Nizhoni Pet Photography Blog

This is Dash, a male Akbash dog.  Dash was seized from a farm in West Texas where he was kept with six other dogs.  He was malnourished and seriously underweight.  He has been at a shelter in Midland, TX for almost 8 weeks after being seized, but now he is running out of time. Dash was scheduled to be transported to Montana, but his adoption fell through the day before he was set to leave. Please help this beautiful boy find a home somewhere.

He is between 1 to 2 years old and has been neutered and vaccinated since arriving at the Midland animal shelter.  He is currently 80 pounds, but should be closer to 100 to 110 pounds as a healthy weight.  Dash is friendly with people and good around children. The shelter cannot continue to keep him, and if a home cannot be found, he will be euthanized.  The folks at the shelter are doing everything they can to help Dash, but there’s only so much time.  If you can help, please comment and I will put you in contact with the coordinator.

…and dog mom. Just so that all the attention doesn’t go to Kodiak’s head, I thought we should include his sister. Affectionately known as Nizhoni-pony or short-round, depending on who you ask.

Yes her tongue is, in fact, covered in dirt. This was mid kong frisbee session, and that thing is FILTHY!

Tonight, as a reward for actually studying for my upcoming licensing exam, Ken willingly drove me around Lubbock looking for locations to use for sessions.  We found several good spots around the depot district and a fantastic little run down garage just off the highway.  It was so fantastic, in fact, that we had to wait while another photographer finished up his session.

Location 1: fantastic whitewashed brick wall in the depot district (ironically enough this building houses another photographer)

Location 2: Random fire escape in an attempt to play around with lens flare.  Surprisingly Kodi went right up the stairs.  He’s usually not a big fan of stairs, particularly ones that aren’t solid.

Location 3: The sweet old garage with fabulous peeling red walls and old green garage doors.  Jackpot!!

Kodi REFUSES to look at the camera.  And any noise that gets his attention only works once, so its a constant battle to come up with something to get him looking in the right direction.

I’m actually super happy with the locations we found, and I still have a long list of other places to check out.  But first… another long drive to Colorado for little brother’s wedding.

This is Bryson, a blue Beveren. This is the rabbit that my mother-in-law said I could take home. But husband is a big meanie and so Bryson is still happily munching hay back in upstate NY and I remain rabbit-less.

He is a very cute and curious rabbit. He’s not normally in the house, so there was much exploring to be done.

And before you try to argue that we shouldn’t have a rabbit because of the dogs, let me just say that yesterday I found Kodiak practically pissing down his leg behind the shed. What was he afraid of, you ask?? A turtle. A very, very small turtle. This rabbit would kick Kodiak’s rear for sure.

Even cuter than Bryson, but unfortunately not available for my adoption was this little guy. My mother-in-law raises angora rabbits for show and has gone through just about every name you can think of.  According to her, she has used names from greek mythology, names from Shakespeare, colors, food items, and so on and so forth. Now she has a whole bunch of them that are named after family members. Coincidence that the cutest bunny in the rabbit barn is named after hubby? I think not.

Angora’s typically have CRAZY fur going every which direction but Ken has been recently plucked. This gave him a sort of disheveled, ragamuffin like charm. Aside from the fact that he is one of her show rabbits, this is the other reason I’m not allowed to steal adopt Ken. Adorable though he is, I don’t want the hassle of constantly dealing with his fur (even if it is SO tempting to the knitter in me) and (human) Ken knows that if we end up with (rabbit) Ken, he’s going to get stuck with the grooming. Plus we’d have to do a name change and its such a hassle to have to get new social security cards…

In our whirlwind tour of the country, we spent a few days in upstate NY with my husband’s family. While visiting, we spent most evenings just hanging out at his brother’s place with him and his wife. The two of them recently acquired a brindle boxer puppy by the name of Coco, who is the wiggliest dog in the world, not even exaggerating. One evening, I managed to snag a few shots of her out in the back yard. She’s so cute, I wish I could have spent more time doing some serious shooting and gotten a little more variety. But for an impromptu mini session, we got some pretty cute ones, I think.

And, her big brother Gunner even showed up for a quick shot before running off with the frisbee.

Hopefully up soon, assuming the internet connection prevails, are some bunny shots and a few candids of another family dog who rules the couch.

Edited 6/6/09: Leila no longer needs a home. She has been adopted by a wonderful guy who has decided to call her Grace. I love a happy ending!

Meet Leila.

Leila is a black lab mix, approximately 2 years old. She is a sweet, mellow girl who just loves to be close to her person.

At some point in the relatively distant past, someone tried to kill Leila. They aimed for her heart, but hit her in the elbow instead; destroying the joint and a part of her humerus bone. Then they left her to die. Eventually her wounds healed, but bone and joint will never be the same. Her x-ray shows that she still has bullet fragments in her “joint.”

Because of this, she holds her right front paw off the ground the majority of the time and walks with a pronounced limp. According to the vet, however, it no longer causes her pain and her best option for the time being is to leave it alone.

In spite of her injury, we occasionally catch her wrestling in the backyard with her foster siblings. While she normally moves fairly slowly, she does occasionally get a burst of puppy-like energy.

Since found, Leila has been filling out and gaining confidence. In the next week or so, she will receive the necessary shots and be spayed. Then nothing would make her happier than finding a loving home with a family that will love her in spite of her limp. If you, or someone you know, would like to give Leila a home, please contact me at amanda @ nizhonipetphotography.com

On a photography note, these images were taken at a fantastic little courtyard oasis in the middle of a built up part of town, just beside the freeway. An awesome find!

For a brief, shining moment this past weekend I was a Minneapolis pet photographer and it was pretty awesome. I have to say, there is a lot of cool stuff in that town, and its very pretty. Plus a good friend lives there, so the new goal is to convince Ken that we should move. Its a work in progress…

Said good friend, Deb, and her man-friend what’s-his-face, have a ferocious doberman by the name of Stalin. Stalin is actually probably one of the least fierce dogs I know, but he looks like he’d tear some shit up, so I think their house is pretty safe.

And he’s a very good looking boy, though not a huge fan of the camera. It was actually quite hard to pick just a few to post because there are so many I really like. The rest are posted in the client section of the website under Stalin (no password needed)

Thanks again you two, for EVERYTHING!! You guys are awesome, and I can’t wait to come visit *cough*move*cough* soon! Hope you like Stalin’s pictures.

And a HUGE thanks to Mutt Moxie for getting the comment feature fixed! Comments are now working again.