Moose turned 12 on March 30th and we had a party. Here’s a guide I created to use if you want to throw a party for your dog.

Decide if you want to invite over some of your dog’s friends. PLEASE keep in mind that dogs can get very territorial when there are high value rewards involved like cake, so please choose wisely on who you invite.

Moose is very food motivated and I knew I wanted to get some photos of him eating the cake so this was a dog birthday party of one.

The Guide:

1. Either buy or make a dog friendly birthday cake. I purchased ours from Canine Cafe.

2. Set up your decorations. I used my studio photography backdrop and I added some colorful circular streamers.

3. I set up my lighting and camera and I took a few test shots.

4. I brought the cake out and took a few shots of just the cake.

5. I put the cake away and brought Moose out. I also brought out our Big Barker bed. Moose does much better staying in place if he has a bed.

6. He will hold a stay fairly well but I was pretty impressed when he let me put a birthday hat on him and he kept it on for 5 seconds.

7. Be ready to take several shots in a row because you know he will do something funny.

8. Bring the cake out and be ready for whatever happens!

Here is the sequence of what happened before I brought the cake out. (For it to make the most sense, start at the beginning of the slide show.)

This is totally his personality. He is a complete HAM and he provides us with constant entertainment.

*I do highly recommend having someone help you. I didn’t have any help at all when I took thees. I was putting the hat on Moose and then backing up to get into place to take the pictures. Having someone else to put the hat on would’ve made my much job easier.

I brought the cake out and then let Moose have at it. I’m pretty sure he totally forgave me for making him wear a hat!

If you’d like to hire BARKography to photograph your dog’s party, just fill out the Contact form. There is an option to check for “Birthday Party.”

I’d love to do it. They are tons of fun and the package includes the digitals from the party and 4x6 prints.