

I had my mind sent to take Hachi to a small garden area in the neighborhood near MCHS. With the dim afternoon light, I needed some way of making his photo’s background interesting. If I could get Hachi to look down at me from the garden’s cinder-block wall, I might be able to get some of the sky in the

Link to Hachi's info at MCHS: https://goo.gl/72eRMo

background which would be much more interesting than the leafless bushes. And leave it to a lab mix, Hachi now associates my camera with treats which means he wanted to be very close to the camera when I raised it to my eye.

Right in the middle of our garden photo session a gentleman walked up to me with his wife. I introduced him to Hachi and did my best adoption pitch (well maybe Hachi had his elevator pitch down). The gentleman already had adopted a few dogs but did end up giving me $20 to donate to MCHS. Good job Hachi.

The New Year Means Getting Back to Photos of Shelter Dogs 1

I returned Hachi back to the Humane Society and good news, a family was interested in meeting him. Buck was next up. He is labeled as a lab mix but he’s a pretty big lab mix! I was worried at first because Buck has plenty of energy. After a few minutes of walking him I realized that he had received some leash training. Every time he picked up the pace I just had to stop walking and he slowed down.

Buck also doesn’t like the camera. I just made due with the time I had. After a few shots we were headed back to Buck’s kennel. Keep working on your leash training, Buck!

Link to Buck’s information at MCHS: https://goo.gl/Azkq7t

The New Year Means Getting Back to Photos of Shelter Dogs
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