Pets Are Family, Too! Are Your Beloved Animals Documented? Toledo Pet Photographer.

WRITTEN BY AMY CHRISTENSEN

Growing up, we always had some dog or other in our home, most of which were strays that my two older brothers would bring home asking if they could keep them. My parents never seemed to be able to say no, so my years as a kid were always filled with dogs and their crazy antics.

One of the things that drew us to buy our Toeldo, Ohio home was the large fenced in back yard. We had two preschool girls and knew at some point down the road we wanted to add a few pets to our family as well. The girls were approximately 3 and 4 when we found a newspaper add for free puppies. The add said they were Labrador/Golden retriever hybrids (my wording), two of our favorite breeds, at the time. Both breeds were known to be good family dogs and great with children.

When we went to look at the pups we found a herd of fuzzy, fur balls, most of them all black and two of them all yellow. The only two that hadn’t been claimed were black fluffs and one was significantly smaller than the rest of her siblings. This little girl was the one our little girls fell in love with; the one I held on my lap wrapped in a blanket as we drove home about a week later.

Our girls decided to name the pup, Sophia. My husband claims he decided on the name, because sophia is the Greek word for wisdom and he is a Philosophy professor at Lourdes University in Sylvania. The truth of the matter was, the girls and I had been reading a book about a little chicken whose name was Sophia. However, her name came about, Sophia was anything but wise in the areas of obedience, but as wise as they come when it came to loving her people.

Sophia, like most dogs, loved to play, take walks and have treats. She also excelled at gardening. Her version of gardening involved harvesting carrots. We had grown suspicious after finding carrot heads at random places in the yard and holes in the carrot patch. One day we let her out into the back yard and watched her from inside the back porch. She began a slow walk toward the garden and at several points looked back at the back door to make sure we weren’t going to come out and see her. In just a few short moments she was in the carrot patch, head down, teeth pulling on the greens tops of the bright orange vegetable. In just a few more moments, with a little help from her front claws, she had the carrot out and was proudly carrying it somewhere she could lay down and munch on it out of sight.

Sophia brought joy and laughter to our lives for 16 1/2 years. She traveled with us, and stayed with our parents when we couldn’t take her with on our vacations. Our parents loved her as well and even when my dad was in the end stages of dementia, he could still remember Sophia, such was the impact our princess had on his mind.

My greatest regret is that we did not document our precious Sophie’s life. We took a few photos here and there, but never even gave a thought to having a professional photographer take memorable, long lasting images. Our photography skills severely lacked and the pictures we did take were often blurry and are now old and faded.

I would encourage anyone who has pets to consider having professional images taken. Photography is a great way to cement memories and images into our lives and having photos to look back on is priceless. Make your pet photos even better by including the whole family. Try to find a pet photographer who is familiar and at ease with pet photography. Pick someone who has a decent pet portfolio and don’t be afraid to ask them how they handle taking pictures with people and animals all at once. Rebecca Trumbull, is not only a professional and a pet photographer, but the proud mama of two rescues. Her experience makes her a great choice for pet photos.

If you have made the commitment to having a pet, then make the commitment to document them. They are family too.