The Assistant

So I am already receiving an overwhelming response to this years Christmas cards and how cute Mocha is. Emails & phone calls stating the obvious...Mocha is adorable! Then comes the question "How do you get him to pose so perfectly for those Christmas card photos?"...Well, it is partially due to the fact that he is one of the Smartest dogs ever! :) He knows how to ask for water when we are in the car driving on a trip...he will run around in a circle when he wants to go outside and chase squirrels...he will sit, stay and give me his paw for a handshake (which is my favorite trick). I could go on and on, but you get the idea....he is very smart. At a really young age about 8 weeks old, I taught him to sit and would train him to look at my hand, which was always holding one of his favorite treats. It only took a few times for him to understand if he watched my hand he would get rewarded or else he was simply watching the treat...ha.ha. Anyways, it worked and pretty soon it was easy to get him to sit and follow my hand or a toy. He is just a natural, which is clearly evident in the photo below. These are some of the first pics I took with my little "point & shoot" digital Canon camera. It definitely caught some priceless memories. These are a few of the photos when Mocha weighed about 2-3 lbs...you can see how perky his little ears were even then. Now at 3 years old, he has alot of his Mom's blue steel color....that would be his Yorkie Mommy. ;)


The other reason Mocha poses so well, is largely in part to the fact that my sister serves as my assistant when it comes to photographing Mocha. She is always there to hold him...get him to look up or down or to the side. She is the "behind the scenes" part of our duo. Once in a while I will get her head in a shot or her hand, but then we just crop her out. Mostly she is excellent at keeping Mocha happy and helping me get just the right pose, which can take quite awhile if I shoot in a public place. People and especially pets distract Mocha and therefore we sometimes need to take a break from our photo time. He always ends up giving me way too many perfect photos to choose from, even the ones with the funny yawning faces...I keep everything! So I guess, this post is to THANK my sister for being such a great assistant when I photograph Mocha. She is like his second Mom and sometimes ;) spoils him more than me...if that is possible...ha.ha. So here are some photos of Lydia & Mocha since she is usually cropped out.





These were some beautiful flowers...see Lydia hiding in the bottom left corner. This is one she probably got cropped out of...sorry ;)


And even Mocha knows how to say THANK U with lots of kisses. I believe he knows that he is a blessed little puppy.


This photo was so funny to me...we were trying to shoot with the fountain in the background, but Mocha was interested in watching the other doggies over the bushes. He climbed up really high and we just busted out laughing at him. Lydia was having a hard time holding him, as you can tell from her grin.


Anyways, I just thought I would share some love with Lydia since she is always so patient to help me get the Christmas card photos. I will be sharing the final card designs later, but didn't want to spoil it for anyone who has not received their card. ;)

Have a blessed day~c!