Time spent in the company of canines...

Is always time well spent.

I was asked by a portrait client to take some photos of her new puppy Emma and while I was at it, to give her some advice on integrating the newbie with long-time resident Bambi. Even though Emma had been in residence for 3 months, Bambi still didn't look like she was happy with the snappy li'l space invader.

Emma is incredibly busy, which can be expected for someone so small and so young. Being a miniature Dachshund, her tiny size makes her a hazard, she gets under your feet when you try walking anywhere and it appears that she is driving poor Bambi nuts. Her typical puppy behaviour includes biting with razor sharp teeth, jumping up incessantly and running around at top speed until I wanted to take her batteries out!

I spent about ten minutes TTouching her little wriggly body. She experienced mouth work for the first time and we fashioned a body wrap for her out of a Build-A-Bear T-shirt. She gave a couple of yawns and then settled between my knees on my lap, giving me a chance to finish my tea and show her mom how to do the simple TTouches. During the photo shoot she climbed into my lap and refused to go to her mom when called. It's always interesting to see how a body responds to this gentle work. She was more relaxed and much calmer after only a short time!

This is the favourite part of a day, when I gett to photograph one of my favourite subjects, do a bit of healing and connect with like-minded animal lovers!