First, my website cowbelly.com is currently down, and I am waiting for it to come back up (loooong story). This makes me even more driven to get my new site online so I don't need to deal with templates anymore! The site should be back up within 2-4 hours. The NEW site is built, I just need to do some major tweaking of menus, ftp the files, and do the troubleshooting, and hopefully it will be live by 9/15.

This is day 4 of Fergie week, and we are really looking forward to splitting town this weekend and taking a mini-break up on the Olympic Peninsula.

Given that I average 60-70 hours of work per week, every week, rarely take days off and haven't had a vacation on over 2 years, any time off is greatly appreciated and savored. I love my job but sometimes it's nice to relax as well. :-)

I planned to tell you Fergie's likes and dislikes today and share some of her friends with you. I realized that I ended up sharing many of her likes yesterday, so I will keep that list short. I also have very little time to write as I need to get work done for clients so I can take 3 days off this weekend and not end up overwhelmingly behind.

Fergie's likes, loves and dislikes.

Loves:

Tennis balls, mud, playing really rough, when people blow in her face, getting tummy rubs, stinky venison treats, any toy by Orbee, her grandpa Larry, running as fast as the wind, bananas, and lots more.

Dislikes:

escalators, strange and/or drugged out people (it scares her), harnesses that need to go over her head, dogs that bite at her ankles and/or butt, dogs that steal her ball, people who yell (it scares her too), and that's really all I can think of!

Fergie's favorite places to go are the dog parks.

Our faves are the Belltown offleash park, which is just 5 minutes away from us by car. If we get there right at 6pm we can find parking within 2 minutes or less.

And Golden Garden's dog park, which we have been going to quite a bit lately just to change things up a bit.

Golden Garden's OLA is very pretty- nestled in super tall trees, with a peekaboo view of the sound and Olympic Mountains. It's plenty large and there's lots of room to play and tons more to run and run.

Here are some of Fergie's friends from Belltown:
















Fergie & Biscuit, waiting for the same tennis ball
























Brando























Jasper






































































Fergie's tennis balls are always in high demand for reasons I don't fully understand...























Belle


















Syd & Wyatt play killing each other

Hope you enjoyed Fergie's friends!

Tomorrow I'll share why I love Fergie so much (for the 1.2 people that haven't picked this up yet from my blog this week), and my thoughts on the human-animal bond.






labels: belltown off-leash dog park, golden gardens dog park, seattle OlA, seattle dog photos, fergie's friends, seattle pet photography, seattle dog photographer, great dane at dog park, pitbull at dog park, golden gardens, belltown OLA Stumble It!

Before Fergie shares with you 8 random facts about herself, I am excited to announce that I just joined Team Urban Beast for the annual PawsWalk next month!

By walking with our friends and family in the fun event on Sunday September 8th at Magnusun Park we are helping to raise much needed funds for the terrific Progressive Animal Welfare Society- the very place that rescued Fergie and brought us together.

Please support this fantastic nonprofit organization by visiting my personal team page and making a donation. Please click this link to go to my homepage:

Support PAWS in honor of Fergie

Now, as promised for day 3 of Fergie Week, I have interviewed Fergie to tell me 8 random facts about herself, and here are her answers, as told by her. Pardon the poor spelling and grammar but Fergie is only 2.

1. when i get really excited and chase my toys like the green dinasore, my pupils in my eyes get really big and round.

2. last summer at the dock dogs event in a place called pee-yew-allup, i jumped 18 feet into the water off the dock. my mom jumped up and down and screamed and laughed. i don't why, but it was fun.

3. my very favorite person in the whole wide world is my grandpa larry. he is always really nice to me and lets me do whatever i want, like jump on top of him. when i jump on top of my mom she gets a bad look on her face.

4. i eat lettuce.

5. my favorite thing to do is after my mom gets up to go potty in the morning and when she comes back to bed and snuggles with me under the covers and we can sleep like that and she rubs my tummy.

6. when i was 7 months old i chewed through the string of my mom's office toy and she was so sad she went in the bathroom and cried.

(Addendum. The 'string' of the 'toy' that Fergie chewed through was actually the cable to my graphics tablet that I use to design art and edit photos. The cable is hardwired so it became inoperable after she had her way with it, effectively killing the large print order that was due for a client's birthday present the next day. I cried because I was so mad I didn't know what to do, lol.)

7. i'm really good at shaking and can shake with each paw. but i'm even better at high five. except i use both of my paws at the same time. that always gets me treats. i like the smelly kind.

8. i wag my tail in my sleep.

So there you go- 8 random facts about Fergie, as told by Fergie herself.

And if I might add to it, here are some more things you probably don't know about her.

She turned 2 on July 6th.

She, by my best educated guess, is a Rhodesian Ridgeback/Lab/Pitbull mix, in that order.

No she doesn't have a ridge, and no she doesn't eat small children. Yes she loves water, and yes she will fetch until she dies.

She is a natural born agility dog and is always the fastest dog at the dog park not including the whippets and greyhounds.

She cocks her head predictably when you say her name or any of her favorite phrases: "doggies", "park", "do you wanna...?" "grandpa", "grandma", "ride", "hungry", and "treat".

When I first brought her home when she was just a pup, she would lay on my bed when I was reading, curl up on the pillow next to me and prop her little head on the edge of my pillow, facing the same direction, breathing in my ear. She would always let out a long sigh and nestle her little head deeper into the pillow, never touching me, not wanting be petted, but as close as possible to my head.

She can totally ruin a stuffed animal in seconds flat, ripping out guts and eyes and noses. She can make a room look like a snowstorm hit in 3 minutes or less.

She HATES wearing things on her head, things that go over her head, anything to do with her head. She also strongly dislikes wearing clothing or any kind of accessory besides a collar. She prefers to be naked as much as possible.



















She is INSANE for tennis balls. Like she mentioned above, when she gets really excited her pupils dilate, her eyes get big and round, and her body shakes. I call her my crack baby.














































Fergie would chase balls until she died.

There is only one thing that Fergie loves more than tennis balls and that is mud.
















And lastly, Fergie regularly lays with her legs straight out behind her like this:























I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about the Cowbelly Pet Photography mascot Fergie! And she hopes to see some of you at the PawsWalk next month! If you have any questions about the event feel free to shoot me an email and ask: info at cowbelly dot com






labels: fergie, cowbelly mascot, seattle pet photography mascot, jamie pflughoeft's dog, pawswalk, team urban beast, urban beast, seattle dog photographer, paws, seattle pet photography Stumble It!

Before I begin this post, are there any other Seattleites out there besides me who were awake and outside after midnight last night?

The sky was the most incredible shade of peacock blue, and seemed to be glowing from the horizon up, almost like a sunset of blues. The moon was full (or mostly full), which cast a bright light on everything, illuminating the sky and horizon below. It was really astonishing. On my walk with Fergie I stood and stared and said "wow" out loud several times, just drinking it in. I could have stayed there all night. Fergie herself could have cared less- there was far too much pee mail to check to be standing around wasting time. :-)

Onto Fergie.

Before I tell her backstory, I need to tell mine. It's a pretty long story but such an important part of my life, and my business, and who I am, that it means a lot for me to be able to share here.

I grew up with dogs, and cats and squirrels (no they didn't live in the house), and birds, etc, etc. I was always the little tyke that toddled down the street pointing at dogs saying "doggie doggie!" I don't just love dogs, I adore them. All of them. Although there are breeds I love, I have no breed bias- each animal is an individual and special in it's own unique way.

SO, when I moved out as a teenager I didn't take any pets with me.

I continued on through my 20's dogless.

I traveled, worked in Alaska, lived in France, did A LOT of snowboarding, and just generally didn't have time in my life to care for one. But I deeply wanted a dog nonetheless.

By the time I hit 30, this desire was nearly overwhelming. I was working as a dogwalker at the time and studying animal behavior (specifically canis lupus familiarus) at the University of Washington and my life revolved around dogs. Within 3 years I was a pro pet photographer and dogs became an even more central part of my life.

