How to Get Ahead in Advertising

Phew! Just got back from our big photoshoot. Kathryn took lots of pictures but we'll have to wait for her to send them on. Raimi is now curled up with eyes pressed closed and sighing with exhaustion. You wouldn't think standing around would take up so much energy!

We arrived to find Kika already preparing for her close up. She is so adorable! She was in Barb's arms looking wide-eyed and puppy like. I missed her photoshoot because I was upstairs babysitting the two morons but I did see the end of her session. She was running around on the floor because they were trying to tire her out so she'd lie down! And boy did she ever, she was so tuckered she lay down on the table and went to sleep. They got some great shots of that and then it was Seth's turn.

Seth was not sure about this at ALL. He'd been hanging around awhile was bored with the whole proceeding. He decided to look bored, wouldn't prick his ears and kept panting. The more difficult and delicate aspect was that the boys er ... manhood ... was hidden behind one of their legs. The table was stressing him out a little bit and he didn't really seem to know what we were asking him to do. We decided to give him a break and do Rory instead.

It was like going from the eye of the storm into the hurricane. Rory was very confused by the 'stay' concept and didn't understand that when we backed away we were intending him to stay put. He kept sliding on the fabric and was generally confused. Frustration levels rose and ding ...

It was lunch time. Everyone needed a break and some food so we let the Raimi and Rory out to play. Aha! That took the edge off! There was a nice stretch of grass outside the back door of the studio and they had a marvelous time! They beat each other up with abandon and I had visions of a grass stained Raimi and Rory on the front of brochures.

Finally they burned off enough steam and we headed back in. Rory still didn't understand what was wanted until I suggested we use the show collar I'd brought, they could photoshop it out. Once that collar was on he stood still and shot after shot of him sitting and standing were perfect. He was a little teenage star! Hope it doesn't go to his head.

Then it was Raimi's turn. Well, he's not this good looking for nothing. It was a fairly consistent barrage of exclamations on how great he looked. He was quite good, better standing than sitting because of course he's mostly been show trained. He is also used to being asked for expression so it was very easy to get him to give wrinkles and ears and bright eyes. It will be hard to choose his 'perfect' shot. Although, looking at him with a critical breeder's eye ... I hope they don't use one of him kneeing out!

We then brought Seth back in with the show collar and that corrected his slouching problem! They got some absolutely fabulous shots of him and I'm really pleased with the results. Every dog looks just as it should and in hindsight everyone was so good. We definitely impressed them with the dogs and the ad agency was very pleased with the result.

This is an ad campaign for Bayer Animal Sciences for magazines and vet clinics with print ads and brochures. After some market research they decided to use a breed that was a 'neutral' dog as in no cropping, docking or controversial issues and was an average looking breed. They also wanted a large breed because it's more impressive and the age differences are more acute. Look for these guys in the new year on your vet clinic's brochure shelf!