Earlier this spring I had a photography session with these two boxers, Remmy and Tyson. On my website I ask the question, tell me about your dog. This was what their mom Kim wrote in her initial email to me: 

Tell me about your dog: Remmy is our silly 9 1/2 year old boxer and people fall in love with her wherever we go. Tyson is her 10 month old boxer who is still very much a crazy puppy. Remmy is sick, and we would like to capture a few moments of of the two of them together while she is still feeling up to it.

I immediately contacted Kim and we scheduled their session in 6 days, the upcoming Monday. I send all of my clients a form to complete that helps me get to know their dogs a little bit better before our session. Here is more of what their mom said about them.

Remmy came home with us at 8 weeks old and has been the perfect dog since day one.  She is more human than dog.  She prefers the company of people and makes friends wherever she goes. She is a sweet and gentile girl.  You asked what my favorite things about her are and there are too many to list.  Her sprit is pure joy.  She has a calming and gentile demeanor.  She is goofy and fun to play with. She is named after a MA sportscaster Jeremy Remy who went by the "rem-dog".  We were trying to think of names and were joking about the rem-dog, and Remmy just seemed cute and seemed to fit her. Remmy is sick and we would like to capture some photos her asap.  We would also like to get some of her and her younger puppy brother.

Then she told me about Tyson. She said this: Tyson is still very much a puppy in a dog's body. He is super playful and somewhat clumsy.  He charges head first into whatever he does, with little fear.  We named him Tyson because he he liked to bite our ears as a puppy. We thought Tyson was fitting. He is very affectionate and playful and he is always up for fun.

We finalized our plans and chose a location on Thursday. On Friday night, I got this email from Kim:

I'm so sorry to ask this, is there any possibility of shooting before Monday?  Remmy's lymph nodes are looking really large tonight and we know this disease progresses very quickly. 

If at all possible we would like to be able to capture images of her before they get out of hand, which of course also impacts her comfort and energy levels. 

I know it is a holiday weekend so I understand if you are not available, but I thought I would ask. 

I didn't get the message until Saturday morning. I texted her Saturday at 6am and offered to do the session that morning. We agreed to meet later that morning and I was able to photograph Remmy and Tyson together. Remmy seemed to be feeling pretty good. At the end of our session she even played in the stream. 

The following photo is one of my favorites from the session because it tells the story of our session and I believe it tells the story of this family. I took this early on in the session. Here is senior girl Remmy posing for her modeling debut and she gets photobombed by her much younger, silly brother Tyson.

Sadly just a few short days after our session they said goodbye to Remmy. My heart still breaks for them when I think about her. She was a sweet soul and I'm so grateful I had the chance to meet her. Thank you to Kim and her family for allowing me into their lives at such an important time. That kind of trust in me means the world to me.