Majority of my childhood photos include dogs. My mother has always been the biggest dog lover I have ever known. Until I read stories of my Great- Grandfather, Omer Sheets. What a great name, Omer. When I read about him, I learned that he was humble, funny, loving, hard-working, but most of all a serious dog lover. He proclaimed to have about 100 dogs in his lifetime, which was probably not a difficult goal to obtain considering he passed at the age of 94! At one point, he had a dog named Princey who he had trained to know arithmetic! Omer and Princey were scheduled to appear on the Johnny Carson Show when Princey suffered a heart attack after having puppies. Omer then trained one of her puppies Runt who was known as “Runt the Canine Calculator.” She could add, subtract, multiply and divide. They appeared together in numerous state fairs.

Here is a really rough, scanned old photo of him and his puppies.

A younger Omer.

I love this photo as he was almost as well known for his pipe as he was his puppies. ( BTW, my mom is the little girl in this photo.)

I tell you all of this because when I was in New York City a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of meeting another fellow dog lover, Ku and her baby Simba. Listening to Ku talk about the almost 17 years they have spent together almost brings tears to your eyes. Simba has been a loyal friend, faithful protector and loving confidant for all of those years. He is now 17 years old and starting to slow down especially with the recent hip replacement. You can see that his fur is shaved in a few places due to the surgery. During the shoot, Ku pushed him around in the cutest puppy stroller but when she would get him up to lead him to it, he would wobble happily beside her, like the true friend he has always been. I was so honored to document their connection.

Sweet puppy paws.

Ku is a private chef in New York City and Simba gets to go to work with her everyday! What a life! I am positive that he eats better then me!

Look at this sweet face!

Puppy love.

I love how happy he looks here!!

and here…….

Ku, you are so gorgeous girl! You two make a fabulous set of models!

Ku, I had a fabulous time getting to know you and your baby. I loved hearing the story of how Simba fell into your life by chance and it was instant love! I can’t wait to see you again on our next trip out east!

I want to leave you with a published poem written by my great-grandfather, Omer Sheets.

MY DOG:

People will say that a dog has no soul,

They have no way of knowing it’s true.

I believe there is a heaven for dogs

If there’s one for me or for you.

If I have a soul, my dog has one, too.

She is just as deserving as I.

For what my dog is, and what she means to me,

Is something I never could buy.

If there’s a home in Heaven for me,

And if it’s up there in the sky,

Then it looks like there’s plenty of room so my dog

Could be there with me when we die.

And I’ll have a place with my loved ones someday,

Away off up there in the blue,

No matter how bright, it just doesn’t seem right,

If my dog can’t be there with me, too.

Omer Sheets

April 7th, 1967

Remember, WE LOVE YOUR COMMENTS!!

Christine, Mike and Gabrielle are the cutest brand new family ever! Baby Gabrielle is just precious. When we arrived at their home in the heart of downtown the man in the lobby in charge of security told us she was an extraordinarily beautiful baby! And Fred, I think we all would have to agree! Look at this doll-baby!

Look at those baby blues!

Soon, her cousin Isabella arrived with her mom Isla and dad Dan. They are such good little buddies!

Love this.

It was very windy, kinda rainy and a tad cold the morning of our shoot. Soooooo, we made it outdoors for a little bit but boy we were gettin’ in as much as we could in a short amount of time! I seriously think that is when the best photos happen.

I love that even through the spitting rain and whipping wind, their super fun personalities shone through!

Don’t you just love their little hats?? I am so jealous of the moms that get to dress up their little girls in these adorable outfits! The boy clothing options aren’t half as fun!

LOOK AT THIS CUTIE!!!

Happiness.

Isabella is one loved little girl!

Isabella and Gabrielle were freezing near the end of the shoot so we had them all bundled up between photos!! Does Isabella not look JUST LIKE HER DAD when she smiles!!??!!

I had to post this photo. I always wish I had a camera behind me taking photos of the parents great efforts to get their children to smile for a photo!! Hahahaha!!!

Thank you guys for such a fun shoot and hangin’ in there with us through the interesting weather that morning! I can’t wait to photograph your sweet little babies again!!!

Have a great Tuesday everyone. And remember, WE LOVE YOUR COMMENTS!!!!!

I adore this family! Jack and Henry are two of the happiest, handsomest, most polite little boys you will ever meet. Chris and Misha, you are really doing something right with those two! It was soooooo great to photograph such a loving and sweet family! We had a ton of fun running around town downtown jumping, climbing, chewing on gumballs and tossin’ the baseball around!!

HOW ADORABLE IS THIS FAMILY!!!!????

Henry, the littlest one, seriously smiles non-stop!!

For little boys, taking pictures can be a tough job. So, I thought they might like really like me more if they had candy. Candy makes everything better!!!

Chris, Misha and I quickly realized that we if we let them chew it, the rest of the photos would include bright blue and yellow mouths. So, essentially, I offered them candy and then took it away. Yeah, then they REALLY loved me!

I love that Henry is concerned only about how high Jack is getting!! We took this photo three times and all three photos were identical! Nothin’ like a little brotherly competition!!

This is a baseball lovin’ family so we had to make sure we documented them in their super cute ball hats! I promise you I did not pose these two for this photo! How adorable, huh??!!?

We played a little game where Jack threw the ball up and Henry was supposed to catch it. It took him a while which I was SO happy about as the practice photos were so cute!!

Henry was pretty pleased with himself when he finally got it!

I LOVE THIS PHOTO! I know I have said this before but my favorite photos are full of emotion and color!

Look at Jack and Henry totally workin’ it out!

I had to get some photos of just Chris and Misha! Looking at this photo really helps me understand why the boys are so happy.

Photos done, gum-balls begin!

At the end of the shoot, I could tell Jack was beat. So, as a thank you for hanging in there, I asked him if he would like to take a photo with my camera. He did a great job! Thanks for the new head shot Jack!!

Thank you guys for giving me the honor of photographing your family! It really was a blast and I cannot wait to do it again!!

Remember everyone, WE LOVE YOUR COMMENTS!!!