Tima's Happy Dogs!

They say that owners resemble their dogs, or is it dogs resemble their owners??? Either way, Tima Lund's dogs are, without doubt, four-legged furry versions of their owner! Happy, fun, full of life and energy and intelligent to boot.

I like Tima, I LOVE her dogs! A studio session with the Cocker Spaniels and the German Shepherds was always going to be fun. It was made easy by Tima's excellent handling, Helen's brilliant assistance with the tickle stick and the fantastically good-natured dogs!

First up was the Ace Man. He is still a wee man, not long out of puppy class, but he was exceptionally well behaved. Given a few minutes to bounce excitedly round the room and wag his entire body at absolutely everything, Ace settled and posed like a pro celeb!



Next up was the birthday girl, Doodle Bug. Celebrating her first birthday, she looked beautiful, behaved impeccably and is every inch a star!



Uncle Vinnie is an older paw at the whole posing mularkey, striding happily onto the set he was ever ready for his close-ups!



Pickle looked sleek, elegant and beautiful.



She's full of fun but is gentle-natured and highly intelligent. A gorgeous, gorgeous dog!



The pups couldn't be ignored... Cagney & Lacey were 5 weeks old and just had to get a look at everything and everyone. No corner was left unexplored!



Lacey already has a new home for when she's old enough to leave, Cagney will be sure to follow suit soon too. She's beautiful and intelligent, already responding to recall. Both dogs will, with the correct ongoing training and home life, make fantastic companions for the right family!



Tima won't let her pups go to just anyone, she needs to know that the dogs will be loved and looked after in the right way, so that they continue to be the happy healthy dogs that they start life as.

I know it's often said, but please, please don't get a pup just because they look cute!!! Dogs are a huge commitment for a long time. The rewards are amazing, but there needs to be more behind the reasoning to have a dog than just keeping your kiddies happy!

Finally, last but by no means least, ZeZe sat for her portraits.



A beautiful soul, ZeZe really is top! She's also meticulous about preparing for the camera!!!



Can't fault her!

Thanks to Tima and Helen for a great shoot. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Rebecca, X

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Team Tima!

Well, Friday was a day of firsts all round... my first trip to Crufts, Tima's German Shepherd Dog Masai had his first win at his first ever time at Crufts, and he was also the first black GSD to win his class!



We also hoped that he would become a father for the first time on Friday, but nature knew better and he is, as yet, still pacing the hall waiting for his pups to arrive! It was a long day for us all, starting at 4.30 in the morning, but it was such a good day.

Crufts and the Kennel Club have come in for criticism over the years for allowing breeding to result in dogs that look a certain way but can suffer from skeletal problems or breathing difficulties or other severe health problems. I was, therefore, very happy to be going along to my first show with Tima Lund, who is loud and proud in her determination to show German Shepherd Dogs with strong, healthy skeletal systems rather than the extreme sloping backs that so often cause poor hips, plus shoulder, knee and elbow problems and spinal deformities.

The judge at Crufts this year, Gary Gray, is also a strong supporter of the straighter backed GSD's and the Kennel Club are certainly heading in the right direction to encourage breeding to produce healthy, happy dogs!



Let's hope it continues and the poor dogs who suffer so much for nothing more than a desired image will not suffer further and common sense will prevail. So, well done to Masai, and to Team Tima!



Tima breeds GSD's and Cocker Spaniels, trains agility and obedience and somehow also manages to find time to work as a Science & Animal Care teacher in a local school too! Find out more about Tima and her furry family here at http://www.folkvanggsd.webs.com/

We were also accompanied by Pickle, who unfortunately missed her class group due to a bit of a mix up. Still, she looked beautiful and she enjoyed our walks round the show and it was all still a bit of a day out for her.



Thanks to Tima for letting me come along to Crufts, and a huge big cuddle of love for Masai... he is just awesome!



I wish you could have met my Hogy Bear! He was no champion or show stopper, and he had the worst case of hip & elbow dysplasia the vet had seen, all caused by poor breeding and, because of his suffering, I will support anyone and everyone who can help bring attention to the problems and attention to the work that's going on to eradicate such needless suffering!!!

But I do wish you could have met Hogy. He was the most gentle, placid, beautiful natured dog that I have ever met and I still miss his nose poking round my bedroom door every single day, a whole year on! He wasn't healthy, but he was happy when he was strong and he was the most fun I've ever known! Bless you Tima for bringing some Shepherdy love back into my life! And well done again to Masai (aka Tracelyn Hobson at Folkvang).

Rebecca. X

An Afternoon at the Seaside... Brrrr!!

Last weekend saw me heading off to Tentsmuir beach with my dog, my camera, but most importantly with my new pal Niaesha who has very kindly agreed to work with me as an assistant.

Perhaps I should have asked if she liked dogs first, as I quickly found out that she has a bit of a phobia about German Shepherds. Guess what sort of doggy we've got?



Thankfully Hogan is nothing more than a great big soppy bundle of fluff, and Niaesha soon decided that not all German Shepherds are bad :) In fact it's worth saying here that German Shepherds are probably one of the most misunderstood of all dogs, as the vast majority are as soppy as anything! Anyway, I digress...

So, we decided to go to Tentsmuir for our first day oot and get to know each other and have a natter as we wandered about taking photos.



What a day!! I haven't seen that much rain since... er, last week actually, but, this is Britain, it's to be expected. Tentsmuir is an absolutely fantastic place to go, and if you are ever anywhere near Dundee or Tayport and you have no idea what to do for the afternoon, there's your answer!



Niaesha is fairly new to DSLR photography and wants to learn how to use a camera properly, so we had a bit of a tuition session while we were there.



The dog was a huge help, leaving extra interest for the general scene and composition... hmm, thanks Hogy but we'll probably manage ok next time!! The worst of that was a lack of dog bins, which meant carrying a bagful of unpleasantness around for the rest of the afternoon. Quite delightful, as you may imagine.

Anyway, we carried on in spite of the rain and in spite of Hogan's 'help' and found a couple of places that we are definitely going to go back to when it's dry and explore a lot further.



The beach hut is certainly going to get another visit, and it'll be lovely to do more with the dunes as well.

Definitely a fantastic place for a model shoot too... maybe with umbrellas and wellies, as it doesn't look like it's going to be bikini weather any time soon!!

So, there we are, an afternoon at the seaside, I hope you enjoyed it, we certainly did :)

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk

rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk