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Your dog is family – which is why many of you want to include him or her in your family or maternity photo session. And as an experienced San Diego family photographer, I highly encourage it, with a few caveats.

But how do you include your dog successfully, so things go as smoothly as possible? Below, here are my 3 tips for including your dog in your next family or maternity photo session, along with the benefits:

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1). Make sure your dog is at least somewhat trained

By “somewhat trained,” I mean they don’t totally ignore you when you call to them. They also shouldn’t be overly rambunctious or excitable, and be able to settle enough to be included in a few photos without constant excited jumping, running, etc.

The “not ignoring you” part is important, since I prefer to remove the leash during sessions for aesthetic reasons. If you must keep the leash on, consider styling your dog, too – a nice brown leather leash and collar (like this one) always work well.

When a dog is completely untrained, the session can be chaos, which can add a lot of stress to a situation where fun and relaxation yields the best results – your beautiful photographs!

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2) Be flexible

Bringing a dog to a session means flexibility and more careful planning. Because of this, be sure to tell your photographer of your plan to include your dog as soon as you reach out them.

Your photographer will help you choose a location that allows dogs, which may not be your #1 pick for location. You’ll need to consider time of year, since a hot day will mean your dog can’t go enjoy a “time out” in the car if needed.

The location you choose may end up not being ideal for your dog, due to environmental factors outside your control, like grass burrs that get stuck in between their paws, making walking painful for them. That’s what happened to sweet Milo, the black labradoodle in these photos. So my clients Kat and Nick made sure to get a few good photos with him, and then put him back in the car while they enjoyed the rest of their session. Not what they had planned, but they remained flexible (and it was cool enough that Milo could safely wait in the car).

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3) If possible, bring help

The most ideal situation happens when you bring a dedicated “dog wrangler,” particularly if you’re bringing more than one dog.

The couple pictured below actually hired their babysitter to come along to their session to handle the dogs! That way the dogs could be included in a few photos, and then taken away to play the rest of the time, meaning the family could relax and enjoy the rest of their session without worry.

Since a relaxed family results in a happier session (and happier pictures!), including your dog while planning ahead for their care is ideal.

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The benefits of including your dog in your family photo session

All that being said, I love it when clients reach out and let me know they’d like to include their dogs.

With the above caveats in mind, I highly encourage it!

Here are some benefits to bringing your dog along to your session:

1. People generally love being around their dogs, which helps with the relaxation and enjoyment factor of the session. And as I said above, relaxation and enjoyment = great pictures.
2. Your dog creates lots of sweet and natural interactions during your session. With my lifestyle type of photography, I avoid shots of posed people looking at the camera. Instead, I capture families naturally connecting and interacting with one another, just like they do at home. So including a dog creates lots of opportunities for authentic and genuine emotion and moments!
3. Your dog adds even more meaning to your family photography investment. Your dog is a part of your family, so your precious family photos will be that much more meaningful and heartfelt, particularly since, with their shorter lives, our sweet dogs just aren’t with us for very long.
4. Dogs are fun! Enough said.

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Fair warning, expect this from me when you bring your dog to your session:

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And now for some dog memes.

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Finally…

If you love the warmth, connection, and fun of these family and maternity photographs, see my best work here, and contact me here to discuss booking your own lifestyle family or maternity session – dog included.

Now, cats. Include your cat, and I’ll be impressed.