Colby reluctantly drove us to Indiana to pick up male #3. Yup. That’s right. He was known as Male #3. I had already decided I wanted to name him Bentley. Jerry had given in and decided to get Male #1 and name him Tyson. We met at a McDonald’s parking lot (because the breeders drove up from Kentucky). They were the size of a hamster. So tiny and cute! We made the exchange and were on our way back to Chicago. Both Tyson and Bentley slept together most of the way. I remember pulling up to Jerry’s condo and handing Tyson over wondering if the brothers would ever see each other again. And, well, they haven’t… because Bentley tries to kill other dogs… He’s not tough, but he thinks he is.

Over the last 3 years, he’s turned into the cutest little boy EVER. He has such a great personality and cute mannerisms that keep us cracking up daily. I think his little voice is the cutest. Yes, he is somewhat spastic and has little dog syndrome, but I’ve learned to love it. All of it. So, happy birthday Bentley! Momma loves you little boy!

Here’s Monty

From time to time, we have clients bring in their cats to be photographed. As you can imagine, this doesn’t usually go over very well… At all, actually. The training room that they give us to set up and do the photos in smells like dog, so automatically, cats typically don’t like the smell, but not Saturday. Nope. Saturday we had the most awesome cat in the world (which restored my faith that cats can be good) come in to get photographed. The cat’s name was Maverick and is a bengal!  It was the most beautiful cat I’d ever seen. Here are a couple of favs.

All in all, we had such an awesome time. Saturday was pretty slow but Sunday was pretty much non stop. I’m so thankful to all of the pet owners who bring their sweet animals by to be photographed and to PetSmart for inviting us back, again, to be a part of their Adoption weekend. And, of course, $2 from each session went back to PetSmart charities.

FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: Here is our set up, in case you are interested.

We also had my friend, Stephanie, intern with us on Saturday. I hope to some day be able to pass the PetSmart legacy on to her for after we move!

Jen Shannon Photography

It’s funny… You can see the progression from cute, chewing puppy, to crazy little boy, to neurotic, to calmer, to subdued. It’s hilarious.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

On a lighter note though, my spunky little girl had a fabulous day! She laid around like a queen and then I made her a turkey cake. That’s right. It’s turkey, carrots, celery, potatoes, and an egg mixed together then baked for an hour. She LOVED it! She also wore her birthday hat, which she hates and later tore apart! It’s the same birthday hat I wrote a number 5 on last year (because the rest of the hats are packed) I used this year. I turned the 5 to a 6. She’s still as spunky as ever! I love her so much!

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

Black and White Project 2009 from Jen Shannon on Vimeo.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Animal Photographer

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Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Pet Photographer

I met many wonderful dogs and their owners. This time was a little different from the other two times. Instead of being so busy I couldn’t breathe or so slow we needed coffee, it was a mix, but that isn’t why it was different. This time I got to hear about amazing stories behind these wonderful dogs and how much joy these amazing canines have brought their owner(s) (referenced as mommy and daddy in this blog post). I also had a couple of repeat customers. Below are some of my favorites from the weekend.

Douggie (pronounced Doo-gie) and Maggie I photographed when they were puppies last year. They have grown so much since last year and it was sooo much fun getting to see them as grown up dogs! Goose and Cocoa were gorgeous dogs with the most beautiful eyes and coats. Bebe was sooo cute with her little pink bow, not to mention her little friend (the owner’s son) had such a cute bond with Bebe. Samari and Sasha are beautifully intriguing dogs. My husband insists that someday, instead of getting another Malamute, we should get a pair of Alaskan or Siberian Huskies but I love my Jumbo Mal! Samari and Sasha are incredibly smart. Samari is in advanced classes at PetSmart and Sasha is in intermediate classes. They both had the most amazing blue eyes! Dingo’s owners are also repeat customers. I loved getting to see and photograph them again! Dingo’s mom carried a bag of Dingo treats around to reward Dingo for being so good! She mentioned that she and her husband have a joke that God was going to give Dingo two brown eyes but decided right after he started making the second eye to make it blue (you probably can’t see it but the top of Dingo’s blue eye is part brown). Toby is Dingo’s brother (they also have a sister named Bubbles not pictured here) and came in sporting his doggles, Harley hat, and flaming fast bandana! He was so cute and acted like he didn’t even notice his attire!

I saved stories about the last two dogs for a reason. They have inspirational stories that will tug at your heart. Brownie is a show dog! Brownie has won many many awards and came incredibly close to winning best in show. That’s not all though. Brownie’s mom has a daughter that works there at PetSmart. They both shared a very sad but inspiring story. Brownie’s dad died of cancer five months ago. He had 4 different kinds of cancer, all completely unrelated to each other and suffered for 13 years with it. Brownie stayed bed side with his daddy throughout the 7 years he has been alive. During his final hours, Brownie laid in the hospice bed, knowing exactly what was going on. Brownie laid silent with a concerned look in his eye until his daddy took his last breath and said goodbye to the world. Brownie stayed as long as his mommy would let him, gave him one final kiss/lick on the hand and went back home. Any time his daddy’s name was mentioned his demeanor changed to a sad one. He knew exactly what had happened yet he comforted his daddy until the end.

The other story is for Barney. Barney is an incredibly cute Chinese Shar Pei (to which I hold a special place in my heart because my best friend’s sister has a cute one named Andre that my oldest dog Jayda had frequent play dates with when we used to live back in Florida and picked up this hilarious growl from). His owners told me they had adopted him two months ago. He was abused all of his life. While he stayed close to his mommy’s side, he was perfectly content in her arms. The sad part comes in where you can see the physical scars of his past of abuse. NO ONE should EVER abuse ANYTHING! Dogs don’t understand why they are being abused they just know when someone raises a hand, they get hit. When someone yells loudly, they get beaten. I’m so thankful to people who adopt animals of abuse and teach their beloved animal(s) that they can live in peace and give them the security of knowing they will never have another hand laid on them in anger or abuse.

I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from this past weekend! We had a blast! Thank you PetSmart and thank you clients!

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Pet Photographer

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Pet Photographer