One of the many reasons I have been behind on updating my blog entries is due to my new addition. Don’t worry, Blue (at ten years old) is still king of the castle, but he has always loved puppies, and I didn’t want him to be too old to be able to enjoy having one around. Chaos quickly arrived to my household when a 12 week old Welsh Springer came into my life. They played nonstop — Blue pretending he was submissive and on his back, with Santé attacking him viciously. Watching TV, making phone calls and any kind of work became very difficult! Thankfully, I quickly found a better way to wear out Santé: His BFF puppy friend, Zooey! Zooey is a Portuguese Water Dog and close in age to Santé. They can spend hours running at top speed through the snow, swimming in the river, and generally having the time of their lives. We meet up several times a week, always on the river trail. I took my 50 mm out one afternoon for a session with Zooey, and was only able to shoot for about 20 minutes thanks to Santé slamming into my head right before they arrived. I am pretty adept at moving out of the way, especially after years of photographing crazy dogs (including Blue), but leave it to my 40 pound spaniel puppy to send me to get an MRI later that week. Thankfully the unrelenting pain didn’t set in for a bit, so I was able to get a few fun images before heading home.
Here is Santé at 7 months, just before he nearly knocked me out (at least he didn’t break my camera).
Introducing Zooey! She proved to be a most difficult subject, since her eyes barely show under her coat. Next time around, we will need a grooming session!
Santé is never very far when Zooey is around!
Oh, enough with the mellow posing. Let the craziness begin!
You can see who is in charge here…even though Santé has the ball for the moment. 
Puppies do have to rest for a FEW minutes. 
Time for the river! Santé is funny and always seems hesitant to go in, but once he is wet, there is no stopping him! In this case though, that ball seemed a bit too far, and Zooey found an easier way to get it. 🙂 Smart girl!
Oops! Don’t take your eye off the ball Zooey!
Some more posing. Not always classically beautiful with Santé’s floppy ears, and Zooey looking like a drowned rat!
And just to prove Blue is still very much in the picture, he was allowed to join in on the fun for a few shots. Playing keep away and tug with sticks is always a favorite game!
I’ll be posting more on Santé and his arrival in the future, but I really wanted to get these photos of Zooey on the blog sooner rather than later. I think she and Santé are friends for life.
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