Photo Session: Molly and Karmen "Prim and Proper"

Sharing the latest photos of my little misses Molly and Karmen.  It was another bored day and I had a few photo ideas bubbling around and so I decided to snap a few photos.  Thankfully, Molly and Karmen are cooperative dogs when it comes to photographing them. 

Generally the two of them will not sit side by side for any reason.  They like a good deal of distance between them when laying down or something.  BUT for photos?  They will sit as close together as I want them to.  After the photos are done, nope they like their space.

From last session the one I shared a couple blogs back.
If you click the photo it will take you to the blog with last
sessions photos on it.

Molly is one of those "prim and proper" dogs.  She daintly takes food from
you ever so carefully.  Doesn't scarf her food down, is (relatively) polite.
And kind of prissy foots around (not too majorly but a little)

Karmen and Molly.  They NEVER sit this close on a general basis unless
the camera is out then they sit close.  Silly girls.

I wsa joking around and told them to act mad at each other and they
both looked away from each other.  Worked for me!

Karmen giving Molly kisses (Didn't get the actual kiss, but she
was going in to give her one, she loves her furry sister. 

I love this photo of Karmen and Molly.  Looks like Karmen
said something funny and Molly is laughing about it.  Which
is hilarious, but Molly always looks so serious in photos. 
It is usually Karmen who is making faces at the camera, so to catch
Molly making a funny face was perfect timing.

My beauties.

Molly Marie, my gorgeous girl.  She's 2 years old now!
Still need to take her birthday photos and Karmen's 1 year pics too!

My BEAUTIFUL Karmen! When we take them out somewhere Karmen gets
so many compliments on how beautiful and fluffy she is.  She is a very beautiful
dog (atleast in my opinion!)  And she's super sweet too.

Just a fun angle of Karmen's paw

Karmen's gorgeous brown eye(s)
I always have fun photographing my dogs
And I think they have fun too. They
don't run away anyway! They sit and cooperate which
is a good sign!  I just wish they were as cooperative the rest
of the time as they are for photos.  One can wish ;)

Mahala Dixson

I Love Tuesday Volunteer Days!

Tuesday's are my favorite day of the week.  Come Sunday, I'm already welcoming Tuesday.  I get to hang out with some of the best shelter volunteers, and play with some of the sweetest dogs I've ever met.  Dogs who need homes.  Shelter dogs.

Lately the shelter hasn't had too many dogs, averaging 3-4 dogs a week, which is actually really good!  A few dogs I'm not even getting to photograph because they are already adopted by the time I get to come back in on Tuesday.  Which is great! The word is really spreading around our community about the local animal shelter. 

Many of the shelter volunteers are teens traveling from some smaller neighboring communities just to help our shelter.  I thank you ladies! Thank you for being involved and caring about dogs in another community and for volunteering your time.  The dogs completely appreciate it!

We spent our time yesterday cleaning out a spare garage on the shelter to turn it into a quarantine area for new dogs/puppies to help prevent the spread of parvo to the general population at the shelter.  They will be quarantined for a few days before they get to join the rest of the dogs.  Hopefully this will help stop the spread of illness.  Monitor the dogs in a seperate location for a few days and if they need medical intervention it'll be a little easier.

After cleaning out the room the dogs were played with and walked.  Spirit, the pitt bull that's been at the shelter for a little over a week now was able to come out of her kennel and enjoy a walk and some play time as well! That was awesome! Last week it was so sad to see her stuck behind her kennel wearing a collar that was far too tight! Thankfully, the collar was able to be gotten off and a new one put on that fit properly.  Once brought outside and getting played with for a bit she was quite the friendly doggy!

Spirit hangs out with her new friend Kathy. She was a good dog
once she got to know Kathy and the rest of us, she warmed up to
us pretty quickly after that. 

SHELTER ID # 197 

STATUS: Available (6/21)
Name: Spirit
Gender: Female (not spayed, has had atleast 1 litter of puppies)  Age: around 2years we think
Breed: Pitt Bull
Color: Reddish/brown
Weight: 40-45lbs?

Spirit needs to get to know you before you can approach her, she needs a lot of love and patience, she is a beautiful dog and wants she gets to know you she wags her tail and just sits there very good to be petted.

Would love to see a good pitt rescue group take in Spirit to work with her good before she's adopted! :)

IF INTERESTED IN RESCUING OR ADOPTING PLEASE CALL: (660)833-7330

Would love it if there was a pitt rescue group somewhere that could take her in
and work with her for a bit to make sure she's trained before being
adopted. 

