National Pet Day?

Don't tell me dogs can't laugh! It was her first snow storm and she had a blast!

Okay, so I'm feeling terrible - I missed National Pet Day!

Seriously, if there was ever a holiday created by a group of marketing executives at a pet treat company, National Pet Day has to be it!  Don't get me wrong, I'm as big a pet fan as anybody on the planet, but EVERY day is pet day around our house and Molly the Wonder Dog never has a day when she isn't appreciated.

In fact, I'm betting any of you who are pet owners feel exactly the same way along with the majority of the 160 million dog and cat owners in the US. And, for my old neighbors when I lived in California, who felt it was wrong to call us pet "owners," because you can never own an animal; I apologize. However, until Molly can drive herself to the vet and write the checks, "owner" is the only word.

Well, in honor of National Pet Day, it's my excuse to share a few favorite images of Molly over the years. There was a point in her life, back in my Rangefinder days that she might have been the most photographed dog in the industry!

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​Bambi Cantrell photographed a whole series of Molly, of which one of my favorites is the image at the top, but her formal portrait on the left is pretty tough to beat!

Carey Schumacher of Barefoot Memories in San Diego took one of her images of Molly and made me a stack of notecards which I've used so sparingly over the years, but I still had one left to share here. The image below is the front of the card.

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by Carey Schumacher

Carey did a pretty amazing job, making the back of the card just as much fun as the front.  This is also a great example of using your own images for stationery. No photographer should ever be sending out a store-bought thank you note or greeting card! Use your own images.

by Greg Platt

​At one point I thought it would be fun to do a children's book about Molly's adventures. My nephew is a talented artist and dropped a photograph of Molly at six months into a little of his own artwork. 

The concept never became reality, but that doesn't change how much fun it's been over the years to have Molly along on one adventure after another.

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​Molly even got to spend a day at Helen Yancy's house in 2011 and wound up being photographed with Charlie Yancy. It was definitely an experience getting her to sit still for a classic portrait session.

Time to wrap up this post and close my personal celebration of National Pet Day.  It's hard to believe Molly's been hanging out with me for almost eleven years.

Just like watching our kids grow up and wondering where the years went, our pets are no different. Also, just like our families, photography plays a critical roll in hanging on to those memories. Nothing beats a walk down memory lane with old photographs.
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​Happy belated National Pet Day everybody!

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