They also warned me that Inca especially was lacking a bit of training, so I was surprised to turn up to two rather well behaved and very cuddly pups! Gus (on the right) is the older of the two at 4 years old (Inca is 3) and the biggest as well. He was almost as tall as Luna, and reminded me of her so much when he greeted me at the front door proudly prancing around with a giant stuffed toy. Definitely a Luna moment, I wished I had my camera out at that stage.

These pair are lucky enough to have a massive backyard that runs down a slope into the valley, offering them wonderful spy-vision over the neighbourhood goings-on. Gus especially was forever racing off down the hill to check up on this or the other and patrol his territory!

Inca is more of a follower but still likes to admire the view over the valley. I just loved her curly Poodle tail!

The pair were kind enough to sit beautifully right next to each other for a photo, I didn’t even have to ask! What a pair of naturals!

With melting eyes like these, it seems like modelling would be a good career choice for them.

After they’d let off a bit of steam running around outside patrolling the yard, we moved inside. Coloured furniture can provide interesting backdrops, this grey outdoor wicker chair sets off Inca’s colouring perfectly.

Inside were some red leather couches that I knew would make fantastic props. Gus was quite happy to lay still and model for me.

Inca however needed a bit more coaching on the ’stay’ aspect, we got there in the end though!

As a reward for co-operating with me inside, we headed back outside for some playtime fun. Gus loves his big red Wahu ball.

As well as rolling around on the grass being attacked by Inca!

The end.

Molly the Staffy is a gorgeous, well behaved little girl who is lucky enough to have a totally devoted owner who obviously loves her to bits.

She gets regular early morning walks to her favourite park where she can run and sniff and cruise around spreading that famous Staffy smile and cheer everywhere she goes. And what an amazing tongue!

And very cute ears.

After we’d finished our walk through the park, we headed back to Molly’s house and chilled out in her backyard. The patio was nice and cool, a good place to stretch out on a hot morning.

It wasn’t long though, and her energy was back again, ready for a game of tug!

I somehow convinced her that modelling was a career path she should seriously consider.

This is probably my favourite shot of the session.

With this one running a close second. I’m so stoked that Molly’s dad is getting this one as a nice big gallery wrap canvas,  I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

In the words of April’s owner, this is April’s story:

April came to me about four years ago as a rescue dog. She is an English Staffordshire Terrier, I think she is about five years old. We decided to have her join our family officially on the 1st of April – our own ‘April fool’. She was found abandoned in an industrial site and was extremely persistent in her quest to be taken home as she sat with her rescuer all day while he worked all the while with her little paw on his back.

It was evident that she had had some puppies herself and was very timid – especially around men. With lot’s of TLC and good nourishing food and a fearless leader she could look up too (her big sister Jess – a fellow Pitbull who is now chasing rainbows on the other side) there was no stopping her rehabilitation. She is the most sweetest, cuddly and affectionate little girl and those chocolate drop eyes have a way of placing a permanent stamp on everyones heart.

April is a darling little girl, such a sweet face and so cuddly and affectionate, even when she didn’t really know me!

Doesn’t she have the coolest ears? One black, and one spotty.

Those eyes definitely melt your heart.

Of course I couldn’t resist some delightful head wrinkles.

But it was gorgeous spotty pink and white belly that got me every time. All recovered now from the litters she had, she just loves to show it off.

Asha the American Staffordshire Terrier is just over a year old, definitely the baby of the family. Although young and very playful and active, Asha is quite clever and quickly worked out just what I wanted from her. A very focused girl when there are treats on offer, she discovered the how to work the vending machine (me) and developed into the perfect little doggy model.

I couldn’t resist getting a shot of her frog impression.

What a pretty girl!

Doggy details.

Asha loves her beanbag and posed beautifully on it for me.

No furniture is out of bounds for these lucky pooches (sounds a bit like my house) so we tried some shots on the great vintage lounge seat.

After the serious business of modelling, we headed down to the yard for some relaxing and playtime.

Last week I had the pleasure of heading up to Brisbane to have lunch with Narelle and spending some time taking pics of all the little munchkins in both litters for her website. Nineteen in total! I was in heaven. I get to go back when they are four weeks old and take some more. They will be running around by then so something tells me it will be a bit more of a challenge.

Being a harlequin litter (the Great Dane colour of white with black patches), it’s always a bit of a lottery to see what comes out. Generally there will be harlequins, blacks (with varying amounts of white markings on the feet and chest), mantles (also called bostons) and merles (the mousey grey colour), with variations including whites, merle mantles and lightly marked merles, often called ‘merlequins’.

Narelle and co-breeder Stordansk Great Danes was lucky to get a total of seven nicely marked harlequins out of nineteen puppies, which is quite good! Always depending on conformation (how they are structured), the showable colours are harlequins, blacks (the less white the better) and mantles. Unfortunately the merles are not a showable colour in Australia, though I think they are gorgeous.

You can see all the photos here – Keisha’s litter – Jazzie’s litter – and read and see more about the dams and sire here. In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite shots.

All the puppies minus one, from one of the litters.

What a face! Don’t you just want to kiss his nose? This is a mismarked mantle/black puppy.

One litter had a total of five harlequins – four girls and one boy. Due to the way the genes work, harlequins will almost always display some merle patches along with black patches.

Gorgeous little merle mantle.

This merle boy was the chubbiest of the lot.

The only male harlequin out of 19 puppies, this little guy is pretty special.

A ‘merlequin’ (harlequin marked merle) and his merle mantle brother. These two mirrored, I have an number of photos with them doing the exact same pose mirrored, right next to each other!

Expect more photos at the end of May!