Charlotte Reeves

I have a real soft spot for Greyhounds and in fact, seriously considered taking the steps to adopt one. That is, before I fell in love with a different type of hound and ended up with a pair of slightly larger and chunkier Great Danes! I’ve met and photographed quite a lot of Greyhounds now and am always blown away with how these dogs, which are originally bred with such a different purpose, end up making the BEST pets.

Andy’s gorgeous pair of girls, Lucy and Deanna, are certainly no exception to this trend. This is five year old Lucy.

And this is her big sister, fourteen year old Deanna.

We started the session off at a local park. The late afternoon sunshine coming through the gum trees was so pretty. Much like this pair of gorgeous girls! Lucy never began her career as a racer as she just wasn’t fast enough in trials. She had actually been taken to the vet to be put down at about two or three years old, would you believe it? At the eleventh hour, the vet suggested that she be taken into rescue, so thankfully she was saved and went into foster care. She was there for perhaps a year, before being adopted by her new mum Andy.

I just love Lucy’s outline, you can see how these dogs are built for speed with those long legs and bodies and small, pointy faces. Everything about them is uber-streamlined!

Unlike Lucy, Deanna was raced until she was about four years old and must have done reasonably well, as she certainly had the right bloodlines (her father was a famous racer). When she was retired, she was taken on by a different racer and kept as a pet until she was ten years old, at which point she was advertised online as a giveaway! How someone could keep a dog for six years and then give it up, I’ll never know. Anyway, it turned out to be a boon for Andy as it was love at first sight, and she was adopted into the forever home that she so deserves.

Finishing up at the park, we headed back to Andy’s house for a few shots in the backyard. With a grace and awareness that belies her age, Deanna took me through a range of expressions showing her unique and beautiful personality.

Not to be outdone, Lucy also posed for me in the backyard and showed off her built-in eyeliner around those captivating brown eyes.

Moving onto Andy’s lovely back deck and soaking up the last remaining rays of sunshine, we set up the couch and comfy rug and hung out with the girls for some quiet and sensitive shots.

I love Lucy’s sphinx-like pose in this one. And what gorgeous blue brindle colouring she has!

I think by this stage, both of the girls had become somewhat immune to my various squeaks, whistles and crazy noises I used to try and get their attention and get those little ears folded forward instead of tucked in for speed! I guess I must have somehow come up with something new for this shot of them both looking pretty alert – or perhaps I enlisted a squeaky toy!

I think this is my favourite shot of Deanna, she looks so regal and poised and wise in this.

Andy and Deanna’s bond was evident in every interaction and I feel this shot sums up their relationship perfectly.