It’s a curious thing about dogs, it sometimes takes awhile before it looks like they really belong. I’ve never had small dogs before Gus and Bud, so my photos of the dogs sometimes seems odd to me, something is out of place. I think the comfort level of the dogs have something to do with it.

I’ve always had larger dogs – Pearl, Lenore, Frieda, Rose, Izzy, etc. – and that’s what seemed normal to me, border collies, big adopted dogs, and Labs. Bud looked out like a new dog, a different dog. But this photo is different, when he was done running around the pasture, Bud came into the back yard and just hopped up on the bench the barn cats use on warm days.

Here, he looked as if he had grown up out of the bench.

Bud has filled out a bit – he was gaunt when he arrived, still recovering from heartworm – and I think he has grown a bit, in body and stature. This photo was different from the others,  the light caught his race and body and he seemed like he had been here a long time, and belongs. That’s a nice feeling. Bud belongs here, and he knows it, and the portrait shows it. A landmark photo to me.