The "Barking BBQ"!

I spent the last weekend in April at Country Dog training center in Southington, CT. Each year the owner, Cheryl, hosts a big dog play event and fair called the "Barking BBQ". I was on hand to take some portraits for interested owners. Normally I'm in a home with one or two dogs, or at a specialty show with the same breed of dog over and over. It is a rare treat for me to get to work with many different dogs throughout the day.
We saw more than 20 different breeds throughout the day!
Interested in seeing them all? All the images are on www.delvecchiophotography.com under the Pet Portrait Clients gallery.

I had a fun session last month with the Ratti family and their two Goldens, Blaze and Shade. It was obvious that they really loved their dogs.

We did a simple session at their home, some in the yard some inside and tried to capture "a day in the life" of Blaze and Shade. I think we were able to capture all the simple everyday moments. These are the moments that owners often look back on later and say "I wish I had a picture of that!" so it was fun for me to be a part of documenting those memories...

This is our youngest son, Murphy...

If you've always treated your dog like a little furry person, you aren't alone. Not only that, but as a new study reveals, you were probably right to do so.
A recent article on MSNBC previews a new paper by Jozsef Topal, one of the world's leading canine researchers, which argues that the thousands of years of shared environment between man and dog has made the dog a closer model to human behavior than chimpanzees with whom we share 98% of our genes.
"In my view, pet dogs can be regarded in many aspects as 'pre-verbal infants in canine's clothing'" said Topal. The dogs in his study performed at levels equal to a 16-month old child in a series of tests and the article notes that "dogs exhibit all three primary types of social behavior that humans evolved when they split from chimpanzees 6 million years ago".

Irish Harvest Specialties!

I'm headed back to Vernon, CT for the Irish Harvest Specialties show the first weekend in October. This is the second year for the event which is a combined show for the Irish Setter Club of New England, the Irish Setter Club of Central Connecticut and the Eastern Irish Setter Association.

I had a great time last year and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again this year!