Our wonderful groomer, Lori Fillion, was here last?Thursday to take care of her usual clients (blind Sophie the Dachshund is one of them), and we asked her to take our photo for the spring/summer print newsletter that I’d been working on for the past week. As longtime blog readers may recall, during previous photo shoots we’ve ended up with some?odd?looking photos that I post on the blog as “outtakes.” Well, this session provided some new ones to share, so here goes. There are two sequences of shots.
In the first one, starting with the photo above, all is well but we wanted to try to?get Sophie looking at the camera, so I reached over, cooed at her, and gently tried to reposition her face towards the camera. I was met with growling and bared teeth (otherwise known around here as “not a pretty face”):
Now, the thing you have to understand about Sophie is that she always growls — whether she’s a sad Sophie, a mad Sophie or a happy Sophie, growling is how she expresses herself in almost every occasion. She’s always been this way. Sophie adores Alayne, and when Alayne is cuddling her and carrying her down the hallway, all I hear is Sophie growling — grrrr, grrrr, grrrr. That’s the affectionate Sophie. When Sophie first arrived, this was a bit off-putting, but we quickly realized it signaled nothing in particular except her weird way of communicating. And she never bites or snaps, though she certainly?looks like she’s going to take a chunk out of you.
Here’s the very next frame … although I can assure you this was not an?”affectionate” Sophie at that?moment:
Still growling but less bared teeth, and?not her best presentation, shall we say.
And then, in the next shot, as if by magic it’s one happy family again:
All of that happened in just a few seconds.
In the next sequence a couple of minutes later, all again seems fine:
And then this — I don’t even remember what prompted it:
Sophie and I exchange?a few more words as Alayne looks surprised at the argument’the two of us are having:
And’the immediate aftermath:
And finally, in case you’re wondering, this is the photo that’s going in the newsletter:
Thanks to Lori for the grooming and for the photography!
Love it! Sophie certainly has her own opinions and is not afraid to express them! 🙂
Sophie looks beautiful with her spring bandanna. Isn’t it funny the little quirks the doggies have, just like people. I never would have guessed that Sophie would be a growler.
Sophie is so funny!! She looks adorable, growling or not. And the bandana is perfect for her! But the beautiful couple – YOU TWO – are amazing! You look wonderful. Thank you for all you do. God continue to bless you, many times over. And I can’t wait to see the Spring/Summer Newsletter!!
Does the tone of the growls change to signify happy vs. angry vs. affectionate?
Have never heard of a growling/talking dog, sounds like it would have been a bit scary at the beginning but soon become adorable.
You guys glow and never age—-ultimate respect for you TWO!!!!!!
Love the second to the last one Steve!!! Your expression..is saying “really??” LOVE IT!!!
So miss being there to be apart of all the out takes!!!! Hope all is well!!
What fun to see all these pictures and learn what was going on! Thanks for sharing the extra pictures. Sophie is certainly a cute one. You two people are quite photogenic also.
Sophie looks like a handful, all right! I love all the quirky personalities and communication styles in the world of dogs. I wonder if the other dogs were confused at first by her growl-only style.
Our dachshund-beagle mix was silent for the first two weeks after we adopted him. Then one day, I guess when he started feeling at home, he found his voice. He has a very loud bark, which we have tried to train him not to use so often. This has led to him developing something that sounds uncannily like talking, a rowr-rowr-rowr kind of thing. Guess we’re lucky he hasn’t unearthed the beagle bay from somewhere in his genes.
All the photos are charming, thank you for sharing!
Same old Sophie, I remember that growl fondly. Thank you so much for taking care of her.
Thanks for sharing the series of photos…dogs are the best. She looks so cute after her grooming and in her bandana.
I want to sincerely thank you for all the work you have done for all these animals over the years. Your truly amazing.
Paula
Yes ! The beautiful people & their beautiful pups !
Grrrrrrrrr a grrrrrrrr . ( with love of course )
xoxox Roz
Great to see you two are holding up well…really great photo of you two. And, Sophie is gorgeous as well.
I just gotta as that you are a wicked nice looking couple, and you both take a good picture!
I swear, Sophie just gets lovelier with age. It looks like she may have put on a little “winter weight” but far be it for me to tell her. I’m sure I’d get an earful! My dowager, Genie Bee, also speaks her mind and I find it one of the funniest, cutest, oh heck, everything about a dachshund is adorable!! Here’s to you, Sophie! We just love you all in our household.
So funny! Great to see you all!