I love senior dogs and recently I got to photograph a 12 year old chocolate lab named Diesel.

Diesel’s dad Matt contacted me and wanted to schedule a photo shoot as soon as possible because Diesel had a health scare a couple of weeks ago. At their emergency vet visit, Matt was told that he was on borrowed time with his beloved dog.

Thank goodness the medication helped and after a follow up visit with their regular veterinarian, Diesel’s outlook is better than what he’d originally thought.

I had a conversation with Matt prior to the photo shoot so I could better understand Diesel’s health status. I wanted to make certain he would be up for a photo shoot and I wanted to know what limitations he would have.

What I learned immediately about Diesel the moment I saw him is this: He is ALL labrador retriever and extremely food motivated. He reminds me of a certain other chocolate lab I know that happens to live at my house.

Going into this photo shoot, I knew how I’d feel (I too have an aging, chocolate lab at home) and I also knew how important these photos would be to his dads. I knew this photo shoot would hit pretty close to home for me and I knew I’d fall in love with this dog. His two dads were pretty awesome too.

Do you know what, we had so much fun at this session. Sometimes these types of sessions are sad but this one wasn’t. We laughed a lot.

I mean look at this face. This is Diesel’s “are you going to give me that treat you have in your hand” look.

This photo is one of the last ones I took of him and he’s still smiling for treats!

Here’s a little background about why these types of photo sessions mean so much to me.

I bought my first professional camera in 2015 when my black lab Buddy had a health scare. We adopted Buddy as a senior dog. The rescue group thought he was between 7-10 years old when we got him and this was 6 years later.

I wanted to get some decent photos of him while I still could. (**As an aside, I thought I could just buy a nice camera and be able to take decent photos. That’s how naïve I was but that’s a story for another time. LOL)

I wanted to make certain I got decent photos of Buddy because he was my second “heart” dog.

If you’re not familiar with the term, a heart dog is that once in a lifetime dog that you have an incredible relationship with and is your soulmate.

I’ve been lucky enough to have this type of bond with two different dogs. Buddy was my second.

Sloan was my first.

When I graduated from college, my goal was to buy a house with a fenced yard so I could get a dog. It took me longer than I’d planned but in 1996, I accomplished that goal. After answering an ad in the Sunday newspaper (I am THAT old), I came home with a weimeraner / labrador puppy and I named her Sloan.

I loved her like I’ve never loved any of my other dogs.

AND I don’t have any decent photos of her. I have a million photos of her but none of them are any good.

That is why when Buddy had his health scare, I knew I needed to get decent photos of him.

That is why photos are so important to me.

That is why I am always so honored when clients reach out to me to have their senior dogs or dogs recently diagnosed with terminal illnesses photographed.

I know how special these photo shoots are and my goal is always to create loving memory photos that will be cherished forever.

I knew that Diesel was his dad’s heart dog. I knew this session would be special and it was. It was also happy and fun. Matt said to me as we were wrapping up, “I had no idea this would be so much fun.” That comment made my day.

Let me tell you: Diesel Did Just GREAT. He was a typical lab, up for whatever, always smiling, and he soaked up all the love given out to him. There was a lot of love. And quite a few treats too.

I’m so grateful to be able to do this for Matt. This is my why. #lovelookslikethis

This is a blog circle and next up is Elaine Tweedy of I Got the Shot Photography who shares her thoughts on Loving Memory Sessions. Click the link at the bottom of each post and you’ll make your way around the circle.