Laurel was lucky enough to win the raffle at the 2011 Million Paws Walk at Miami which included a mini session with me. She came up to my stall on the day and was so excited she’d won. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the session ever since.

We originally booked the session in for before Christmas, but due to the weather we had to reschedule so many times I lost count. Patient clients are the best! Eventually though we had a beautiful afternoon to work with and I am so happy with how the light looks in the photos. I can’t stress enough how much of a difference beautiful light makes to the final look of your images.

Some of you might be familiar with this well known dog beach on the Gold Coast – called “the Spit” – it’s popular with locals and probably the least touristy beach on the coast. The ramp up to the kiosk at the start of the jetty is where we started our session.

I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about our session beforehand, because what I remember about Geoff was him racing around madly on the the beach with Luna. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would be hard to get him to stay still for more than two seconds! My fears were totally unfounded though, as well as having an active social beachy life, Geoffrey is also very well trained!

I am in love with this shot of Geoffrey with the kiosk in the background.

Geoff goes to obedience classes regularly and his mum Laurel actually volunteers at the Animal Welfare League, teaching kids how to interact with and train dogs. The result is of course, Laurel having a very well behaved boy.

The path behind the dunes heading up the very end of the Spit is one of my favourite places to shoot. I love the colours and the late afternoon sunshine makes the scene come to life.

The dunes are awash with little yellow flowers at this time of year and although Geoff is a big tough man-dog, I couldn’t resist posing him in front of them.

Further down the beach, the last of the afternoon light was just starting to drop behind the dunes. The view down the coastline includes the towers and buildings of Surfers Paradise, Broadbeach and beyond, leaving you in no doubt that you’re on the Gold Coast!

Every time we had Geoff “stay” in a particular spot, when we’d finished Laurel would release him and he’d come racing along the dunes towards us, jumping big gaps between the dunes in some very impressive leaps and bounds.

Another aspect I love about shooting at the Spit are the dune trees – their long spindly bare branches make for an interesting background.

I couldn’t resist this shot of Geoffrey, silhouetted against the sky as the sun was setting.

Although he was rather tired (his second trip to the beach that day), Geoffrey was good enough to give me a lovely head tilt to finish off the session. I love this boy! Thanks for a great session Geoff and Laurel, I will have to bring Luna down for a trip to the Spit sometime soon.

This is one year old Mack – he loved soaking up the early morning sunshine and exploring the beach, so he pretty much stole the show early on in our session.

I love this flying tongue and head-tilt shot all in one!

Mack and his big sister Milly (older by only 6 months) are the best of friends.

Mack loves to chase flying sand and water, and puts on quite a show!

I don’t think Milly really understands the concept, but she’s happy to join in and give the jumping Mack a hard time!

Nothing better than a happy wet sandy dog at the beach!

Later at the dog park, Milly proved to be the more attentive model.

Mack preferred to be intruiged by a tractor at the other end of the park and I managed to capture some very attentive looks from him.

A family portraits was on the cards, luckily the dogs were pretty worn out by the stage and happy to pose with their mum and dad.

You can tell these guys really love their dogs!

After the coffee kicked in, we headed out to the front yard to get some shots before the sun flooded in. Meet Lily and Greta!

Lily is four years old and an awesome mix of Dogue de Bordeaux (aka French mastiff) and Bandog. About a year ago, Lily was rescued from a small town right in the centre of Queensland called Muttaburra. Judy’s daughter was going to foster and rehome her, so Judy and her husband Derek helped out by travelling to Torrens Creek (halfway between Townsville and Muttaburra) to meet up with her former owner and collect her. Once they had her home though, she never left and ended up being adopted permanently.

It’s pretty easy to see why. Aside from her killer head wrinkles and fantastic expressions, Lily is a lovely big cuddly girl who just adores people and pats and is under the mistaken impression that she’s a lap dog. She has also been very good with  some foster puppies. She used to view an open gate as an opportunity but now it’s either “happy, happy – they’re home!” or “awwww – will you be long?” – and seriously, how could you stay away very long when she’s pulling the face on the left?

If you can’t yet had enough of her luscious wrinkles, this should do the trick!

Four year old Greta has a rather more dramatic story. She was found in someone’s yard in Townsville, alone and terrified.  It took four days to catch her and get her to the pound. When she went to her first foster family she had to be carried from the pen to the carpark on her bed as she wouldn’t get up.  The first time Judy saw her she was lying on her bed in a pen at the pound visibly shaking in fear. Judy took her home, only for her to escape from their yard (complete with very high fences) in just a few hours.  She had crossed the busy main road at the front of the property and gone to ground on the river bank on the other side, spending the night there before being discovered in the morning and having to be slowly coaxed out of her hiding spot.

In the year that she’s been with Derek and Judy, she’s come along in leaps and bounds. No longer immediately running and hiding from visitors, she is still cautious, but was coming up to me for pats within a few minutes of my arrival. What a difference! While initially a little less confident around Derek she bonded closely to him when he had time off work with a back injury. He has become her “safe place” when she is in unfamiliar situations.

Obviously Greta has a fair proportion of Great Dane in her breeding, with her gorgeous ‘merlequin’ colouring, blue eyes and sweet little pink and black nose. Her tail however is something else – long, thick and almost kangaroo-like!

After some getting to know you time at their house, we loaded the girls into the car and headed off to their favourite place, a beautiful fenced dog park amid landscaped parkland on the river. Luckily it was early in the morning and we had the park to ourselves. Although Lily is fantastic and gentle with people, she does still have some issues to work through with dogs other than her best friend Greta.

The girls absolutely love going to the park, especially Greta who really comes out of her shell running around, playing and exploring with her beloved sister. With all the space afforded by the dog park she doesn’t feel trapped by people and can relax and play and run to her hearts content.

Although from completely different breeding, the girls are very well matched in size and strength so have an absolute ball together!

For two rescue dogs who didn’t have the best start in life, they play so beautifully together and are very good at sharing!

I love this black and white of the two of them, tongues out, having a rest before racing off to further fun and adventure.

Their best trick at the park is getting up on the dog agility ramp. Usually only because it means they are at head level with their Mum and Dad and are guaranteed get lots of pats and cuddles, but we managed to convince them to stay there for this shot!

After a good run around and lots of playing, the girls were nice and relaxed and treated us to some great doggy expressions.

Greta had been taught by her previous owner this little trick of putting her paws up, very gently luckily. I love the way she gazes into her Mum’s eyes, how sweet!

It was lovely to see Greta so relaxed and happy, quite a different dog than the one I’d first met at her home.

How lucky were these girls to have found their new home and each other! It’s great to know there are stories with happy endings out there, and I’m so glad to have discovered this one.