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This birth defect can occur in the lip (primary cleft palate, cleft lip, or harelip) or along the roof of the mouth (secondary cleft palate). Within the mouth, the cleft, or opening, can extend along the bony portion (hard palate), the flexible portion used in swallowing (soft palate), or both.

Brachycephalic breeds like French Bulldogs, Pugs and Boston Terriers can have up to a 30% higher risk factor.

These puppies (especially those with a secondary cleft) are unable to create suction (imagine trying to drink through a straw with a big hole in it), so can’t latch on to their mothers.

They are also at risk of developing infection or pneumonia due to food aspiration.

Maverick (Cleft Lip) and Malachi (Cleft Palate) are two of the many puppies that have been saved by the amazing work being done by these teams.

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We started off their session with some portraits and fun action shots to really capture the hilarity of those beautiful mastiff jowls in action.

I could have photographed Bear’s enormous big wrinkly face for ever… I swear every slight move he makes created a new configuration of wrinkles more funny than the last!

Kuda might be a little more subtle in her expressions… as befits a lady of her magnificent stature… but her slightly cross-eyed face still had me in stitches as she gazed longingly at my roast chicken bribes !

From there it was time for what is always my favourite part of a Hairypants photo shoot, cuddles with Mum!  There’s nothing quite like big dog cuddles, and these two are REALLY good at it!  Leaning in to get as much love as they can at any time (I got a fair few myself by the end of their session!!).

Once all that smooching was taken care of, we decided it was a great time to just let the dogs do their thing and see what happened.

I’m not gonna lie… things got a little crazy after this ??, in the best possible way!!

It started off fairly subdued…just a couple of mates out for a sniff at the park…

I had so much fun with these guys, so many side splitting laughs and sooooo much slobber!

What might surprise a few people is that this session was undertaken with both dogs on leash for most of the shoot.  Danni’s friend Julie, from Family Dog Fun & Training, who was enlisted to help with the dog wrangling duties might have taken a couple of rather hysterical tumbles in the process but all in all it just added to the hilarity of the day.  Below are a couple of sneaky behind the scenes photos so you can get a feel for just what was going on… I’m pretty sure both dogs separately out-weigh Jules so personally I’m impressed she spent as much time on her feet as she did, especially once the big dog play started!

Danni ordered my favourite combination of artwork, a wall art collection to showcase her favourite 4 images and an album so she can look back on the whole session whenever she likes.  I can’t wait to see how the canvas collection looks up on her wall at home.

To learn more about booking a Hairypants Photography session for your dog,  shoot me a message HERE and I’ll get back to you with all the details.

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From the minute we met, it was clear that Hazel was born for this gig… If she could speak, I’m sure she would have been saying “like this?” as she happily posed for the camera.

In amongst all that posing there was of course time for some cuddles with Hazel’s favourite people.  She was more than happy to indulge them since it meant even more time spent being the centre of attention!

And if you thought by now Hazel had showed off the best of her skills… well she wasn’t done yet.

Once the afternoon crowds had left we took advantage of a big stretch of pathway to see just how fast those little legs could go. Turns out not only can this girl model … she can also FLY!!

Of course, I couldn’t help adding to my collection of “dogs peaking around trees” photographs…

I love that Hazel’s Mum & Dad chose the photo below as a beautiful Acrylic piece for the wall!  I mean how could seeing that gorgeous little heart shaped butt not give you a smile every time you entered the room?

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Sometimes it’s taking seperate images and merging them together, this time we managed it in a single shot with…

• 3 leads attached to a tether behind the dogs
• Dad to wrangle Bali, Bob & Nakoya into position
• Mum behind me to help get their attention
• About 10 other shots before one where they were all looking our way & showing off their typical Husky goofiness!

….and then some final work in Photoshop to bring it all together

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Ruby was super excited to be at the beach, but I got the distinct impression that Meeko would have been just as happy home on the couch.  In fact Chantelle let me know early on that the best chance I had to get Meeko’s ears up would probably be to wait until he got excited to be heading back to the car. Luckily for me some well timed silly noises also did the trick (at least enough for one or two lucky shots!)

