pretty girl + her puppies

Today I got to meet Pretty Girl - a lovely Bernese Mountain Dog who's recently given birth to nine fluffy pups.
She's also made headlines recently.

Shortly after she came into care of the Victoria Humane Society, Pretty Girl helped nurse 11 orphaned puppies whose mom passed away after giving birth... in addition to her own 9. She is a super dog. For real.

You may question whether a dog should nurse 20 puppies. I would agree with 'no'. However, it was only for a few hours. When the 11 orphaned pups were taken away, Pretty Girl was sad. She followed  out the rubber bin they were being transported in and watched as the bin was taken away. 
Once out of sight, she headed back inside her foster mom's home and saw her own 9 puppies were still there, she gave them each a sniff, and all was ok again. 

When I came to her home today she was a tail-waggin, smiley ball of fluff.... until I took that first photo. 
Click, went the shutter.
Right away she skulked over to her foster mom for comfort. When I noted how frightened she was to Dianne (her lovely foster mom) she said that someone (no names mentioned) had recently used a flash to take her photo and it scared her to bits and has seemed to make her nervous of big cameras ever since.

So I gave her pups a snuggle and then worked on helping her get used to the sound of my camera. Who knows if she was afraid of big cameras before she came into care, but she knew the word treats, and some cupboard love definitely helped. By the end of the hour I'd say she didn't love my camera, but she and I did manage to get some photos of her not looking terrified - including some of her with the cute way she tucks her front paws under her when laying next to her pups, and even a head tilt. And with a little help she'll hopefully not be as afraid of it in the future because she's so adorable, people are going to wanna take her photo wherever she goes. Plus it'll be a good excuse to go back and visit her!

I've photographed over 500 dogs in the care of rescues and shelters as well as gaggles of newborn puppies, but the moms get me every. single. time. It's easy to get lost in puppy breath, but to give love to the momma dog - the one who's done the work - is something that gets me right in the heart bone.

In about 7 weeks or so Pretty Girl's litter of 'colour-named' pups will be weaned and then she and her gang will all be available for adoption through the Victoria Humane Society.

I can't wait to visit them again and watch them grow up.
This lovely girl definitely lives up to her name, in looks and personality. xo

p.s. the cute 'one of these things doesn't look like the other' is Missy, Pretty Girl's 13-year-old foster sister - gah!