SHELTER ID# 196

STATUS: Available (6/21)
Name: Midnight
Gender: Male (not neutered)
... Breed: Lab/Basset mix
Age: Under a year (6-9 months?)
Color: Black
Weight: 30-35lbs
In Date: 6/12
Pick up: Stray
Shots: None

Midnight is a fairly calm guy not too hyper, but still energetic. Wants to play though and definetely not a fan of the heat! It's rough being a black dog in the summer time! He has the body of the basset hound, but the color and fur of the lab, so he's quite the charachter! Seemed to do fine with other dogs and kids, and loves to walk, though is a little head strong on the leash, but some training and practice and he'd be good ;)

IF INTERESTED IN RESCUING OR ADOPTING THIS DOG PLEASE CALL: (660)833-7330

SHELTER ID # 198 

STATUS: Available (6/21)
Name: Riley
Gender: Male (not neutered) Breed: Unsure
Age: Around a year
Color: White/brown
Weight: 40lbs aprox.
In Date: 6/12
Pick up: Stray
Shots: None

Riley is a little more head strong and exciteable but a real sweetie! He likes to jump up and pull on the lead, but with training and patience and lots of love he would make a great and playful dog! Seems to like kids too. We couldn't tell if he was barking at the other dogs because he wanted to PLAY or if he was being territorial, but he might behave differently outside of the shelter setting. Very pretty pup!

IF INTERESTED IN RESCUING OR ADOPTING THIS DOG PLEASE CALL: (660)833-7330

One of the volunteers brought her little pup with her.  Sissy was adopted from the shelter on May 18th. No one knew Sissy was pregnant while she was at the shelter.  She'll be having puppies in a week or two! The daddy dog is in the HOUNDS training program at the prison, his name is Jax (he's a gorgeous springer spaniel mix dog, we think).  Sissy is a beagle dog, so very pretty and sweet! Jax is a sweet heart too.  The little puppies will be looking for a home 8-10 weeks after birth, and Mama dog will be getting spayed as soon as the puppies are weaned.  (I'm going to check about getting spay/neuturing secured for each of the pups as well). 

This is Jax, this is the Daddy to Sissy's babies.  They were abandoned in
a house for a little while.  What happens behind closed doors?  They made
puppies! Ooops!

This is Sissy, the gorgeous girl who is about to have puppies. 
That was a big surprise for her adopted family!

Also Sissy's parents adopted the "shelter mascot" the other day.  She was the only cat left at the shelter, and she weas being kept as a mouser to catch any mice in the feed room. LOL Unfortunately she isn't a mouser.  (Her predacessor however was a great mouser too bad she got sick and did not make it!) Anyway, Cali has a home with the beagle dog Sissy and her family.  Cali came to the shelter already spayed so no surprise kittens for her! Glad to see Cali go off to a loving family.  She is a VERY snuggly and loving cat who definetely needed a full time home where she could snuggle and love everyone, and not sit in a shelter all day not getting the attention she craved/deserved.  She's a very loving kitty!

Sweet Cali ready to go home with her family!

So now the shelter just strictly has dogs.  Atleast they don't have dogs coming out their ears at the moment! But that could all change in one day though :(

The shelter WILL be gearing up for a YARD SALE this fall!! Probably the first weekend in September they will be having a large yard sale to raise money for the shelter.  This money will help by panels to fence off part of the shelter yard for the dogs to run and romp and play and burn up some of that pent up energy.  It will help with vetting costs, and the HOUNDS program. If anyone has items they would like to donate to the Shelter Rummage Sale, that'd be wonderful! Start digging the items out, and probably starting in July/August we'll store the items until the yard sale.  Volunteers to run the yard sale will also be needed as well. 

Some other fundraising ideas we have includes:  Selling Krispy Kream donuts for the shelter, having a BBQ at the dog park, having an online auction, and having people pay a small fee to enter our "shelter" group to walk in the local home coming parade in September.  Still thinking of ideas! I would love to make calendars featuring dogs from the shelter and Hounds Program and dogs in foster homes to be sold as a fundraiser as well.  Always looking for fundraising ideas for the shelter.  If you have a  great idea, please let us know! You can comment or sent a message to us on the Shelter Facebook page or email us your ideas at: fur_ever_yours_pet_photography@yahoo.com

Tuesday while we were at the shelter, a small neighboring town's animal control officer showed up, our shelter was donating several bags of dog food to the smaller shelter (yep even smaller than ours!).  I was greatly upset to hear that they get a lot of dogs at the shelter (small town in the country people dump dogs out there all the time).  They do not get dogs adopted out of their at all.  They end up taking them to the local Humane Shelter in Columbia, MO.  Where who knows how many of them are adopted out, and how many are euthenized. I quickly told the gentleman that I would be more than happy to come out even once a month and photograph the dogs there to try and help them find homes.  So I'm seeing how that will go.  Planning on working something out to go there in July.

