I am an amateur photographer who is always looking for new ways to raise funds for Colorado Puppy Rescue and have fun at the same time.
I found a fundraiser for another rescue where a professional photographer was donating all of the money paid for photo sessions to the rescue. I thought I would go check it out. I paid $75 for 1/2 hour session for my dog and myself. There was an option of $120 for an hour for multiple dogs/family members. What I found out after the session is that this photographer is charging a ton of money for the resulting photos and because I was only booked for 1/2 hour my dog didn't really have time to settle down. I bought an adorable pink pearl necklace and I had to ask over and over and over again to be able to put it on. To top it all off, I have to setup another session to "view" the resulting photos at the photographers studio.
I really want to do a photo session for Colorado Puppy Rescue, but would like to schedule hour long sessions (so we can have some fun) and include two digital or printed photos. All photos from the shoot would be available on the website and could be purchased separately. Would you be willing to pay $75 for a photo session with me? Let me know by leaving a comment or emailing me at funds@coloradopuppy.org! If I get enough interest I will work on getting it scheduled in August.
OK - onto other fun things. If you can't already tell, puppy/dog photos are my obsession lately. Everywhere I look I see photo props. One of my friends told me about a Groupon - of course I jumped on it.
Used it in a couple of photos this week and think it is going to be a great photo prop.
If you come across anything that would make a great prop for puppy photos, please let me know! I am constantly in search of capturing the perfect puppy photo. Here is my favorite from this week:
Have a great Friday and I look forward to hearing from you. If you ever want to take a look at all of our puppy photos, they are available along with our alumni and before/after photo albums. Please check them out at http://coloradopuppyrescue.zenfolio.com/
This is becoming a bit of a mantra for me in everything that I do. Regarding the puppies, we are trying to make changes to become better and more efficient.
If you haven't already seen it, we are doing a fund raiser in order to purchase food for our puppies. Any little bit helps. If you can pass this along to friends and family to get the word out, that would be greatly appreciated.
What happens when the competition starts doing the exact same thing that you are for photos? We need to take it to the next level. I have some ideas but would love to hear your ideas. What do you like in our puppy photos? What can we do better? I really need help regarding indoor photos - we have a limited amount of space to work in, so after a few photos they all start looking the same. Please comment or send me any information (funds@coloradopuppy.org) so we can Take Photos to the Next Level!
Finally - I am looking at the calendar and cannot believe that it is already the end of January and this is the first blog entry of the year. I will work on getting better.
Here are just a few blooper photos that will hopefully scratch that itch of not having any blooper photos for a whole month.
So here is my question of the week - not puppy related, but thought I would pose it to my puppy folks.
If you see that you "pocket dialed" someone do you feel the need to call them back to let them know they can disregard the last call?
I am thinking that if I leave a message and all that can be heard is me crunching some potato chips or singing along with the radio, the LAST think I want to do is to call someone back and leave another message to tell them to disregard the last message. Did they really listen to the entire message anyway?
Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts!
This week, I found a new toy. If you know me, you KNOW how much I love, love, love new toys.
Baaahaaaahaaaaa - Happy Friday. Well - if you were viewing it on the computer with shockwave - preetttyyy funny!
Being a volunteer with Colorado Puppy Rescue for the past 4 years, I have been fortunate to see thousands of puppies come through the door, go into foster care and on to find wonderful forever homes.
On March 2nd, 2010 the Rescue brought in a frail, skinny 16 week old Shepherd mix from New Mexico. She was called “Julia” and her story made several volunteers (including me) cry.
On Feb. 4th the pup had been found along the Highway with her litter mates and two adult dogs on a frigid, -8 degree night in Taos, New Mexico. A wonderful woman named Maxine Nakai was notified of the litter and drove to pick them up. The adult dogs took off but the pups were rescued. Julia was thought to be dead at first as she was found underneath all the dogs, cold and stiff and skin and bones. She was breathing though, but hypothermic and shaking uncontrollably. Maxine took the pups home and cared for them. All of the pups but Julia were transferred to another amazing woman named Pat Steele who regularly works with Colorado Puppy Rescue in bringing rescued puppies to our organization tirelessly and humbly.
