The canines of Christmas

"Good dog," we all said as this fine German Shepherd was on his best behavior for his portrait with the Jolly Olde Elf. This calm demeanor came after a requisite round of investigatory sniffing to become familiar with his temporary surroundings.

Click on the pic to see more dogs

Shortly before I left to set up and photograph a number of dogs and to some extent, their two-legged companions, I advised my friends on Facebook that I was headed to Margland Bed and Breakfast to “shoot dogs.” About a half-dozen of my smart-aleck friends took me to task for my choice of verbiage.

Being a smart-aleck myself (I am eschewing another, more descriptive and colorful phrase, to preserve my G-Rating), I would have not let the opportunity slide either. Nevertheless, as a photographer I was indeed shooting dogs, several of who seemed to enjoy the process.

The event was the annual get-your-dog-photographed-with-Santa-benefit sponsored by the Humane Society of Jefferson County (Arkansas). The procedure was simple, I shoot the dogs, Humane Society volunteers print the pictures and collect ten bucks from the dog’s two-legged escort. The 501 c3 non-profit organization is completely dependent on donations and operates with a 100% volunteer staff. Before we go much further, we invite you to visit the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot-com where this story started. We’ll wait here.

Dogs of all sizes and stripes came to the event. I guess you could call this girl a medium. She shows definitive evidence of one or more fence-jumping Labrador Retrievers in her ancestral history.

 See more dog pictures in our Weekly Grist Gallery

No family is complete without one or more dogs. I should know. We have four. And two cats.

While this event is fun and smiles abound, the job at hand for the Humane Society of Jefferson County is serious. For every happy dog you see on these pages, dozens are confined to shelters from which there is no good ending unless they are adopted. The money raised from events like this and from generous donors keeps the work going on for local Humane Society organizations. The need never stops or takes a break.

Click on the pic for more dog pictures

SEE MORE DOG PICTURES

In our Weekly Grist gallery. You’ll see 21 high-resolution pictures from the get-your-dog-photographed-with-Santa-benefit. The cute factor in a couple of cases is off the chart.

The gallery includes the Corndancer and pictures on this page plus 15 others in a larger, high-resolution format. Nuther-words, they’re “clearer.” Click here.

Thanks for dropping by,

Joe Dempsey
Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind

http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

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