Here are a few images from a recent session with their family. Some of these will be on display at their store soon.

The pups’ mother, Addie, was found by a local animal control facility, and brought in as a stray. She had obviously recently had puppies. At the time it was believed she had a broken jaw as well. She was at the shelter for a couple of weeks when, through the effort of a couple local rescue groups, she was pulled, and taken to a veterinarian. At her exam it was discovered that she actually had a severe abscess, not a broken jaw. Mercy’s Door Pet Rescue took her in, and placed her in a foster home.

In the meantime, an effort was made to find her puppies, who everyone thought must be too young to be away from her. The shelter where she was originally held was able to track down the pups, and thankfully they were also turned over to the shelter, and then went on to be reunited with their mama. They were around 3 weeks at the time – much too young to be separated from her, so this was a wonderful, happy ending for the little family.

I photographed the puppies when they were around 5-6 weeks old. So cute! Two have been adopted, two have pending adoptions, and two are still available to deserving families. Please contact Mercy’s Door Pet Rescue if you know of anyone who might be interested! Their mom, Addie, still needs a family of her own, and she is a sweetheart!

Of course, the puppies weren’t nearly as interested in being photographed as I was in photographing them! Wrangling a litter of puppies is NOT easy (but still fun!).

Finally! A photo in which they are all looking at the camera…kind of .



Addie, the puppies’ mother. She is currently in a foster home, but certainly needs a permanent family of her own. One in which she’ll be a treasured family member, not a breeding machine, as she obviously has been used for often in her short life.

If you are interested in booking a late spring/summer session, please do so now! I only take a limited amount of sessions, and would hate to miss yours .

This child pulls such a beautiful serious face, that I often forget to have her smile. But she can!

Dawson is a “Pit Bull” type/mix dog. He was rescued from a high kill animal control facility in Cleveland, Ohio. Dawson was found running on a highway along with another dog. Someone was kind enough to stop and help them so they wouldn’t be hit by a vehicle, and took them to the animal control facility. Dawson is the only one of the pair who made it out alive. He was pulled by Mercy’s Door Pet Rescue for someone who wanted to adopt him (Cleveland Animal Control only releases dogs to rescue groups). Within two days he was back with the rescue when it was discovered that he does not do well with cats. We started fostering him in December, and for some unknown reason he is still with us!

He has come SO far since we started fostering him. My oldest daughter adores him and has spent many hours training him. I will admit when we first brought him home I thought I had made a big mistake! He is young and had had no training, and it has been a while since we had such a young dog – basically a big puppy – in our home. He was most likely never socialized in any way. He was a handful! But now? He is a beloved member of our family. He has calmed down so much (I believe his initial hyper activity is how he deals with stress), and would make an excellent companion for almost anyone. Honestly, if my own male dog liked him he would probably be here to stay .

Here is a little write-up I did recently for him, to share online with his photos:

“My name is Dawson. I am almost 2 years old. I love people, including children ( I live with four of them!). I live with two other dogs and I do well with them, even though they aren’t always fond of me. I am usually friendly with other dogs, but slow introductions work best. If there are other dogs in my prospective family they need to be able to tolerate my puppy-like play. I do not do well with kitties! When I first came from the shelter, I was a little wild, and didn’t have any manners, but I have calmed down a lot since then! I now know how to sit, lie down, and stay on command. I walk well on lead…most of the time. I love to go on hikes and play with my squeaky ball. My foster family taught me to drop my ball and wait until it is thrown, so even children can play ball with me. I will bring it back over and over again, so I am very easy to exercise! In the evenings I enjoy snuggling on the couch with my foster mom. She says I must have no idea that weigh 60 pounds because I love to sleep on her lap! I am house trained, crate trained (I actually LOVE my crate), and neutered. Please share me with anyone you can think of who is worthy of having a special (and
gorgeous!) boy like me.”

In addition to fostering for them, I have had the pleasure of photographing many of Mercy’s Door’s adoptable dogs. Here are some that are still in need of families of their own. If you are looking for a four-legged family member, please consider one of these beautiful dogs! All are fully vetted, spayed/neutered, and living in foster homes. Contact Mercy’s Door via the link to their website above, if you are interested in adopting or even fostering for this wonderful group!

Venus

Stanley

Mercy

Nick

Joplin

Buddy

Karoo

Jett

Electra

Centar

Xena