merrick ~ model in-training ~ {Ontario pet photographer}

well, merrick’s been with us for nine months now.  besides learning what the world is all about after six miserable years spent as a puppymill stud dog, understanding that people are good and not all abusive beasts, as well as learning the basics — boundaries, manners, and general world “skills” — he’s also picked up a few tricks.

more important than silly dog tricks, however, are useful tasks — fetching, carrying, bringing … general helping around the house as his big sister has done for me for years.  and this little guy is learning quickly.  he now willingly “fetches” almost any item — “fetch” means to hold and not release until asked — and will bring it and deliver to hand.

the following is a quick session with objects that were close at hand in the studio.  this was shot with minimal light and no flash, so pardon the not-so-great quality of the images and the very shallow depth of field.   i simply couldn’t manage the flash with everything else, and the focus here was on the training, not the photography.

although he’s no where near as finessed as matea, he’s gotten to the level where if i drop something like a pen, i can encourage him to ‘fetch it up’ and deliver it to my hand by getting up on my lap.  he’s a star!

now if i could only teach him to wrap client canvases!