Puppy Love
When my husband told me our neighbor's Siberian Husky dogs, Summit + Aspen, just had their first litter, I immediately asked him if we could have one. Since we're journeying on what feels like a lifetime to conception, I thought having a new fur baby would occupy the waiting. I'd be lying if I said my husband felt the same way. In fact, his sentiment was, 'Absolutely not. I want a baby, not a puppy'. I laughed, because it was pretty cute hearing him say it although I really wanted a puppy.
On our way out to photograph a wedding one Saturday morning, we saw our neighbor working on his front yard, holding one of the new pups in his arms. I immediately asked to hold the little guy as our neighbor introduced us to 'Baby', the runt of the litter. 'Baby' curled up into the crevices of my forearm and I lightly ran my finger down between his eyes following the top of his forehead and then down the middle of his nose until he fell asleep, much like I used to do with our daughter when she was a baby. It was in that moment that my heart nearly burst of overwhelming joy and my husband slightly entertained the idea of a new family fur baby.
Over the next couple of days, we met the entire litter and we held 'Baby' some more and eventually started referring to him as 'Baby Hawk', because my husband favored the names, Chief or Tomahawk (dealing with a total Kansas City Chiefs fan here), for a dog. My compromise was Hawk. In one of those nights during family bedtime prayer my husband prayed that we'd bring 'Baby Hawk' home. My eyes lit up and my heart melted. I knew that if it was on my husband's heart he would make it happen.
The puppies won't be ready to go to their new homes until they are eight weeks old, but until then our neighbors have fourteen dogs to love on, nine from this litter and five of their own (not to mention four children as well). It is definitely a full house; filled with lots of hands and hearts to love on these new pups. Soon the house will settle as each pup goes to a new home, and before they do, I got the opportunity to capture portraits of each of these little fur babies at four weeks old.
I know our neighbors and Aspen will greatly miss each of their pups, but thankfully we are only a couple doors down and will be bringing 'Baby Hawk' (pictured in the last two images) home with us . We can't wait for our new family addition!