The two things that held me back from adopting a dog were:

1. lack of time. My new business took every second I had and trying to care for another living thing was out of the question.

2. lack of pet-friendly housing. I live in Seattle, in the core of the city on the edge of downtown, and I rent. I would love to buy, but the houses I like in the neighborhoods I want to live in are easily $750,000, and although I am able to support myself fulltime with this job I am far from rich. So I rent. Finding a pet-friendly rental in Seattle is tough, especially if you like big dogs like I do.

2 years into my new biz (this one) I couldn't wait any longer. I gave notice at my old place and began the search for pet-friendly housing. Now mind you I am picky. My mom was an interior designer and I was raised with some of the finer things in a pretty typical middle-class life. I was unwilling to settle for a dump and didn't wish to pay $1400 a month for a cookie-cutter downtown condo, where most of the pet-friendly places are. My options were few to put it mildly.

Well, long story short, my search got a little, um, anxiety-inducing when, 5 days before I was scheduled to move out of my old place I still hadn't found a new place to live. But I refused to give up.

My persistence paid off when, mere days before my move date, I found my current home- a large fabulous 1920's spanish style apartment with stucco walls and tons of old world charm, at a reasonable price in one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city (Queen Anne), with parking, AND pet friendly. I fell in love with the landlord right away (who also has dogs), and moved in in September 2005.

It wasn't until the madness of the holiday dog sessions and Decopaw art ended that I had the time to start my search. In February of 2006, while doing my thrice-daily intensive search on Petfinder, I found her.





























































I nearly missed her the first browse through the Petfinder page she was on. I had memorized all of the dogs pictures (really I swear!), and when I went to the next page it clicked suddenly that there was a dog on the previous page that I didn't recognize, so I went back.

I looked, and then stared, and read, and re-read, and re-read, her description. I mulled for what seemed like forever.

She was a puppy. I didn't want a puppy; it was on my list of deal-breakers. I wanted a dog who was truly needy- one that wouldn't be fought over. Puppies get adopted really quickly.

I remembered what my friends and clients Ricardo and Heather said to me over dinner one night, when I asked them how I would know if I was picking the right dog for me. "You'll just know Jamie- you'll know".

At that moment, when looking at this little dog's pictures, I knew. She was the one for me.

I quickly grabbed my keys, scrambled for my purse, shoes, and coat and went to head out the door to PAWS, the animal shelter where this little dog currently lived.

"Wait" I caught myself "what time do they close?". It was a Saturday evening.

Woops- they closed a half hour ago.

So I got up early on Sunday (no small task for me) and heart pounding, drove the 30 minutes to Lynnwood to the PAWS shelter. I was nearly panicked that she wouldn't still be there- I didn't know how often they updated their online listings. I was also pretty terrified about the task at hand. You see, I am one of these people that cries at the drop of a hat when they see or even think of, an animal in a less than desirable setting. A shelter for any dog is certainly that. I feared that it would be so sad and depressing I would never recover.

I got lucky.

The little dog that I saw on Petfinder (Senbia was her name) was the 2nd one in on the left when I walked into the kennels. The first dog was a pretty pitbull who was being fawned over by a family. I literally didn't see (or look at) any other dogs there besides the popular pitbull and the new target of my affections.

Get this.

When I walked up to her kennel, Senbia was laying on her tummy chewing on a kong. She stopped when she saw me and stood up and gently wagged her tail. I said "hello....... sit". And she sat right down, no hesitation. "Hmmm, what else does she do" I thought, wanting to engage with this little creature. "Shake" I said. She did her version of shake, waving her paw at me. Not in a rambunctious puppy way, but in a more inquisitive way, head tilted to the side, looking at me.

That was it for me- I was sold- hook, line and sinker.

"Excuse me? Somebody? I'll take this one!" I laughed.

Ok, it wasn't quite that simple. It took a good 30-40 minutes of me hanging out with her in their enclosed outside area, a couple of chats with the volunteer that did Senbia's intake evaluation, and quite a bit of self-doubt before I decided to proceed with adoption. For me adopting a dog is a forever decision- I will never ever give up on this dog, or give this dog up, even if it means we become homeless and need to sleep in the car- so this was a major commitment.

