What’s harder than trying to get a dog to look into the camera?

Yep, you guessed it—trying to get two dogs to look into a camera at the same time.

That old saying “never work with children or animals” especially applies to photography. I did a photoshoot this morning at the fabulous English Heritage site Roche Abbey. The brief was to capture some cute photographs of a young family with their beloved four-legged friends against an autumnal backdrop.

I took 200 photographs altogether. I think I managed one where I got both dogs to look into the camera at the same time (the shot below).

I tried everything. Shouting Apollo’s name while taking the shot (Apollo is the husky). I even tried to hoodwink the dog by shouting “biccie” in the vain hope that he thought a treat was coming his way if he behaved. He was having none of it (as you can see in the image below).

One photography friend joked on social media afterwards that I should have hung a bone around my neck during the shoot. I laughed at this, but actually, I wonder if it might work.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable day, and we did capture lots of great photographs. I just wondered, reader, if you had any tips on how to get dogs to behave during a shoot. If you do, please share in the comments below.

I’ll leave you with this shot of little Phoebe the sausage dog.

Cuteness overload!