Jane, Archie and Aussie
Archie
You don’t see many of these dogs around do you? Once referred to and commonly known as The Brittany Spaniel, I was recently informed they are actually not spaniels and these days are just referred to as a Brittany. Apparently they dropped the spaniel part from their name right back in 1982!
The Brittany was bred primarily for bird hunting.
Archie came to me from a model call. He loves Agility at the local Albany All Breeds Dog Club.
On our first session, he thought running into the mud towards some unsuspecting birds sounded like a whole load of fun. We can take the dog away from the hunt, but you can’t take the hunt away from the dog! So within the first few minutes of our shoot, we had this…… One doggo who was extremely impressed with his efforts. Best. Fun. Ever!
We decided to do a re-shoot after learning a valuable lesson!
I can take incredible images no matter if the dog is on lead or off lead, so for the second shoot we were careful to leave Archie on lead where temptation might present itself.
In the second shoot, I also took much higher value treats. Well, Archie loves his tucker, and seriously, he would have cleaned my house and made me an espresso that day if I asked! Nothing was too much trouble. He nailed his modeling job from the start. He absolutely 100% made up for his mischievous ways in the first shoot!
A few little stories from Archie’s Mum, Jane.
“We picked Archie up from Perth airport. This very small pup had a long flight from Queensland. We had been told he would be hungry, so we brought puppy biscuits and water with us. His crate was put in front of us, we put the food and water down and this pup literally threw himself into the food bowl and devoured it all. He has always loved his food. He loves to come shopping and checks out all the shopping bags as you bring them in. Archie comes paddle boarding with me up the Kalgan, although we do wait for the warmer weather.
Archie is a typical bird dog. He loves chasing ducks. He almost met his match with a pelican when he swam out to one on the water and the pelican grabbed his head in his beak! He duck dived after some cormorants trying to see where they had gone under the water. At home though he is a real smooch and loves cuddles…. and socks - no socks are safe!”
Archie is not an only dog. He has a much older brother named Aussie. Aussie is a sweet old boy who has lived a fantastic life with Jane and Peter.
This is what Jane has to say about Aussie.
“Aussie was abandoned and went from the pound to an RSPCA carer. He then escaped the carer and rocked up at our doorstep and wouldn’t leave! He has always gone at his own speed especially as he has got older. The local school kids on their bikes all know him and yell back to the others to “Watch out for Aussie, he won’t move” and he doesn’t! He has total faith they will all ride around him.”
On my visit back to Jane and Peter’s home for their image viewing session, Archie greeted me at the door like a long lost friend. Quickly sniffing all my pockets to find the goodie he “knew” I would have brought for him. I handed over the goods (Freeze Dried Salmon Belly) to Jane who gave Archie and Aussie their “lollies” outside. During the viewing session Archie was always with us, he really is a total smooch and such a large personality. I simply adore him. Aussie was grateful the heater was on, and was sleeping peacefully in no time on his bed while Jane and Peter picked their favourite images. As I left, I vowed to visit again, as it seemed Archie didn’t want me to leave. As I walked to my car, Peter held the front door for him so he could watch me go. As I talked to him while walking to my car, he wagged his tail. He waited there at the door, in the cold, until I opened my car door and got in. It was then he decided he could walk back into the room and Peter could close the door.
What a special boy this dog is. I have the best job in the world. Capturing the personalities of very much loved dogs. No-one knows love until they have had a special dog in their lives.
