“Saving one dog will not change the world, but surely for that one dog, the world will change forever.” - Karen Davison
I LOVE HOW INDIES ARE BEING GIVEN SUCH CUTE NAMES!
Almost every client of mine who has an indie, names them according to their personality & it’s amazing to see!
I named my indie Prancer because he just bounces everywhere he goes! Another clients' dog is named Inji - because she looked all wrinkled like ginger when they got her home (Check out her story & transformation here https://www.pawparazzi.in/post/a-dog-named-ginger) & now, here’s Data's story!
Kriti (Data’s hooman) contacted me when I was on my way to Delhi & said that she really wanted a shoot, but warned me much in advance that Data was going to be a tough dog to manage.
Since he was a lockdown puppy, he is very scared of new people & usually takes almost a weeks worth of time to get even slightly comfortable with them! He does get scared and snap if you made any sudden movements or look him straight in the eyes for too long.
And I thought to myself “Well, my job & passion IS to help people have beautiful memories with their pets, regardless of the situation, so what’s not try?”
I went into the shoot with zero expectations of how it was going to turn out & told Data’s parents to go into it with the same thought process.
————————————————————
What’s the FIRST thing you do when you see a dog?
Don’t you call out to it & make cute noises to get them to come close to you?
Don’t you kneel down and put your hand out to pet them?
I go crazy when I go to meet dogs, on the road or in my clients houses. But with Data, I wasn’t allowed to do ANYTHING that I would normally do.
To deal with a dog like Data, I was told not to look at him at all. Just to walk in the door, ignore him completely, sit down on the floor with some high value treats & just wait for him to make the first move.
I took out my camera & placed it infront of him to let him get used to its size & I just sat there for the longest time, placing his treats on & around my camera.
He was still too scared… Since he hadn’t been given food in the morning, we decided that I should hold his bowl of food and let him eat from it.
It took us about 30 minutes, but then, he was alright! He even came & booped the camera while I was taking a break between shots!
Hehehe, he even managed to give me a little nip on my butt while I was shooting because he finally wanted my attention!
TAKE A LOOK AT HOW WELL THE SHOOT TURNED OUT!!
TAKE A LOOK AT DATA'S STORY, FROM DATA HIMSELF!
"I was part of a litter of puppies in a North Delhi park. My siblings and I were all afflicted with parvo, and I lost all my siblings. I survived and got better. The amazing folks at @pawerpups and @pooch_tales kept tabs on me and ensured I was taken care of. Then one day, mumma and papa connected with Pooch Tales and asked how they could bring home an Indie puppy. The next day they came and met me in my park :) they tried to play with me and bribe me with treatos (which didn’t work then, but boy oh boy does it work now!). I came home that day, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Nana nani came from Ambala to Delhi the same day to welcome me and got me sooooo many goodies. Everyone hugged me tight and kept me warm, and in a week, I owned the house 😎 Now I twirl everyone around my little paws. Mumma makes yummies for me with tomatoes and chimken broth that I love to devour, and has taught me how to give lick-kissies. Papa makes sure I pee and poop in the correct spot. Masi teaches me to use my intelligent brains and learn more. And they all play with me, spoil me and indulge my idiosyncrasies.
They are all soooooo lucky to have me!"
_____________________________________ REVIEW...
What an AMAZING afternoon! Prathima’s effort at getting Data to be trusting of her was so thoughtful. She knew that Data was very skittish and takes weeks to get comfortable around new humans.
She spent extra time with us, and showered him with love (and food), got him to explore the camera (so as not to be afraid of it), and got Data to feel safe enough to go sniff her/ walk near her (yes that’s a big deal!).
And the pictures came out super duper gorgeous - beyond anything I could’ve hoped for. We all look stunning, Data’s constantly smiling, and we have a zillion cute shots of him that Prathima has painstakingly put together.
On top of being an awesome photographer, I found Prathima to be very approachable, punctual (yes, that matters, and I was so grateful!) and so professional - the pictures were ready in record time and not once was there a change in timelines for final delivery.
Thank you, and come back to Delhi soon so we can do this again! - Kriti Trehan-Lahiri