Here are a few shots a few minutes before the whippets were to be in the ring. This lady was only there for a few hours, so, we snapped a few







The above were before 9am, these stacked shots were around noon and the sun was just too high for nice light





Considering how little time and how really bad the choices for backgrounds in the immediate area were, I am fairly pleased

Here is a puppy from my litter that was showing

This is my Cinnamon's breeder. They were thrilled to see one another. Cinnamon licked her face forever!



This is the friend's puppies who handled Dottie(my puppy) Hers are incredibly nice puppies.



This is her specials bitch, she won best of breed again this weekend



Here is my puppy competing for winners bitch, after winning the 6-9 class

Julie,
Wow, shots of Whippets with the ears "up"!!! Amazing. You are a Godess!

Nice shots in general and it's clear that this is "your" breed. Your love of it shows in every image.

Thanks for sharing. You do nice work.

Jim

Thanks Jim. I do love the whippets and I have gotten a lot of instruction on how people want to see them. As you know, show people are VERY particular. So, I have been extensively tutored in what *they* want to see.

Show dogs are so darn easy to photograph, as they are well trained and stand. Compared to pet portraits, it is a breeze! Not to mention I had a pro handler on the dog and then another baiting and squeaking for them. Makes me look good!

The ones of the black and white puppy on the gray background is one from my litter. He is at a gawky stage right now. I grabbed that one as he was standing there. I think it shows off his elegence and hides his babiness.

Then I just like the ones of Cinny and her breeder. It makes her breeder very happy to have these

Nice job on all of them Julie. I love the one of the breeder kissing Cinnamon.

I have found many breed dogs to be frustrating to photograph, I've had many owners who can barely get them to stack but not to stay if they step away, and also not to sit or down, etc. I guess since I've always done obedience as well as breed I figure the breed dogs can also do the basic commands but I've not found many yet. My pet peeve is people who show in breed and keep their dogs in kennels the rest of the time which has been the case in at least some instances.

I haven't done any of just pet dogs though so maybe I'd appreciate what the breed dogs do if I had LOL. Having a pro handler helping bait would make a big difference too.

What lens did you use for the indoor shot?

I used the 35-100 f2(which = 70-200 in 35mm) for the indoor shots. Love that lens. I was using my 50-200 wide open on the outdoor shots.

All these dogs were on a show lead, so, they weren't actually staying with the owner away. Show leads are easy to zip out in PS.

Conformation dogs are taught NOT to sit. Though both of mine do sit. Cinnamon got her CGC last week!

They are both really nice lenses, you definitly know how to get the best out of them too. These are all really great Julie.

Yeah those thin show leads are real easy to remove in PS. I know some people don't like to teach their breed dogs to sit and they use one lead for that and one for obedience to keep it obvious to the dog etc etc but I've shown in both with the same dog, for over 20 years (not the same dog for 20 years LOL) and have not had a dog get confused on what they are supposed to do yet. Most of my training buddies show their dogs in both breed and obedience and don't have a problem with the dog sitting in the breed ring etc, they just figure it out.

Congrats on your CGC!!! Hallie got hers 2 years ago (boy time flies) they have a test at our monthly matches at the training center here it's fun to see the things dogs come up with to do in there to embarrass their owners sometimes lol.

Julie,
I think having a great baiter is as important as having a good person behind the camera. At shows, I'm fortunate enough to know most of the top handlers and they are willing to help out in the baiting for others since they know the favor is always returned. It makes all the difference in the world because all I have to do is concentrate on that moment when the dog's head is exactly right.

Conformation dogs are trained to stand; working dogs are trained to sit. Like yours, my dogs are trained to do both. It makes a diffence in this type of shooting as opposed to portraits where you want the dog to sit or down/stay. Of course, in many cases the dogs you want to down/stay haven't been trained to do anything!!! That's when SuperGlue comes in handy .

It's amazing what little owners know about "baiting" their own dogs. I'll ask them to call the dog and they simply look at it. So I'll tell them "call his name" and they whisper it. Go figure.

Knowing a breed and knowing how they are "supposed" to look is key to this type of shooting. As an owner of this breed, you have that knowledge. Now, all you have to do is get just as knowledgeable on the other 130 breeds! Good luck.

Jim

LOL Jim, that made me laugh, I have not been photographing enough to have experienced some of these but I've seen it happening to the official photographers in the ring often enough. I have always been able to get my dogs to do anything I ask of them, since I only have one dog at a time and she goes everywhere with me I have a lot of opportunity to work with her on things. It's really quite easy to train them the difference between the breed ring and the obedience ring, I guess though for those who only are interested in showing one or the other there is no point training for what they will not need to do in the ring. For me anyway, it just makes life easier to have them well trained in all areas for when out and about in public.

Yeah, good luck on me for learning the other 130 breeds It is definitely easier to do a breed you own!

My dogs are so used to being in public, it is no biggie for them. Cinnamon is so used to being on my table, she lays there and poses.

One thing I do when photographing a dog is ask the person what it is they want to see, and then try and capture that. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't

Hey Julie,

These are quite good - really, all of them. Thanks for sharing.

James