I know, everyone is busy! I've got a full-time job (I'm a statistician by day, in addition to photography), a husband, a senior dog, a puppy, a 'middle child' dog, volunteer commitments, and on and on and on - so I definitely understand the "I'm busy - we'll wait for (insert some event here) to get some photos".

But, I'll be blunt. Our pets don't live forever, and that sucks. Frequently we wait until they are old or ill to have professional photos taken.  Which is great - documenting our relationships with our pets is important in recognizing how we really feel and how important our pets are to us, and those photographs help us in the grieving process when the time comes.   But look at your pets right now (my two youngsters are trying to hump each other while my older dog is asleep on my feet).  In 5 years, things will be different - the youngsters will probably have mellowed out a bit, and my older dog may no longer be with us.

But I want to remember the bitey-face between the two youngsters.  They probably won't do this for the rest of their lives.  (They might, but they may not - and since this is such an on-going thing right now, if it ever stops, I want to remember it in all its pearly-white toothed glory!)

I don't want to forget Daisy's first day swimming at the Dog Dive. She'll probably have many more days swimming there, but this photo brings back the first time she realized 1) her feet couldn't touch the bottom of the pool, and 2) ermegerd, I can SWIM!, and 3) how much she enjoyed being the center of attention - both mine and Angela's!

When my oldest dog is gone (she's almost 10), I want to remember all the days when she was happy and healthy.

We lost Abby to cancer over a year ago, when she wasn't even quite 6 years old. I never imagined I'd lose her that young. But because I documented her life, this is how I remember her:

And THAT is why you should get photographs of your adult dogs.  They will get older; the do change, sometimes imperceptibly until you notice that your faithful hiking buddy doesn't go as far as she used to, or until you notice a 'troubling' lump on her skin.  Document the now, so you can revisit this time in the future.  Don't lose the mundane moments - in a few years, you'll find yourself ready to trade anything to have those mundane moments back.

If you want to talk more about documenting the now in your pet's life, give me a holler - and tell me more about yourself so we can make sure those everyday moments don't slip by into oblivion.