My favourite fallen log definitely got a work out during this shoot with the sun being perfectly positioned at this time of year to glow softly behind it.

From there we headed into the dunes for some cuddles in the gorgeous late afternoon sun.

And then ended the session back down on the beach to take advantage of the lovely soft light we were treated with as the sun started to set.

Chantelle had her favourite images made into a stunning three piece Acrylic Wall Collection and sent me the photo below when she hung it in her living room.  I love how Ruby and Meeko are actually life sized in their artwork!!

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Some people are amazingly good at taking photos with their phones (have you seen some of those mind blowing instagram accounts??), but I’m definitely not one of them. I find the discipline of the technical stuff like selecting focal length and depth of field helps me to stop and work out the angles and composition I need.  So with a session rescheduled yesterday due to this awful wind, and my cameras all charged up and ready for action, I looked out the back at the kids and decided to start on the “everyday things they do” album…

This scene is pretty typical at our house…. Lulu has done this since the day she arrived (albeit with an upgraded teddy bear now), and it’s a constant source of discussion when visitors come over and witness it for the first time. While it might look like she’s getting “friendly” with her furry friend, she’s actually just standing there with her mouth on it completely frozen. It can last for up to 10-20 minutes at a time if she’s not disturbed.

There are lots of possible reasons why she does this. Some people say it’s due to being weaned too early or losing lots of her own puppies while she was a breeding machine …. others put it down to a simple self soothing technique.  Whatever the reason, its something I’ll always think of as uniquely Lulu!

For the most past Henry either completely ignores her doing this and just goes about his business, or like in this case, watches on silently with a look that to me is saying something along the lines of “what a weirdo”.

As soon as I started to look at the scene, I realized it wasn’t possible to capture the nuances with a single image so I sat myself in between them and took two separate photos that will forever have to be displayed together to make any kind of sense!

It might seem like a strange thing to photograph… but I know one day I’ll cherish these images as much as the beautiful portraits I have of them both.

Oh, and because he’s a bit of a camera tart… this last one is Henry realizing I’m taking photos and deciding to turn on the cuteness, demanding I put down the camera and give him belly rubs.

I love trying to capture these kinds of more images for my clients too. It’s not always possible since a lot of these things really only happen at home or at a specific time (Sandy used to do a tap dance while I prepared dinner!), but I’ll always ask you to think of specific things you’d love to capture so we can at least try to find a way to recreate it at their session. It might not be the photo you want printed huge on the wall, but its definitely something you’ll cherish for years to come.

What are your pet’s little quirks?  Do you make a habit of documenting them?

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What’s your name? Why did your parents name you that?  

Riley Winston Montgommery Randolph Keating. My father named me that because I live a very decadant life, one of Riley and I’m also a fan of Paul Keating who is Australia’s greatest ever Prime Minister. I also enjoy British Military history and rank Bernard Montgommery as one of the greatest commanders.

I laughed my way through reading about this larger than life dog, also called the “Mayor of West End”,  and couldn’t wait to meet him.

Going back a bit further… Brielle bought Riley’s session as a birthday gift  for Mark back in July last year.

They booked for a shoot in December, but when Riley started to show signs of slowing down from the cancer he was battling we brought it forward a couple of weeks and met up on a beautiful summer afternoon in late November.

This gorgeous Aussie Shepherd is one of the most expressive dogs I’ve ever met. Between his beautiful big eyes and the most contagious doggy smile, he won me over from the second we met.

What I love most about Riley’s session is that if I hadn’t been told about his cancer beforehand I would never have known he was sick. He happily chased balls around the grass of his beautiful West End home and proudly brought us his favourite toys, all with the biggest smile you’ve ever seen!

Riley is well known around West End, regularly visiting coffee shops and markets with his Dad, so it was only fitting that we headed off to check out one of his favourite local haunts, Orleigh Park, for the rest of his shoot.

We strolled along the riverside park, resting in the shade of century old fig trees and taking advantage of the lush green grass for some quality cuddle time with his favourite person in the world.

He even happily let his new step Mum Brielle share the spotlight for a little while.

Of course I wasn’t at all surprised that Riley took to the concept of peeking around the trees with very little direction…this boy was born to model!

On the way back home we couldn’t resist capturing one of Riley’s more “unique” habits… peeing in the public water bowl after he drinks!! I just love how ridiculously cheeky he looks while he’s doing it!!

I’m so very glad I had the chance to meet this sweet, gentle soul. Riley passed in early December and I know he left surrounded by love.

Run free darling boy, knowing you were absolutely adored and will be remembered forever xx

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Unfortunately as I drove out to Toowoomba that day, the weather deteriorated. What started as as a little bit overcast, turned into a dark rainy day.  Rather than pull the pin and reschedule AGAIN, we decided to go ahead with the shoot.  Henry couldn’t have cared less about the rain, and luckily Adrian and Ella were great sports, happy to hide under trees to escape the worst of it when necessary.  If you look closely you can see the rain in a few shots, but I love how the overcast day made the rich colours of the stunning Queens Park even more vibrant.

9 month old Henry (full name Henry Tudor Maher) might have a regal name, but there is absolutely nothing conservative about his personality!  This boy LOVES to PLAY.  His signature move is the play bow, which he pulls out at the slightest sign that there might be a toy or any other kind of fun about to happen.

Considering the fact that he really does look like a real-life teddy bear, it’s probably a good thing he loves affection so much as the urge to snuggle him is almost irresistible (trust me I know!).

There weren’t a lot of golden colours still out at the park we spent most of our time so Adrian & Ella offered to take me to another one to get my Autumn leaves fix. Sometimes the shot in your head is nothing like the one you end up with… but this still makes me laugh.

This photo of Ella and Henry is going down as one of my all time favourites.  Such a sweet, gentle moment between a very loved pup and his Mum.  I had such a great afternoon with this gorgeous family.  Thanks for showing me around your home town Henry  xx

Want a session like this with your dog (s)?   Read more about the Hairypants Experience here.

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He’s been my world for the last 8 1/2 years since I first brought home a scrawny 14 month old dog to a house I’d just moved into that day, and not having any idea what I was doing back then, expected him to be able to cope with a stream of visitors coming over for “moving in drinks” (he didn’t!).   He’s been with me through a couple of relationships, a few houses and a variety of jobs and today he fell for the first time.

I knew he was slowing down when he stopped being known at my dog park as “that dog who sneaks across the creek to go bin diving through the suburbs”.  He used to try to run off most days but there’s a whole new generation of people there now who’ve never seen him running along the bike path on the other side of Kedron Brook.  I was OK with that part of him getting older, in fact it made my life a lot easier.  But today he actually fell.

And not just a little stumble.  Today he tried to do his usual run up to jump into the car and missed.  He hit the edge of the car and fell to the ground.   I pulled out the Otto Step I’d bought a couple of months ago and had shipped from the US after hours of researching what I thought would be the best option for ‘that time’ when he needed help getting in and out of the car, and slotted it into place.  I put on his lead and tried to coax him to step up onto it, but of course he was shaken and panicked, tried to jump over it and fell again.

I’m not writing this post to solicit sympathy about being sad that my dog is getting old, but as lesson in what not to do.  You see what happened to today was totally my fault.   Today I let my dog down.

I bought that step months ago, but after a few attempts to use it had mixed/failed results, I put it in the ‘it can wait’/’too hard’ basket and excused away my laziness by telling myself we’d “work on it after the current foster dog leaves” or “he’s not having any problems getting in the car now, why put him through the stress of it?”.

On Thursday Henry’s favourite treat dispenser, Justin the Pet Coach, is coming over to help us with some strategies for encouraging him to use the step.  Something that should have happened a long time ago.

I’ve been trying so hard to deny the fact that he’s getting old because it hurts my heart  to imagine the time he won’t be here anymore that I’ve let him down… but that stops today.

From today he’s on a diet to lose that extra couple of kilos that I’ve been laughing off as “just floofy” but that I know is putting extra pressure on his ageing joints and on Thursday we’ll start to work on getting him in and out of the car safely.

Today he fell for the first time, and it was the best thing that could have happened to us.

(oh, and I counted today…. 76 times)

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