The first time I held her I was completely and utterly smitten. I did not plan to adopt, nor was I in search of being a single mom at that time. It has been over twelve years and I have to admit I am the luckiest mom in the world!
You see twelve years ago I walked into PetSmart with a friend to buy dog food for their dog and while my friend was shopping I stopped to cuddle the puppies. That’s when it happened. I fell in love with my sweet pooch Shelby. We have been inseparable ever since. She looked at me with those big beautiful eyes and stole my heart.
While dating my now husband I knew he was a keeper when he just as quickly fell in love with Shelby. She adores him just as much. At times I get a little jealous because she was my dog first you know.
Shelby is a mixed breed, (Shh, honestly a mutt but she does not know it) she thinks she is a full breed greyhound. She could run like the wind and outrun any dog she was friends with. At least until she blew out both her back knees last year and had to have two knee surgeries. She bounced back quickly and although she did not run as fast she was still happy and loves going on walks.
This year she had a knot on her front knee which ended up being cancer. After a CT scan we found out she had a growth close to her lungs as well. A biopsy was performed to find out if it was indeed cancer and unfortunately it is. Shelby is going through treatment now. She is doing great and feels well. She is still her happy self and we are praying she gets better and can spend many more years with us.
We have lots of photos of Shelby but after seeing Sarah McGraw‘s beautiful work we wanted to document our happy little family. Sarah is Ah-MAZING! I nicknamed her Mrs. Dog Whisperer because she truly is just that! She knew exactly how to get Shelby to smile and be natural in front of the camera.
Sarah made us feel at ease and made being on the other side of the camera fun. She had lots of tricks in her bag to convince Shelby to smile. I especially love Sarah’s barking skills. She was down on the ground for most of the shoot capturing the best perspectives.
I could go on and on about all the things I love about this film but instead I am going to let you watch it for yourselves and see all the things that make it awesome!
Shelby – Moving Pet Portrait from Sarah McGraw on Vimeo.
And here is the YouTube link in case the above video won’t display on your viewing device: http://youtu.be/r1uyxbAIgYQ
Sarah wrote a really sweet blog post about Shelby and her shoot. See it HERE.
Be sure to check out Sarah’s website: Charlotte Pet Photographer
And follow her on Facebook for more adorableness! http://www.facebook.com/McGrawPhoto