The other pups were strong and healthy enough to go up for adoption at CPR’s event that weekend and find homes. Julia was still very weak. She had been fed warm goat’s milk around the clock for days, and when she was a bit stronger was taken to the Animal Care Clinic in Taos. She weighed a mere 11 lbs. at 3 months and the Vets there determined she had brain deficiencies from near starvation that would cause her to have a shaky stance, difficulty walking and controlling her head. This Neuromuscular condition would most likely be permanent.
By March 4th Julia was strong enough to come to Colorado Puppy Rescue to be given a chance at a life with an adoptive family. At the event, nobody was interested in adopting her. My husband and I had already fallen in love with her and brought her home as our foster. It took exactly 5 minutes of watching her interact with our two dogs to know we would adopt her.
Her name is now “Gracey” . She has a huge heart, is strong at 66 lbs. and her tail never stops wagging. She is determined to be like any other dog and that’s how we have treated her from the beginning. Her head still bobs and shakes, she still stumbles if she gets going too fast, her feet come out from under her when she’s excited, but as far as she knows, she has no handicap. Gracey is smart, playful, sweet and gentle with all the foster pups we bring home. She captures the heart of everyone who meets her.
Here is a video that was made when Gracey first came to Colorado Puppy Rescue.
Currently at CPR we have an 8 week old puppy that came to us with her two sisters and her Mom when the pups were just four weeks old. As they became more active, the staff noticed that “Scooch” was walking unsteadily, running into objects and shaking. This adorable little girl has been checked out by our Vet and is healthy in every other way. She has a vision impairment and stumbles sometimes when walking.
This is a wonderful opportunity for a caring, patient adoptive family to give this special baby a safe and secure home to live a happy, normal dog’s life. Please take a moment to view this short video of Gracey and of Scooch and of their play time together.
Thank you very much for reading Gracey’s story,
Monica Martin
Volunteer at Colorado Puppy Rescue
Special Thanks to James for the fabulous videos montage!
This week I want to show the world a dog that has my heart. She came into the shelter with porcupine quills all over her belly. The staff at the shelter was able to remove the quills, but her belly was still swollen. They determined that she was expecting puppies.
The puppies were born in the shelter then Mama (aka Patches) and puppies were transferred to us when the pups were just 4 week old. We just don't get to see this very often. It is really fun to watch the puppies grow and this mama is so good with them.
Brook got a few great videos of mama playing with her babies.
She is such a great mama. She allows people to cuddle her puppies but she keeps a constant eye on you. When she knows her pups are safe, she will come out and gently ask to get her ears scratched. Or she puts her head on your shoe so you can't move without giving her a little attention.
What is your breed guess? She has an underbite and what looks to be a natural docked tail. She is approximately 2 years old. She is tall and lean and weighs about 40-45 lbs.
The babies are black with small amounts of white and they are very big for their age.
Mama and puppies will be up for adoption shortly - keep an eye on the website (www.coloradopuppy.org) for them, but would love to hear your best breed guess. Consider her our mystery mix of the week.
Volunteering at Colorado Puppy Rescue reminds me of the saying from Pawn Stars: "You never know what's going to come through those doors." (P.S. If you have never watched Pawn Stars on the History Channel, you are missing out.)
We have had a number of unusual breeds come through the doors over the years, but this week is a definite first for me. This week we got in Mexican Hairless (aka Xoloitzcuintle (Xolo))/Dachshund mixes.
As I am vacuuming the house (multiple times a day) and cleaning out dog hair from the dryer vent by the handfuls, it make me ponder the advantages to owning a hairless dog. These pups are hypoallergenic and you would never need to own a furminator. Unlike many hypoallergenic dogs, these will not have to be taken to the groomer every month either. Huge money savings there!
They will be the talk of the dog park, but if you take them out in the sun I would advise stocking up on the doggy sunscreen.
Photos of 477 (Black/Grey)
Photos of 478 (Red)
Overall these are pretty cool dogs. These two babies are up for adoption on June 30th. Come early!!!! See our website www.coloradopuppy.org for all of the details.
I am thinking of shaving Sammie - make my very own hairless mixed mutt.
What do you think?
What is the most interesting breed that you have seen?
