Engagement shoot and your pets

TREATS!!! Our photographer was pretty fast at taking the pictures too but having her husband to hold the treat above her camera also really helped! I didn't think of this at the time but giving them a walk probably would have helped on the energy levels too 🤣

We included our dog in our photos! It is definitely easier said than done, but we still got a few decent shots. If you want pictures with them, DO IT. I don’t regret taking our dog even if it was work. She’s literally like my child so I’m glad we got at least one good photo with her and I know you won’t regret it either!

If I could do it over again, I would definitely bring treats!!! Like your dog she’s super well behaved without the treats but I honk we could have gotten her to focus a little better if we’d had them! Make sure collar and leash are the colors you want! Our dog had an old red leash that we’ve just never replaced and I didn’t consider it being in the pictures, but really wish I had. If your baby gets excited around crowds or anything, keep that in mind for locations! And lastly, consider having someone else there to watch them or bring/take them when you’re done with photos. We had to leave our dog in my car the whole time and I felt terrible about it.

Good of luck on whatever you decide!

I'm planning on having my dog in pics. My plan is to have my dad there to take my dog back to their place after we finish pics with him. He is very hyper so I'm also planning on getting to the location early to walk him around and get him to calm down as well.

Bring treats and another person to hold onto the pup while he’s not in photos.

Lots and lots of treats lol. Our photographer was so sweet. We'd tuck his leash behind us and she'd be taking photos one handed while holding a treat to make him look haha.

ETA: Ideally have someone there to hold your dog while you're doing photos of just you and your SO. We didn't so we would just tie his lead around a tree in the shade and he'd just chill and watch everyone in the park

Our puppy is a lot bigger now (I'm sure people will comment how much he's changed when they get our save the date hahaha), but here's one of our favorites:

We decided it was too hard, but we did make sure we got a photo with our dog the morning of the wedding before she went to spend the day at my mom's. I like that it was more candid and excited. The photographer snapped a really cute picture of my cat while we were getting ready, which I loved. I wish I made it a point to get something of the other cat.

We did 2 engagement shoots and had our puppy with us both times. The first time he was 12 weeks and the second he was 16 weeks. For us it worked out that it was later in the day so he was tired and more cooperative, but because he was in a new place he just wanted to smell everything!

I totally want to include our cat in our photos but not sure she will cooperate lol

We took my dog and he's pretty hyper, so we also took our moms and my mom held him when we were taking pictures of just ourselves. Don't regret it one bit

View Quoted Comment Love it!!!!!

View Quoted Comment Your dog is sitting perfectly 🤣😩

We brought a friend of mine that our dog was familiar with. When we were doing pics without the dog she held onto him. Worked out perfectly!

I found it difficult but glad we did it for our engagement photos. We didn't have treats but I think that is the trick. We will have treats for our wedding photos with our boys

We brought along my older sister. We have 2 dogs 1 is overall well behaved he can be off leash and be near by so we weren’t worried about him but my other dog is nervous around new people and if let loose with run off and ignore you and we wanted photos with our dogs but also have a couple without them. Having someone hold them for you and call them when taking pictures was great. We also had lots of treats and brought them out for a walk before the shoot so they weren’t as hyper and active during the shoot. We also had a very low expectations we know getting the perfect picture with a 2 dogs is super hard so we just had fun with it and didn’t expect it to be great just fun!

As a professional model:

1) Make sure the outfit you and FH pick compliment each other AND Pupper.
2) Have snacks and water for you and Pupper. Treats to get the look- give photog some too.
3) Have photog meet Pupper and interact and take a few shots in puppers home turf
4) Give photog toy Pupper likes to get attention.
5) RELAIZE THE CANDID OUTTAKES WILL, MOST LIKELY, BE THE BEST!
6) Do a few shots without Pupper too.

I wish we could've included our boys, but it was' doable on the day of our shoot (100 degree day and our location had to change). Maybe Christmas cards next year.

Walks to let out energy beforehand certainly help. And of course treats! But be sure to give them every few pictures to keep them motivated. Waving treats around for an hour isn't fair to the talent lol.

My Boys on the Beach.

Treats! I wish I brought them. Our dogs would not sit still but we got a couple good ones at least. We had someone who watched them while we did the rest of our shoot.

I wanted this as well and tried it in a photoshoot with my brother in law... It did NOT work out well lol. My dog is absolutely nuts and was not cooperating at all lol

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OMG Courtney! They are both so cute!! What are their names?

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Thank you. The Shepard mix on the left is Rayner. And the Pom mix on the right is Finn.