This was a first – a session with two dogs who only had six legs between them. In fact, that’s their Instagram handle, @twodogs6legs! First up was Gina, a rescue dog who’s thought to be Whippet x Kelpie. She will do anything for a treat.

Next was Tommy. He’s a Kelpie x Border Collie who was adopted just four months ago. He was a farm dog that lost his back leg in an accident before finding himself in the care of Herd2Homes. Kate saw his photo online and fell in love. Easy to see how that could happen!

Kate co-owns The Canine Collective, a grooming spa and daycare on the Northern Beaches (also home to Amy’s Puppy Pre-School). She hired me to take photos of her dogs to decorate the space with. They were the perfect models. (Oh, apart from that one time when Tommy ran away and then kept on running, yikes. I had to check he hadn’t suddenly grown a fourth leg when he returned!)

If there’s a row of upturned boats you can be sure I’ll be putting a dog (or two) on them – regardless of how many legs they have! Gina and Tommy took it all in their stride. Dogs are such resilient creatures.

Once the dog portraits were in the bag it was time for a family shot. Considering I dropped a whole bag of treats on the ground while setting up this shot I think the dogs did ok to compose themselves and get the job done.

Kate had this to say about her experience (I swear I didn’t pay her to write this!!) …

Now I must admit I originally thought I was never one to get professional photos done, hell I never even had them done of my kids. But I wanted gorgeous pictures to line the walls of The Canine Collective.

There was never any doubt in my mind what photographer to use. I had fan girled over Ruth’s work for quite some time. Her calendars, diary’s and most recently her gorgeous book, I was already a huge admirer.

The shoot was so much more involved than I imagined. Anyone who thinks there is no skill in pet photography clearly hasn’t tried their hand at it.

And the end result was more than I could ever hope for. My dogs have been captured in the most amazing shots, and their personalities are shining through.
I am over the moon!

Definitely do it! You won’t regret it.

If you own a couple of lookers like Gina and Tommy that you’ve been thinking about having professionally photographed now is the best time of year for it. Not too hot, not too cold and way less afternoon storms interfering with my shooting schedule.