And one that ended up taking more out of me than I had originally anticipated.

When my new puppy came home, she was nameless for awhile. I couldn't pronounce her name and when people asked me I responded with a lame "uh, I don't really know what her name is yet- still working on it". I had a very hard time coming up with a name that was both cool and unique and fitting to her. (BTW: this is where the impetus for my Dog Names book came in- an idea that I came up with back in 2000, but one that I didn't really have personal inspiration for until Senbia/Fergie came home. I REALLY wished I had my book then.)

She also had chronic urinary tract infections and wasn't potty trained. This resulted in a severe bladder infection (she was dribbling blood) about 2 months after she came home. Vet bills for the first 2 months: $500.

She had major food allergies as well, and chronic diarrhea- some of the worst I have ever experienced. And inside, repeatedly. (Yep- inside.)

She also wasn't properly socialized, and pretty dominant for a young dog.

She pulled (hard) on the leash. She is, and was, extremely strong.

She chewed several valuable items.

She had SEVERE separation anxiety. I couldn't leave her alone for a month. At my shoots she waited in the car.

This is where, in an attempt to understand this little dog better, I studied her release form given to me by PAWS.

Fergie's backstory, the little that I know:

She was released by a couple of teenage boys who lived in Bothell (a suburb of Seattle about 30 minutes away).

The got her when she was 8 weeks old from a friend whose dog had an accidental litter of puppies. No idea of the breeds for either parent.

She lived in an apartment with a cat and a rat terrier.

They both worked fulltime, and took her outside only to potty.

She got her exercise by 'leash walks' and was walked 'rarely'.

She knew several commands, and was disciplined by yelling 'no' and put in her kennel.

And that's about all I know!

My guess is that she was super adorable as a puppy, and therefore easy to take home, and when she started growing up and having potty training issues and food issues and behavior issues (sheesh what other issues are there, lol?) she just got to be too much for the guys to handle.

I can't at all say I blamed them. She was hard for me, a 33 year old (at the time) to deal with.

Was it worth it in the end?

AB-SO-LUTE-LY.

If there was a word that was more 'absolute' than that I would use it.

I am actually crying sitting her typing this because of how grateful I am that we stuck it out. Fergie is so incredible to me, she is such a special dog, and such a huge part of my heart I just can't conceive of how things would be today if I had given up on her. It was so completely, utterly, deeply worth it in the end.

I now have a dog who is sweet, sensitive, playful, funny, (super) smart, plays nicely with others, loves to go to the dog park, loves people, loves to swim, adores her family, makes friends with everybody, is very healthy, eats great food and has beautiful poop (yes I called it beautiful). She sleeps under the covers with me at night, her warm body spooning into mine.

She is perfect at home alone, and when I come home, she wags her entire body, folding her ears down and smiling at me, giving me gentle little licks before she runs to find a toy for me. She is the best car rider I have ever known, she loves to go on trips anywhere- even to the store. She has made friends with lots of people and businesses in the neighborhood, is great riding on busses, will tackle any new task with both curiosity and courage, and won't and can't say no to any opportunity to have fun. She leaves food alone, even when it sits in front of her on the coffee table with me in the next room, she listens to my commands, and she genuinely, deeply wants to please me. It's the perfect mutual admiration society and she has changed my life, as I hope I have hers.

So there you have it, that's the story in it's entirety. I'm glad you made it this far and allowed me to share it with you. Hopefully it helps you know me a little bit better and understand why my job is so meaningful to me. :-)

More on Fergie tomorrow- for now I've gotta catch up on work!! Stumble It!

This week is all about Fergie- yay!!

For those of you who don't know who Fergie is, I have to say I'm not surprised, lol! Fergie is not only the Cowbelly mascot, she is also my dog. A dog who has been neglected on this blog until now.

Fergie:

With the exception of a stellar birthday experience on Whidbey Island in July, poor Fergie has been fairly neglected by me this summer. Neglected not just on a day-to-day basis, but also on this blog, hence my lack of surprise if you didn't know who she was.

