Your pup is very special, and a studio portrait of him or her is an intense and challenging undertaking. But together we can do this.
Please take a few minutes to read this FAQ, so you have an understanding of how we can collaborate to make this a successful shoot, and (most important) a fun one for your dog. (For ease of writing, we refer to your dog as "him" throughout below.)
It takes time.
The first order of business is to make your dog feel comfortable and unthreatened. The Prime Directive is to give your dog a clear impression that this is a safe, nonthreatening space, and that he is going to have fun.
After you arrive, you can normally let him off the leash to explore, sniff, and get a sense of the studio. Most dogs take a good bit of time to acclimate to a new closed environment, especially one they will immediately know has been visited by other pups.
We plan for sessions to be 60-90 minutes, but you need to accept from the get-go that we are not in charge, your dog is. We are going at your dog's pace, not ours. If he does not feel comfortable, we have to wait and relax until he does. Only then can we get started. Sometimes (rarely) that happens in 5 minutes, sometimes it takes 55. Usually it's more like 15-20.
It won't take long to get lots of good shots, once your dog is ready (and he won't give us much time). What takes time is building the dog's trust, making them feel comfortable, not tense, curious not cautious, and willing to play and smile with us. If we give him a sense that we are in a rush, tense, forcing him to do X and Y, that will reset us to zero and it will take that much longer to get to a point where photography is possible.
This is a team effort.
You have a close and personal relationship with your dog. I do not. So it is very important that the dog senses that we are working together, that you trust me so that he can as well. As we spend that first 10-15 minutes chatting and getting to know each other, it is important to show your dog through body language and tone of voice, etc., that we feel comfortable together in this space, and therefore so should he.
Ideally, we will relax, take our shoes off, sit on the floor or the couch, and give him time to settle, without us paying too much attention to him. We don't want him to sense that something is up...
You have a special role.
My experience has shown that the relationship between the dog and their person, and how they interact "on the set," has a huge influence on how the session will go. If you feel uptight because your pup is not "performing well" and then start urging the dog to sit or stay or take this treat, your pup will feel your tension. And then, most likely, he will shut down, to avoid anything laced with tension.
I have found that the more a dog's person expresses verbally or otherwise that they urgently want the pup to do something on set, the less inclined he will be to do that very thing (unless they are a highly trained service dog, perhaps).
You need to let go of any kind of performance expectations and just give your pup space to be himself, to relax, explore, and then, when the time is right, to sit and be the center of attention.
There can only be one director.
15-20 minutes of get-acquainted time does not make your dog just suddenly eager to do my bidding (treats or no treats). Yet we need the dog to be responding to me, not you, and certainly not to both of us. That means we need to collaborate so that your dog is primarily responding to stimuli I give it.
If we are both trying to get him to sit and stay or face the camera, the dog will become confused and not know where to look. And confusion leads to tension, which leads to an early end for the shoot.
Sometimes, in a rare case, the only way to get the dog to both relax and pay attention to me as a director, is for its person to leave, or relax in the next room. We play it by ear.
No extras on the set.
It is hard enough for a dog when there are two humans gently coaxing it into position. More people will turn a session into a non-starter.
Do not bring along children or spouses or others who "just want to watch." It does not work. The dog will be distracted, and, more importantly, so will I.
One dog, one human. No exceptions.
Toys and treats are ok.
Feel free to bring along any special treats or toys or blankets, or small things you can carry that will make your pup feel comfortable and relaxed. Just don't overdo it. We definitely don't want to overstimulate him.
No phones.
Please silence your phone when you arrive and don't plan on taking "behind the scenes" shots while we are working. That is a distraction we don't need. If things go well, toward the end you can take a few shots of us working, if we've talked about that ahead of time. I would then let you know when I think we have gotten what we need and I am not worried about distractions any longer.
Safe words.
If we are trundling along and I say something like, "I think we need a reset," that means I feel we need to shift gears and dial the tension and the requesting down because what we are doing is not working. It may mean you need to leave the room, or need to relocate to a different place in the studio, or even that we need to reset back to zero.
If I say something like "I think that is all we are going to get from your pup," then it's time to wrap things up. Once I sense that your pup is done with this (and most except SuperHams can only last 10-15 minutes of shooting at best), there is no sense going on, because dogs cannot be forced into good pictures.
We can dream.
The ideal, most "productive" session imaginable would look like this:
- We spend 10-15 minutes chatting and getting acquainted very calmly on the couch or on the floor while Pup roams around smelling all his predecessors and looking for where I hide the treats.
- We move into the studio and there is more exploring and talking. I share a few treats with Pup.
- As Pup explores the studio, I pop the lights to be sure they won't set him off.
- We test the waters and explore the best way to coax him into the posing location, getting off a few shots to check the lighting. You communicate any unique commands or quirks so that I can be giving them while you sit quietly off to the side.
- I toss Pup treats and he catches them, giving us some great action shots. But he also sits calmly at attention to give us a very stately or perked up look. He also responds to noise and grunts with curious head tilts, all the while scarfing down tasty treats. You proudly beam at your good pup.
No session ever goes this smoothly, so please don't expect it. It is best to come in with a very Zen sort of feeling that we are going to have some time together, have a little fun, and there is zero expectation that Pup will tolerate this situation. That way, there is no way to develop expectation anxiety or do anything but exceed expectations.
Just understand the direction we are going and let's see how Pup likes things here. Remember, he is in charge. And we will very likely capture some great images.