Mahala (Mae) Dixson
Moberly, MO Shelter Volunteer -- Photographing Dogs and Events

Some Fun Photo Time

Yesterday was a hot day and so we were all kind of trapped in the house.  3 bored kids, 2 bored dogs, and 2 bored kittens.  What do you do with that much energy?  You photograph it.  :)

The moment I mentioned pictures my daughter and sons got all excited, and the dogs picked up that excitement very quickly, especially when they saw the camera! The kittens were more excited about the back drop and playing with the kids feet!

We sat up our back ground and started snapping a few photos. 

My dogs always get their busy butts and wagging tails in the way when it's time to take photos of the kids so we put some cute bandana's on them and included them in some pics with the kiddos.  The dogs sat really well for their photos.

I love capturing the friendship between furry best friend and child!

When Karmen has her photo taken she likes to make goofy faces at the camera for the most part.  Molly is always very serious in photos and is concentrating on the task at hand.  Sitting still. 

So below are a few of the photos of the kids with their pets from yesterday.  It was just something fun we did on the spur of the moment ;)
Just thought I'd share them.

And also tomorrow at 10am we're meeting at the animal shelter for another volunteer day!! Don't forget and come bring a friend.

My sons sitting with our dogs Karmen and Molly

One of my sons sitting with our dogs Karmen and Molly

My other son sitting with our dogs Karmen and Molly

See, Karmen LOVES to make faces at the camera LOL

Molly.  Ever serious. 

Karmen, sitting pretty

Little Miss Karmen!

My daughter holding our two kittens (the little one you can't see well is Severus Snape,
and the bigger one is Tobi, the bob tailed kitten) and that is Molly sitting there too.

Our dog watch my daugher cuddle with the kittens

My daughter cheesing it up with her buddies Karmen and Molly

Also took some photos last week of a friends dogs, and a couple of little foster dogs. 

I posted Freckles pic in the last post too but wanted to share it again.

Miss Tuti is still looking for her FUR EVER home!
She is a year old, and needs to be an ONLY fur child, and would
do best in a home of a retired couple who are home all of the time
to spoil her rotten.  She loves to ride in cars, and golf carts. 
She does NOT like to be kenneled.  She has been spayed, and
is heart worm NEGATIVE and is on prevention meds. 
Up to date on her shots too.  She is good with kids so if grand children
come over she'd be fine with them. 

This is Scooter (pretty sure it's Scooter anyway LOL His friend Sissy looks exactly like him!)
He is NOT up for adoption, he is very happy with his FUR EVER home.

This is Gunner.  Also, NOT up for adoption.  Gunner is 13 years old
and has been with his FUR EVER home since he was a year old
when they rescued him as a dumped puppy in the country. 
He's a handsome boy living a great life in the country with his
FUR EVER HOME!

Volunteer Day: Bathing and Painting!

Tuesday we had another wonderful Volunteer day at the shelter.  There weren't too many dogs at the shelter though.  There were a total of 4 dogs that were there, but 3 of them got all kinds of love and attention!

Thank you so much to all of the volunteers who come out week after week
to bathe, brush, and play, with these dogs!! You are so very much appreciated.

These wonderful young ladies are bathing one of the shelter dogs.

Another volunteer helps out by painting the puppy kennels.  Some massive
cleaning and sterilization had to be done after the parvo that swept through. 
The puppy kennels had to be re painted to reseal them and help keep
everything safe.

Giving Duke a bath, he'll give you a SHOWER!

Bruno likes to go on long walks!

There was a little white bull terrier, he was actually already adopted and was waiting for his family to come pick him up.  So while he waited he got a bath, and brushed and we played with him and loved him all up.  We were calling him Bruno.  He looked like a big tough guy!

Bruno let me get his photo though...with some difficulting LOL

There was a little tan pup that we weren't sure what to call, but he was waiting for his owners to come pick him up since he was a lost dog that had gone missing from his home.  He was a handsome guy who enjoyed his bath and all the playtime he got!

This little guy got all wore out after his bath and play time so he went back into his kennel
before I could get a super good photo of him.  He wanted to eat rather than have his picture taken.