You see, I have been nose-deep in client work and projects, and my book, that I haven't given her the time or attention that she deserves. Also, and this fact may be even sadder, even though I have been shooting pets for about 7 years now (3 hobby/4 professionally), and have had my darling dog for over a year and a half, it wasn't until LAST WEEK that I hung a photograph of Fergie in my home!

I desire to rectify these horrible injustices this week by showing her the love that she has earned, not just in our personal lives, but on this blog as well.

If I can stay on track, this is what this week will look like:

Monday- introduce you to Fergie

Tuesday- tell her background story and show pictures of her when she was 'yay' big

Wednesday- 'tag' her to tell 8 random facts about herself. (I know, I already tagged my 8 people, and I forgot about Fergie- so sad- bad mommy). This may even include a hilarious little video of her taken late one night by yours-truly.

Thursday- describe her likes, dislikes and loves and share some of her friends with you.

Friday- share why I love her so much and how deeply I feel the human-animal connection both with my dog, and my clients pets, which will explain why I do what I do for work.

Then, no posts this weekend because we are going to Sequim for the big annual Puget Sound Dock Dogs Labor Day Getaway- yippee! Bet you didn't know that Fergie was a dock dog! (More on that later)

Thanks for checking us out this week and I am excited to share Fergie with the world! She'd say hi herself but she's crashed out on her bed behind me. ;-)




Ok wait- I can't post this without including more pictures of Fergie, it just doesn't seem fair to her. Here are some more of my favorites of her.

In case you are wondering, this it the photograph of her I just hung in my home. I am really enamored with the colors in this shot- the green gives it just a little bit of 'something extra'. It was taken on Whidbey Island, and you can see Mt. Ranier wayyy off in the distance.































Stumble It!

Now for some much needed levity on this blog. :-)

I can't think of anything that makes me happier right now than looking at darling Karma's photos from our shoot at the gorgeous Olympic Sculpture Park on Seattle's waterfront on Friday (my new favorite place for pet shoots). This summer hasn't been exactly the warmest or sunniest on record but man did we luck out with the weather- yipee!

Warning: this post will make you want to run right out and get yourself a Dogue de Bordeaux puppy! Karma is one of the cutest puppies I have ever seen, and is an a close race with Daphny for the title of cutest puppy ever. I don't have words to describe how cute she is so hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves.

Enjoy!

























Karma is a 4 1/2 month old purebred Dogue de Bordeaux, otherwise known as a French Mastiff.
























Karma is already 45 pounds at just 4 1/2 months. She should grow to be about 150 pounds.
























She has lots of puppy wrinkles























She has a fantastic, laid back, mellow temperament and is very lovey.
























She has already graduated from puppy kindergarten and knows all of her commands AND actually responds to them. How many 4 month old puppies do you know who can do that?
























This is about the fastest she will move, which is to say- not very fast, lol.
























This shot totally cracks me up big time. She was sitting between my legs at the park and just being super curious and really expressive. If I had more time I would share the whole series...

























Just like I have learned with my other puppies I have photographed, being a model is hard work, and does tend to make one awfully tired. :-)


















Karma is the new baby sister to Kengo and Winston (l-r). Kengo is also a Dogue de Bordeaux. Winston is a pug. Their parents are getting married this December and they have asked me to come the night before and photograph their furbabies in their little wedding tuxes. I can't wait! I love this family! :-)

























Hope you enjoyed the pictures of Karma!



labels: seattle dog photos, seattle dog photographer, dogue de bordeaux photos, seattle puppy pictures, seattle puppy photographer, french mastiff puppy, french mastiff photos, karma the puppy, olympic sculpture park, seattle waterfront Stumble It!

I am getting ready to go meet Karma and her mom at the Olympic Sculpture Park on Seattle's waterfront.

I am soooo excited for our shoot because I have been wanting to shoot Karma for months. Here is the darling girl:

Awwwwww... ;-)

How cute is she???

