Once upon a time there was a little brindle brat who loved the camera and held the title of most photographed dog in Sydney. Like all supermodels, once he got old he was ruthlessly replaced by a fresh faced youngster (do you see what I did there?!). I foolishly thought that working the camera was like riding a bicycle and not something you ever forget, but I could not have been more wrong on that sunny Saturday afternoon when I cast Chopper in the leading role of my photography adventure. Old greyface will be ten in November and his eagerness to please me is long long gone. He granted me about ten minutes of “broken” stays before his desire for the ball (the precious) was more than either of us could handle for a second longer.

Lots of dogs will only react to each of my different noisemakers once. If you’re lucky you’ll get a cute head tilt. If you’re really unlucky you’ll get this expression, like a nun who just had her bottom pinched.

Doing his best Gollum impersonation while waiting for “the precious”.

Once the sun had gone out of view we packed up and just let Chopper be a dog until it got dark. Watching him run and fetch and swim with so much joie-de-vivre made us remember why we foster-failed the little whingebag all those years ago – he’s a really fun dog to hang out with. As a pet photographer I’m guilty of turning every excursion with my own dogs into a photo shoot. This came as an important reminder to put the camera down occasionally and just enjoy the moment. (Ok, so I shot some video on my iPhone, but that doesn’t count!)