Sit With Me's 3rd Birthday

Sit With Me Shelter Dog Rescue had their 3rd birthday today at Laroche Park in Ottawa. It was great to see so many people come out and help support our rescue group who has so many volunteers behind the scenes. Volunteers whom mostly all work full time jobs PLUS helping save the lives of dogs with no time left in our local shelters. There were activities for people and pets and Chuck Desjardins Photography was taking professional photos for the afternoon. A BBQ with meat from the Manotick Butcher, loot bags, Crazy Beautiful Collars and much more. Here are some photos of the very, very hot afternoon. The park had many mature trees throughout so people and pooches could cool down, which was very nice as well as a bit of breeze here and there. 

I had two of my previous fosters show up, Robyn and Wylie and it warms my heart when these reunions happen. Many dogs I have photographed in the past have been adopted but there are still many more that are waiting. 

If you are considering adopting a dog, I ask you to consider Sit With Me. Check out their Facebook page for their ADOPTABLES album and see if there is someone in there that might suit your lifestyle. 

Photos for a cause this weekend!

If you're looking for some great photos of your pooch, I will be at Ritchie Feed & Seed on Innes this Saturday, May 30th from 11-4. There will be tons of pet related activities, including nail trims, dog wash, bbq, 50/50 draw, music and a kids activity table. 

Sit With Me is partnered with PAWS (Puppymill Awareness Working Solutions)  to help raise awareness of puppymills both regionally and nation-wide and help raise money for the ongoing intake of wonderful dogs who are getting a second chance at life. On Saturday .. there will be dogs on site whom are available to meet and greet and available for adoption

For these events, photos are $15 and I send you digital file via email or Dropbox a couple of days later. 

YOW Gallery

From today until mid January, I have some photographic collages on display at the YOW Gallery at the McDonald Cartier International Airport. They are located at Gate 14 in the Departures lounge.

I decided to showcase some of my favourite travel images. Destinations were for Dublin, Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest, Romania and Turkey. There is also a panoramic image from Mer Bleue. 

These canvases are 24" X 36" (1.5" depth) and are available for purchase for $350 each. 

If you're flying out of Ottawa in the near future, check them out. :)

Bennett

Met up with beautiful Bennett last weekend with his dads, Vincent & Matt. This dog was so well behaved .. I was very impressed. A photographers dream, would do almost anything on demand .. very compliant little man.

We had a nice stroll through Hillsdale Park and thoroughly enjoyed Eastern Ontario's beautiful fall weather and colours!

Our family

 

I had the absolute pleasure of photographing another local pet photographer last weekend. Lynda is the owner of LGraveline Photography and she contacted me because, as a photographer, it's hard to get photos of yourself when YOU are the one who is always shooting.

I met up with Lynda in the west end of Kanata, near Dunrobin, with her boyfriend Nick and her three dogs; Bentley the Australian Cattle Dog, Oz the Australian Shepherd and Doc the American Pit Bull Terrier. Doc is their current foster dog with Sit With Me rescue and unfortunately he has cancer and had a limited but unknown amount of time left. I was so happy to be able to give this family some wonderful photographic memories.

 

Tanner - my new foster

Late last week my boyfriend and I heard about a dog at a local shelter that needed help. NOW. He was difficult to assess, as often they can be at loud & busy shelters, but he passed and needed an immediate foster home. Ryan and I just saw our previous foster, Robyn, get adopted and move into her new home the weekend before, so we were planning to take a break.

It was incredibly clear that sometimes, with life, you can't take a break. A break would have possibly meant that Tanner wouldn't be here today.

So he arrived last Thursday and I cannot stop gushing about what a great dog he is. He's slowly integrating with my other dogs. Shamar has been loose with him in the house for the past few days in little spurts. Jorja and Pete may meet him next week. Tanner is good with dogs, my dogs can be a bit jerky with strange dogs so we take it slow.

We are still trying to figure out a proper character profile for him, only because he's been a little uncomfortable with some allergies which are being treated so .. compound that with a new environment, we need to get an accurate picture but so far ...

Tanner is a 4 year old American Pit Bull Terrier. Single bred and stunning. He is neutered and very friendly. He is good with dogs, good with strangers, good with kids and seems ok with cats. On our walks in the neighbourhood he shows little interest in any squirrels or cats in driveways. He knows basic commands, walks great on leash and doesn't protest wearing a muzzle out in public (due to law, not personality). He is a great companion for car rides and makes great company. He was listed on his intake papers that he has separation anxiety. We haven't noticed anything of concern with him. He goes in and out of his crate, eats in his crate and will go in on command. He does whine once he's in his crate, this usually lasts only a few minutes. He does protest more when I can hear him in the morning when I'm leaving for work so this is something we are working on. We genuinely feel this issue is really not much of an issue and he just needs some rehabilitation with crate training, with positive experiences and consistency.

Yesterday we decided last minute to go to the Beaconsfield Pet Fair on the west island of Montreal with Sit With Me Shelter Dog Rescue. He did very well meeting many people and dogs .. even in the pouring rain.