She is a close runner-up to Daphny for 'cutest puppy ever'

(photo care of her parents)



She is the new baby sister to Kengo and Winston, who I photographed last year at Gasworks Park:























Winston: pug, Kengo: Dogue de Bordeaux

Karma's mom was trying to decide between doing a Decopaw art piece and a regular photo shoot and prints. Given that puppies grow so fast and we wouldn't get a 2nd chance at a puppy shoot once she was grown, I recommended a photo shoot for Karma. That way if Karma's parents want to do Decopaw art we will have the images of all of their kids to use anytime in the future.

I can't wait to meet her- I love the Dogue de Bordeaux breed!

I'll post pics of her next week. :-) Stumble It!

I had mentioned in my post yesterday that I love doing evening shoots in the summer. Case in point here. Pete and Katie's shoot took place last week at Lincoln Park + Beach in West Seattle. We were graced with a glorious sunset and some fiery beach shots that made everything look like it was glowing. These are my favorite two shots. Katie is the dark brindle, Pete the medium chocolate brown with fiery fur and mouth full o' stick.
























Stumble It!

A few weeks ago while searching through my box of old film prints looking for a photo of a client's dog (shot about 7 years ago during my hobbiest days), I stumbled upon some of the very first pet photos I ever took, of some of my favorite pets ever, like Lucy and Willa below.

I started thinking about the camera those shots came from and wondered if I still had it somewhere. Well guess what! It was in my cabinet along with the rest of my assorted camera gear. Not where I keep my Canon EOS 5D, but in another place. I digress...



The camera this shot came from is a very basic, yet fine quality Pentax film camera, the P3 to be exact. It came out in 1985, which makes it 22 years old. Awesome!


I originally bought it for my first photography class I took in high school. I was 17. I did all of my own film developing and darkroom work at that time. I loved the photo-taking but hated the processing. I digress (again)...

So over the past few weeks I have been curious to see what kinds of shots I can take with the Pentax now that I have some experience under my belt.

I am sooo excited to try out the camera again! Tomorrow I will be making a trip to the Glazer's film department to pick up rolls of film and a battery and make sure it doesn't need to be repaired or cleaned. (Do film cameras need cleaning?). They are going to love my idiotic questions. ;-)

Side note: this will be my first time not going to the digital shop- Alan and Russ will probably wonder what Fergie and I are doing walking past, lol. I should tell them that I was always a digital imposter and see if they want to buy my 5D, ha ha ha, hee hee...

This Sunday I will be taking the lovely Ferguson somewhere, maybe Pioneer Square (seems perfect for gritty black and whites) to do a film shoot for her.

If all goes well and I am happy with the results I will add a film session to my photo session options on my new website I am building (just a few more weeks and it will be live!). This will satisfy the clients who love the look and feel of film photographs.

I anticipate having great results because I recall that for a few years before I started my business my 'keeper' shots were few and far between. Now that my skills have improved and I know how to get what I want from a camera I think I can coerce the Pentax to give me what I want. I used to shoot in fully manual with the Fuji, and shoot in aperture priority with the Canon, so I think it will be ok. The main difference is that the Pentax does not have AF, which means I will be manually focusing each shot. I think this will be ok too because now that I am used to using the viewfinder on the DSLR I think I can swing it. Wish me luck!

I did a little bit of digging just now to see what kinds of shots the P3 will take and stumbled upon this shot taken by David Viglianti, which literally had me saying "Oh Wow!" out loud. If this is this is an example of the kinds of shots the P3 will take, I am soooo psyched!!
















Pentax P3, Pentax smc P-M 50mm f/1.7, Fujicolor Reala, copyright David Viglianti

GORGEOUS.

I will post my film shoot results here. :-)

P.S. Holy crap- I just turned it on and the battery still works! It's a sign! Stumble It!

Here is another shot of the darling little girl Skylark. Believe it or not this shot was taken right outside the games arcade on the same pier as the Aquarium on the Seattle waterfront. This was at the end of our shoot when she was all tuckered out after being the star for the day. How cute is she? :-)























BTW: I spent much of my shoot with Skylark carrying her around in my arms. Not because she wasn't tough enough to hold her own on the busy streets of Seattle, but because I just wanted to snuggle her up the whole time. She is 100% soft squishy puppy and nothing but love.

