“It’s just the most amazing thing to love a dog, isn’t it? It makes our relationships with people seem as boring as a bowl of oatmeal.” – John Grogan
I had never met a Saint Bernard before in my life. I grew up watching the film Beethoven and just assumed that Saint's are like any other breed of dogs, but I couldn't have been more wrong ( and I mean that in a good way!)
I met Alex 2 days before our shoot was supposed to take place and wasn't sure what to expect. I had only ever seen Saint Bernard's from a distance and couldn't even take a guess as to what was going to happen next...
The door opened & a 62kg ball of fur came up to me, stood on his hind legs and gave me the biggest hug I could have ever gotten. Alex is a slobbery kisser & his drool was all over my face!
He then got on all fours, turned around and leaned onto me for a butt scratch. Now this wasn't unusual, my dog Prancer does the same, so I was prepared. But, what I didn't expect was for Alex to be putting all of his weight on me, pushing me onto the bed so that he could come and sit in my lap.
It was the best first visit ever!
Next up , shoot day!
Alex's sister - Sush had just started college in Canada. They both loved each other dearly & wanted to get a shoot done together so that she has his photographs to take when heading back to college.
Alex's life hasn't always been the best. He was the runt of the litter, which meant that his immune system was weak & overall strength was less than those of his siblings. The breeder was about to put him down when his hooman mother fought for him & finally took him home. Alex has had a rough ride in life as a pup. He's been through tick fever, jaundice, currently has early onset arthritis, but nothing stopped him from becoming the happy-go-lucky dog that he is today!
He was up for anything during the shoot. Alex was so excited to be in a park, he climbed all the rocks and ran around in the grass, once nearly pulling off Sush's arm! He was so happy to be outdoors and unleashed. It was beautiful to watch.
The thing that made me laugh the most during my visit to their house was the fact that both Sush and her mom had to carry around a roll of tissue paper to wipe Alex's drool! So when I saw that they carried a roll to the photoshoot as well, I didn't want to miss the chance of capturing that moment!
"It was an amazing experience to get a photoshoot done by Prathima for my furry baby Alex with his elder sister Sush. Prathima is a gem of a person who oozes out so much positive energy to get any job done in any kind of circumstances. Alex being a Saint Bernard is not so easy to handle but the way Prathima managed to get beautiful pictures of all of us is just outstanding. Thank you Prathima for capturing beautiful moments for us."