Five Shih Tzu Rescues

[rpcrowe]

Our rescue received thirteen Shih Tzus from a breeder. Here are portraits of the five that Judy and I are fostering...
Carrie

Bella

Slick

Pink

Alex


Here is my impromptu studio; shooting with an A6400, Sony 70-200mm f/4 G lens and Godox TT350S flash. I shoot in manual exposure and TTL flash.

Originally, I would photograph our dogs with a more involved setup.

However, I kept having to set it up and break it down so many times that I oped for a more simple solution. It's not what you use, it's the results that matter! I switched to the little plastic dome for the flash because big eyed dogs like these Shih Tzus get the dreaded "blue eye" effect when too much of the flash is directed towards them as often is the case with a Demb Flash Diffuser Professional. Most often the dog will be sitting up and I will be leaning a bit lower to be level with the dog's eyes...

[Shadowman]

Beautiful looking pups, nice setup.

[Rufus]

It makes wonder why a breeder is using a dog rescue centre, unless it is not a reputable breeder of course.

[rpcrowe]

It makes wonder why a breeder is using a dog rescue centre, unless it is not a reputable breeder of course.

She is dying from cancer and wanted to ensure that her breeding stock gets good homes before she dies...

It is relatively common that breeders adopt out their breeding stock after they retire the dogs. We work with several breeders in this way...

Pink has just been adopted and is on her way with her new mom to her new home in Huntington Beach, California (about 80 miles north of us).

[Rufus]

It is relatively common that breeders adopt out their breeding stock after they retire the dogs. We work with several breeders in this way...

This is not something I had thought of as I had assumed that the breeder would have a market for adult dogs as well; but, as you can tell, this is a topic outside of my experience having not had a pet since my childhood days.

I usually look at your photographs of the dogs, which are always very well done, and I am glad you have so many willing adopters come forward to enable you to continue the good work that you do. From your various posts we gain an understanding that there is more to running a rescue centre than meets the eye.

[rpcrowe]

Managing a rescue is very much like running any other type of business. You need a business plan and you need to ensure that money comes in as well as goes out. A broke rescue that cannot pay its bills or pay for the vet care of its animals doesn't help anyone.

We are very fortunate that we have a local vet who provides excellent care for our animals at greatly reduced costs.

We ensure that our dogs have the best of vet care and we also work with several specialty vets such as eye vets and dermatologists.

Our funds come from donations and from adoption fees for the dogs we adopt out. An unusual source of income is from Amazon.com/smile. Amazon Smile allows purchasers to designate non-profit organizations which then will receive a small share of the purchase price of any item purchased through that website. There is no additional cost to the purchaser, the donation comes out of Amazon's profits. The percentage we receive from Amazon is very small but, if there are a large number of purchasers who designate our organization to receive the share of the purchase price, it can amount up.

[Cantab]

Richard, as always, a great set of photos.

I noticed that a good number of them were more facial portraits than your usual more or less whole dog portrait. Are you changing your approach or was it just random chance that the collection of photos in this post were more focussed/cropped on the face than usual?

[LePetomane]

This is not something I had thought of as I had assumed that the breeder would have a market for adult dogs as well; but, as you can tell, this is a topic outside of my experience having not had a pet since my childhood days.

Good point. The woman we got our Bouviers (3) from has a program for her retired breeding dogs. She practically does an FBI background check on the prospective owners. These are big strong dogs and not necessarily suitable for elderly looking for a companion. They are for active people who do not want to go through the puppy phase of training, pooping and peeing (like we're going through now.) The smaller dogs that Richard does such a great job with are better suited for the elderly.

[rpcrowe]

No, changes. I will usually shoot couple each of head shots and full body shots. I just selected the head shots to post. Here is an example of a body shot.
Alex...