Labels: cute puppy photos, cutest dog ever, cutest puppy ever

Stumble It!

I have been working on my logo for as long as I can remember, and am finally done and thrilled with it. The reason why it has taken me so long to get right is that I just don't seem to have the same perspective on my own stuff as I do with my client's. Having said that however, for some reason my Decopaw Design logo came easy. Now I have two logos that I love. Yay, now I can die happy. :-)

















labels: cowbelly pet photography, logo, a picture is worth a thousand woofs, seattle pet photography, seattle dog photography, cowbelly, decopaw design, pet photography logos, dog photographer logos Stumble It!

I came across this earlier during a search for images for a new book (the Dog Names book is nearly done and I am gathering images for my 2nd book -yes, that's right, a 2nd book!). I have so many thousands of dog images that I often don't even know what I have anymore until I search through them for something, so coming across this shot was pretty great. I'll try and post a shot from the archives on a regular basis.

This image makes me laugh so hard I snort. Check out Boomer's mouth and tiny tongue, and the way his lip is off to the side. You can even see some little teeth. He is sooo funny. Ha ha woohoo!

Hopefully this will brighten your day if you are having a bad one! :-)

























I oughta look through old images more often :-) Stumble It!

I am either an idiot or crazy or both. As if I don't already have enough websites to manage:

http://www.cowbelly.com
http://www.decopaw.com
http://www.cowbellyproofs.smugmug.com/
http://www.cafepress.com/cowbelly
http://www.decopaw.com/dogblog.html

I recently registered two more.

The first one is a necessity, and frees up room on my new website.

The domain is http://www.beautifulbeasties.com. It will be used solely for information on my destination/special location shoots, such as the ones at the Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square, as well as retail partner locations, which are all now called 'Beautiful Beasties' regardless of their location. There was just way too much information to put on one page on my new site, so the beautiful beasties events will have a site of their own. It will be just a one-page site but it will make maintaining and updating the information much easier.

The second domain name I haven't a clue as to what to do with. It was inspired by a hilarious travelogue titled 'No Touch Monkey'. In the book the author (supremely talented Ayun Halliday) writes about her experiences in Pushkar India, where monkeys rule and dogs are their whipping boys. She befriended a small endearing dog at the hotel where she stayed and affectionately called him 'Doggiepants'. Poor Doggiepants would get beat up on regularly by the monkeys and sought solace in the lap of the author. He sounded like the sweetest dog and the bond they forged really touched me. Since I read the book last year I haven't been able to get the name doggiepants out of my head.

So of course, I did what any person would do, and registered it!
(Hey- I already put a disclaimer above questioning my sanity and intelligence!).

Here is the question- what do I do with it?

I can design and build whatever website I want, but I'd like it to meet the following criteria:

1. simple
2. straightforward- clear message
3. FUN
4. make people as happy as thinking about doggiepants has made me
5. not necessarily related to pet photography or dog art

Thoughts? Ideas? Comments? Suggestions?

What would you like to see me do with the name www.doggiepants.com?

Please leave your comment below and I will sincerely consider each and every one!

Thanks! :-)

Jamie Cowbelly





lables: beautiful beasties, doggiepants, pet photography websites, seattle dog photography events, seattle pet photography events, cowbelly pet photography, seattle pet photographer Stumble It!

Meet Kosmo.

He was the first attendee at the 'Beautiful Beasties' Urban Beast event a couple of weekends ago. As most goldens are, Kosmo was laidback, playful, and downright fun. Love Kosmo!

Kosmo gives good smile.
























Kosmo looks like he is wearing one of those Russian hats with the sherpa ear flaps.
























Kosmo loves to run and play.
























Kosmo walks himself on his own leash (I swear- he really does!!).
























Kosmo looks great in black and white.
























Kosmo is a very HAPPY boy.

