It’s pretty common knowledge that my dog goes to Doggy Daycare. And it’s been good for him, I think. I also think that its been good for me. Every now and then, when I have a couple of hours free from work, I’ll take my camera in with me when I drop him off. And I’ll ask if I can photograph their dogs for a little while.

There is nothing like puppy love to start your day right. Its maddness, in the little dogs room. It was pretty amazing how openly they shared their love. Alot of the little dogs just wanted, just for a moment, to sit on your lap and be comforted. And it was amazing to have them do just that. Honestly, the number of dogs that clambered onto my lap, whether for a pat, or just to have a better view than from the floor, was mad. There were so many dogs. This is about half of them:

I found taking photos of the dogs was really difficult. It was in a super low light situation, and I didn’t want to use a flash. I upped the ISO a bit, and fiddled around with the apeture and shutter speed. I’m still new at using these kind of settings, but I still got some good shots. It wasn’t hard though, look at these faces:

The most difficult thing I found was that with these dogs there was ALOT of movement going on. They were moving all the time, watching other dogs, other toys, other treats. It was also really difficult to get them to look at me, and once I did have their attention they’d come right up to me, and try clamber into my lap or eat the lens. It was easier when I had a toy in my hand, some of them sat very still, eyes glued to the toy in my hand. I tried treats too, but that mostly encouraged madness and too much excited movement. Still, I got some good shots, I think.

I think what I liked best was that all had such brilliant little personalities! Some of them were a little timid, some a bit cheeky and some were incredibly mad characters. I must have grinned the whole time I was there, talking to the dogs and laughing and generally hanging out. Watching them chase each other, there was much play fighting, and barking and emotive noise.

It was a pretty brilliant morning, actually. Like I said, there isn’t much that beats puppy <3.