Grant’s job takes him away from home quite a bit, so miss Maddie is Ange’s constant faithful companion while he is away. Another reason I was looking forward to this session was the location – these guys are lucky enough to live in beautiful northern NSW, just inland from Tweed Heads and surrounded by green rolling hills, country roads and lakes.

We started off the session on the deck of their house. The light filtering through the surrounding foliage was gorgeous.

Although more than happy to play fetch all day long, Miss Maddie was less than eager for her close ups. We worked out that the focus beep of my camera sounded rather similar to the warning sound her collar made when nearing the boundary fence of their property (as Maddie does love to roam). Also, big professional cameras can be pretty intimidating even without the beeping!

We did end up getting a few cute shots on the deck anyway, the afternoon colours of the filtered sunshine were amazing against her black and white.

To Maddie’s relief, we soon bundled into the car and headed off to a country road nearby where she often enjoys meandering walks with lots of her favourite thing – fetching sticks!

This girl LOVES her sticks and is never far from one!

Maddie was much happier out on the road in familiar territory, and of course sticks make everything in life that much better!

I love this shot of Maddie racing towards her stick, with such an intense look on her face!

With the help of her beloved sticks, we even managed to get some lovely close ups of her out and about enjoying her walk, totally in her element.

Since the session was organised on the sly without Ang knowing, we were able to complete the experience with a surprise viewing and ordering session at their home – we set everything up and when Ang came home from work there was a lovely slideshow of all Maddie’s images on the TV in their lounge room! I love seeing people’s reactions as they view their images for the first time!

She ran out of steam pretty quickly though (it’s hard work being so cute) so we switched to doing to some exploring of the park. How cool is Lily’s little harness, by the way?

Striding out to get to the other end of the bridge, it’s always more exciting at the other end!

Lily’s family are lucky enough to live in a lovely house with a fantastic outdoor area. The deck and surrounds made great backdrops and I especially love how Lily looks against the dark texture of the deck.

Especially in black and white!

Lily is three years old and along with the family cat (who is pretty much the feline equivalent of Miss Lily looks wise) is totally adored by her family. Their last dog was a British Bulldog so you could say they’ve definitely stuck with what they like!

Lily was an amazing model, with those huge ears pricked up all the time, she always looks alert!

Apparently her colouring is not very common in this breed, as she’s actually classed as a very lightly marked piebald. The only colour of her kind in her litter, her future family decided they wanted her as soon as they saw her! She was certainly named accordingly, although there is actually some black skin under that very bright white fur, you don’t see it unless she’s wet.

Along with a snuggle-able little chunky body, Lily has the cutest little tail and her black spot edged ears are quite a feature.

I love how she looks against the pale blue of the pool.

As well as good looks, Lily has a lovely temperament and was up for lots of snuggles when our session was over, I so wanted to steal her away with me! She is also very playful and energetic when it was time for her favourite game – chasing the water from the hose!

Lily was bred by Frogwyk Kennels in New South Wales – you can visit their site here to see more gorgeous French Bulldogs.

Out of the forest it was a little clearer, though still trying desperately to rain us out. We got started right away just in case we didn’t have much time to work with!

I was greeted by Dixie and Sam. At the respectable age of 11, Dixie the Border Collie + Shetland Sheepdog cross can only be described as an absolute darling.

I love older dogs as they always seem to possess a sense of wisdom and understanding that the younger ones have yet to discover. Dixie is no exception, this girl is super smart!

Her younger companion, Sam, is a Labrador + Kelpie mix and just a baby at two years old. He’s rather tennis ball obsessed, and for about the first 15 minutes this was my view as he dashed off down the paddock retrieving his beloved ball again and again.

It wasn’t all blurry running-through-the-grass shots though, he stopped for moments of focus and concentration as he eagerly waited for his ball to be thrown.

Even when it was time to go back up to the house for some more relaxed shots, he still wanted to bring his beloved ball along for the ride!

We decided to put Sam in the house for a little while to settle (as his Mum says “Sam doesn’t have an off button”) while I concentrated on Miss Dixie for a while instead. When the bushfires came through, the family decided to stay and do all they could to save their house. It proved the right decision; while most of the unattended houses in the street were unfortunately destroyed; they managed to defend and save theirs, even after a couple of very close calls! The doggies were safely tucked away inside during the inferno, the best place for them to be. After hearing horror stories of other families, livestock and homes that hadn’t been so lucky, I’m so glad these guys managed to save their house and their beloved dogs.