Side note: this shot personifies (or 'dogonifies'?) the style of photography I love so much- what I like to call 'Happy Pet Photography'. And they say dogs don't smile, ha!


















Kosmo is a super duper cutie-pie.
















Kosmo really is as sweet as he looks. This shot is going on the homepage of my new website I am building for cowbelly.com.

Note to Linda: I picture Abby looking like this when she was younger. :-)























If you look very closely in this shot you can see me in Kosmo's eye. This is from the shot above of his 'ear flap' hat running shot. I was working my doggy magic to get some of my favorite action shots.
























I will post more shots of other doggies from the Urban Beast event when I have more time and don't wish to be in bed reading Dan Brown instead. :-)



labels: dog photos, seattle dog photography, seattle pet photography, seattle dogs, urban beast, beautiful beasties, pet photographer
Stumble It!

Meet Skylark.

She was one of my subjects at the Pike Place Market photo shoot event last month. Skylark is one of the cutest puppies you will ever lay eyes on. The girl at the flower shop on the corner was nice enough to let me move around her flower pots to get this shot.

















Meet Buddy.

Buddy was also at the Pike Place event. This shot is of him on the Seattle waterfront on the same pier they used to have the summer nights concerts at. I don't know why they stopped holding them there but I was happy we had access to the location for our shoot. I love this shot as, IMO, it embodies what summer in Seattle feels like.



















P.S. I loved the Pike Place Market shoots so much that I will be holding a 2nd event for a Sunday in August. Stay tuned for details!





lables: seattle dog photography, seattle pet photography, seattle pet photographer, seattle dog photographer, dog blog, decopaw design, modern dog art, seattle dog art, pet photography blog, cat photography Stumble It!

So this is really weird.

I discovered that there are indeed RSS feeds for this blog that are downloading onto my server.

However, there is no way to subscribe to the feeds on the blog itself; no little 'RSS' symbol in the URL bar; no 'subscribe here' in the sidebar.

I know this has something to do with blogger not fully supporting users whose blogs live on external servers, I just haven't quite figured out how. I am sure there is a way to create a subscribe button, I just honestly don't have time to figure it out.

Anyway- for those who follow this blog and would like to subscribe to RSS feeds, just follow this link:

http://www.decopaw.com/rss.xml
prefer Atom?

go here: http://www.decopaw.com/atom.xml

Yippee. :-)




lables: seattle dog photography, seattle pet photography, seattle pet photographer, seattle dog photographer, dog blog, decopaw design, modern dog art, seattle dog art, pet photography blog, cat photography Stumble It!

Thanks to all of the help from a large network of pet lovers and animal rescuers, my sister Michelle and I found Jasmine a new forever home this week.

She is now living with a lovely older gal up in Arlington. She has a large house to live in, and many windows facing a beautiful large property. Jasmine's new owner Helen says there are deer that come around and eat the apples off the trees and we even saw several hummingbirds in the feeder just outside the kitchen window. Although Jasmine is an indoor cat, she will be in heaven in her new home, peering out at the wildlife around her, something she was unable to do in the city.

It was a very tearful goodbye, in fact difficult enough that Michelle and I decided we will need to go up and visit her in a couple of months. The thought of not seeing her again was unbearable.

Thank you to everyone who helped Michelle and I find a home for our mom's kitty. Words just can't express how grateful we are for the love and support shown by the animal lovers in our community, and it makes me grateful that I get to work with so many amazing people (and animals) each and every day.

And I am sure if Jasmine could talk (once she got over the initial shock) she would say thank you too. :-)

I consider this a 'happy ending'. Stumble It!

"Sadie Wildflowers"





















This proof feels like exactly where I want to be right now: floating free in a field of flowers, without a care in the world. In a word, happy. Or as in Goldilocks- just right.

This is a gift for Sadie's dad, who lives in Portland. What do you suppose the chances are he will stumble on this blog? Pretty close to zilch I'd say. Although I suppose stranger things have happened, lol!

lables: seattle dog art, modern dog art, colorful dog art, custom dog art, decopaw, seattle pet photography, seattle dog photography Stumble It!