Duke is a handsome lab that just wanted to play and play with everyone.  Before the day was done and all the volunteers went home, he had been adopted by one of the volunteers! Yay Duke! He gets to go live in the country on a lot of land, Wow! Lucky dog!

So Duke was a super busy boy the other day who didn't have time
to get his photo taken, so this is about the best one I have of him. 
He was shaking off after his bath and spraying the volunteers
with water.  LOL

There is one poor gal sitting in the shelter though that needs some rescuing her.

Her name is Spirit.  She's a pitt bull who is about a year or a year and a half old.  She's had one litter of puppies.  She was done wrong by her "owners" who had contacted me previously asking if I could help her find a rescue group or something. I was barely given anytime to do anything for this poor girl before they called the shelter saying she was a "stray".  She wasn't a stray.

Wish we had been able to get her out of her pen to get a better photo

She had a collar on that was far too tight to be around her neck, and they had difficulties getting it off of her because she doesn't like her tail or head messed with.  Thankfully, they were finally able to get the collar off of her today. That is a relief!

Spirit has calmed down a bit though she still isn't too fond of the animal control officer, Tina.  Bless her heart! Both of them!

Trying to contact a few Pitt Bull Rescue groups to try and get this gal out of the shelter.  Pitts do not do so well at shelters.  If owners were not so irresonsible there wouldn't be such an issue!

Looking towards doing some fundraiser for the local shelter. 

The dog show was a very nice success, and wanting to do more for the shelter. 

We were thinking of a few ideas the other day:

• Online auction with donated items
• A garage sale with all proceeds going to the shelter
• Selling Krispy Kreme Donuts with proceeds going to the shelter
• A Dog Wash, where you bring your dog to be bathed, for $5 per dog
• A BBQ at the dog park selling hot dogs and burgers and lemonade and doggy treats for a few bucks. 

All proceeds going to the dog shelter. 

I really hope we can pull several, if not all of these fundraisers off this year! The shelter could really use it. 

Right now the shelter is needing to make a big fenced in area for the dogs to run in so they aren't cooped up in the kennels all day.  But the panels that are needed will cost about $400 that money doesn't come easy for the shelter, especially when you are living off of meager adoption fee's and donations. 

Items for the shelter have to be bought such as:

• Dog food (and puppy food)
• Sometimes new dog bowls
• Dog beds
• Dog toys
• Dog shampoo
• Dog Brushes
• BLEACH (lots and lots of bleach to keep the place sanitary!)
• Dog collars and leashes of all sizes
• More Kennels and crates would be great
• The cost of parvo vaccinations for puppies
• Vet care for dogs as well

Little Freckles who is one of the sole surviving puppies from the parvo that swept through, is doing very well! She is eating and playing again and will hopefully be headed to a rescue group soon! She's such a sweet and silly dog.  She had a nice bath the other day to get her all clean and a good brushing.  She's really enjoying being at her foster home.  I went over and sat her down for a nice little photo shoot the other day so she'd have some nice head shots to go with her when she goes to her rescue group.

Just look at those gorgeous eyes! Looks like she is wearing eye liner!
And those cute little ears! LOVE THEM!

One of the kittens I was fostering passed away the other day.  It broke my heart.  She was the one we had planned on keeping.  Cinders will be missed so very much.  She was such a sweet kitten.  She had been sick since she came to us on Mother's day.  We thought she was going to pull through several times, but sadly she did not make it.  We buried her Tuesday evening.  Gone, but never forgotten!

It is heart breaking to lose a pet, even one you only had for a few days. And explaining the death of an animal to a child can be a very difficult task.  I let the children know it was ok to be sad about Cinders dying, but let them know that Cinders was no longer sick.  They were involved in the burial process and even wanted to help dig the hole and picked wild flowers, and helped lay rocks around her grave and helped roll the log over her little spot.  I told the kids we could plant some flowers around her grave later to make a little garden around the log.  They thought that was a nice idea. 

Patches, Cinders sister was adopted out just a day or two before Cinders died.  She is a healthy happy kitty, and I am sure she'll be well taken care of in her new home.  We still have Tobi and Severus Snape (My sisters kitten).  The boys will be getting neutered this fall.  They are pretty good little boys! Just having issues getting little Snapey to use the litter box!

The next Volunteer day will be on June 19th out at the shelter! Bring a friend! The shelter will have more dogs by then I'm sure and we'll need all the volunteers we can get.

Mahala
Shelter Volunteer (Photographing the shelter dogs)
Manager of the Shelter Facebook page