Dixie actually came with the house when they bought it, many years ago! The old owners moved on and she stayed put, so Danielle and her husband inherited her along with the property. She was an outside dog with a rather bad habit of chasing cars up until they took over, but she now has run of the house and is very well behaved. What a good turn of luck for Dixie!

When Sam came along a few years later, she took a little while to warm up to his crazy puppy ways. I’m glad to report though that they are now firm friends.

And at eleven years old, when having a game of rough and tumble in the paddock with Sam, it’s good to see Dixie gives as good as she gets! She leaves the maniacal running in circles to the younger of the pair like the smart girl she is, and instead carefully chooses her moment to pounce and attack! The light was a little low to get sharp action shots, but these should give you an idea of the two at play.

After a good ball session as well as a play session with Dixie, Sam was finally ready to settle down and do some serious modelling for me.

What a star!

His cooperation had to be rewarded of course. Sam’s other favourite thing to do? Like many dogs lucky enough to live in the country, swimming in the dam of course! We trekked off down the paddock, Sam leading the way.

It wasn’t exactly a warm day, in fact, I’d consider it pretty cold – but I do hail from from the Gold Coast! If the air temperature was anything to go by, the water in the dam must have been freezing. Sam didn’t hesitate for a second though. Seeking out an old tennis ball he must have stashed away for this very occasion, he proceeded to dump it at our feet then swim around eagerly waiting for it to to be thrown. Definitely a water baby at heart!

I think Sam would have happily done this for the rest of the day, but we thought we better get him out of the water and back up to the warm house and a nice dry towel!

I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to see some of the countryside around Melbourne as well as the city itself. I’m even more glad to have met this special family and their dogs! Thanks for having me guys, oh and special thanks for the amazing coffee and muffin afterwards, delicious!

From the moment I arrived and he greeted me with a wagging tail and lots of enthusiasm, he was always there, willing to pose anywhere we asked and just happy hanging out and being the centre of attention.

He loves to camp out at his favourite spot on the deck, watching for visitors and waiting for his owners and other exciting new people to come up the stairs and say hello to him.

A well behaved boy, he also is happy to hang out in the front yard looking gorgeous.

By the end of the session, he’d completely mastered the ‘how cute am I? now just give me the treat!!’ look.

To finish up we moved to the back deck. I just loved how the blue rails worked in so well with his colouring.

Big paws!

“This is Lupe our 22 month blue boy. He is the center of our world and knows it. He love the dog park and the beach (but not the waves – still cant swim). Poor baby has had a rough time this last year. We nearly lost him earlier this year when he got pneumonia and spent a week in ICU. A few weeks ago he got bit on the hind leg by another dog at the spit (beach) and had to go back to the same hospital for surgery to open the wound up. Thankfully despite being spoilt rotten he’s a trooper.”

I’d actually already been in contact with Lupe’s owner as we were going to organise a play date with our two blue babies, so it was an added bonus to be able to tell her that she’d also won the competition!

I visited Lupe and his devoted Mum and Dad in Brisbane on a fine summer afternoon. They had a fabulous back deck that we spent a while hanging out on.

Being a blue Great Dane, he felt quite similar to photograph to my own Luna, except maybe a tad more photogenic and not so prone to pulling silly faces!

In fact he is a rather serious looking boy most of the time.

Who still manages to be super cute when it’s called for.

And very good at the head tilt! Most dogs have a particular sound they do this to, for Lupe it was a quiet high pitched whistle, very effective!

Lupe has an unusual ridge running down the back of his neck – as someone cleverly pointed out – a mohawk!

Along with at matching little strip of white on his chest, very classy.

After the serious modelling business was over, we took Lupe for a walk to his fabulous local park.

Where he said hello to the equine resident…

Puzzled over his Dad up a tree…

Said goodbye to the horsie…

Then topped it off with a guzzle from the drinking station, in true Great Dane style.

If you want to see more photos from Lupe’s session, visit his gallery on Facebook.

They have a big deck and a fantastic garden to while away the hours.

Baileys is a 10 year old Staffy with a such a laid back and cruisy attitude.

Her best mate Billy the 7 year old Fox Terrier is a serious boy but very attentive and was constantly trying to steal food out of my treat pouch, very sneaky!

But very cute as well, posing here on the garden path for me.

The little beach and jetty was a great spot for photos.

Couldn’t resist a shot of the two of them, when they paused for a second to check out a boat.

Gotta love those wise old staffy eyes.

I had a great afternoon chilling with this gorgeous pair and we managed to wrap up the session just as the rain came and it bucketed down! Thanks for a lovely afternoon guys.