Tanner will be available for adoption through Sit With Me. I'm confident this great dog won't last long and because he's such a great dog, deserves a great home outside of Ontario.

 
 

Krishna & Emmy

Krishna contacted me regarding booking
a session for her dog Emmy. Emmy
was a rescue with Sit With Me and a compassionate adoption. A photo session was on Krishna's bucket list for her and I was more than happen to assist. Emmy has been diagnosed with cancer and her lifespan has been shortened.

We met up at their home and went to their local park and seeing the bond these two have with each other was nothing short of beautiful.

Emmy has integrated into their loving family and it was an absolutely pleasure meeting them. Thank you Krishna for caring and opening your heart and home.

Rescatame

I was able to connect with an animal rescue group while on holidays in Punta Cana this past spring. Their name is Rescatame and through generous donations and great working relationships with the public and vets - they are able to vaccinate, spay & neuter, feed and facilitate adoptions both local and overseas. Sylvia and Viviana were kind enough to bring me out to show me what a typical morning can consist of. This particular morning involved helping some community dogs with food and treating a new arrival with a dewormer. Often the locals vets can manage with treatments but sometimes they need to travel to Santo Domingo for more complicated procedures.

There are many stories of dogs showing up at businesses. Some are lucky and taken care of, some are chased away ... some are poisoned. It's a tough life for any roaming dog. Rescatame see the local problem and work to try to improve their lives. Education, spay & neutering, vaccinations and encourage adoptions. Please check out their Facebook page for more up to date news.

Sit With Me Spring Auction

I have been honoured to partner with a local Ottawa dog rescue called Sit With Me. Their mandate is to pull dogs from shelters who would otherwise be killed due to various reasons as a simple case of kennel cough, a bit too old (4 years??), a bit too rambunctious, a bit too shy, a broken limb .. you get it .. the list goes on.
They are equipped with experienced dog experts whom I trust completely to assess dogs who would be successful in re adoption into a loving home with a little TLC.
I started photographing them last year in hopes a better photograph might get them noticed and moved more quickly through this hard system.
This is a snapshot collage of some of the dogs I photographed in 2013 - 2014. Most have been adopted out into happy loving homes.
Sit With Me is having a spring auction, where generous supporters donate items to be bid on. The funds raised from these auctions go towards vetting for sick and injured dogs, spay & neuters, food, crates, transportation, merchandise to sell at events and many other reasons. Without these resources ... sadly, many of the dogs in the photo I've linked wouldn't be here today.
I'm attaching a link to their Facebook account, peruse the photo album of items and see if there is anything you like and would like to help support a very worth cause. There is everything to 2 & 4 people movie passes to gift cards to restaurants, dog collars, paintings and donated photo sessions.
Thank you for reading, caring and helping.

Spring Online Auction link!

Helping Indian Street dogs

As many readers may know, about 5 years ago I adopted a once homeless dog from India. It wasn't planned, expected or truly thought out. I already had 1 dog, Jorja. She was my first dog as an 'adult' and she was already a handful.

I frequent a blog called Are you a Pariah Dog Fan? which talks about indigenous breeds in India, worldwide pariah breeds, canine evolution, pictures of dogs with their family from all over the world and the odd adoption plea. Well .. as it turned out that fateful day .. a fellow Canadian woman had found a puppy on the side of the road - bad shape - and brought him home to nurse him back to health. Her hope was to find someone to adopt him. Sadly, in India and in many developing countries .. for those that are fortunate enough to feed themselves .. let alone a dog, they often dismiss the dog they see scavenging for food on the side of the road. They want dogs that are often are far removed physically from anything that resembles a local canine. Siberian Huskies in India? You bet. Bulldog? You name them. India's class/caste system extends beyond human tribes.

I saw a video Lisa posted on YouTube and I immediately fell in love and wanted to help. With some local help finding a transportation crate, some expedited paper work and some $ .. this little dog found his way flying from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, onwards to Frankfurt and then a final trip to Toronto. We drove roundtrip from Ottawa to pick him up that day at Pearson Airport.

When I hear stories of people adopting dogs from foreign countries .. it's usually a pup they found while traveling. I had never met this dog, now called Pete, but I felt this overwhelming sense of helplessness and knew I could give him a loving home. This is actually a big concern for me as I truly want to travel to India one day .. I feel I will get too emotional when seeing all the street dogs.

Pete arrived in Canada with all his vaccinations and paperwork and he's been here for almost 5 years.

One Green Planet posted a story authored by Erika Abrams that I wanted to share. Erika's family runs Animal Aid Unlimited in Udaipur. They have a sanctuary where they treat everything from dogs to cows to donkeys, all animals. I was told that Erika actually met Pete when he was with Lisa at the airport in Mumbai (on his way to Toronto). Sometimes it really is a small world. :)

 

A very skinny Pete .. on his way to recovery - August 2009

This is a healthy Pete in late 2013