06/02/2020
Incredible photo and story. Had to share!
The Story Behind the Photo...
The most well known photo that I have taken to date. I am sure that many of you have seen it around the internet a time or two, here is the story behind it.
One of my best friends Sue has a vacation home in the small Colorado mountain town of Westcliffe. She is always a gracious hostess and allows not only her dog crazy friends down to enjoy her house but all of their dogs too. In fact one Thanksgiving we had 6 people down there and wait for it…ELEVEN dogs! These dogs are together much of the time at home, for walks with one another and such so vacationing together is not a big deal, since they already consider themselves one big happy pack.
This particular weekend we were down celebrating Reese’s 7th birthday! Some of our friends had to leave early so that left just my three, The Three Scoops of Vanilla as you know them here on Facebook along with Sue’s crew, I called them the Three Non-Blondes. LOL! I did capture a photo of everyone before the others left, it is the first photo in the comments under this post.
I had prepared some very special treats for this crew, some delicious frozen bars made up of yogurt, bananas and peanut butter. So when you ask for dogs to cooperate for a photo such as this you had BETTER have some high value treats readily available for rewards!
I had photographed these dogs on the steps outside in front of the house many times over the years but wanted a challenge. I looked at Sue and said, “Do you want to help me capture the impossible photo?”
“Oh good grief Erin, what do you have in mind this time? Yes, of course I will help you.”
“This crew, on these stairs and we can alternate them, one of yours, one of mine, one of yours, one of mine, etc…”
“I am willing to try to help you and be sure first that your camera battery is charged and that you have your camera set on the fastest setting (action) to get this as you may only get them to stay still and pose for about 2 seconds.”
And so the two of us set out to do the impossible.
Thank God for food motivated well behaved dogs, they are the BEST!
I took Toby to the highest stair as she was the best about doing whatever I asked of her, soul dogs are good like that. Then Miss Mary went next, again one of the biggest pleasers around. Then Reese, the birthday girl and she is good but would much rather bounce around and NOT sit still, though she did. Then Beethoven, now he was tough. Good to a fault and always wanting to please but somewhat anxious at times as he was stone deaf. Such a good boy with hand signals and on this day he was pretty chill for the most part. Then my puppy, Annie who was all of 2 during the time this photo was taken. Last on the bottom was Cowboy, a sweet dane/lab cross. He had a broken leg and was severely abused when brought into rescue. After adopting him, Sue was able to get him through all of the surgeries and recovery. Ultimately though his head injuries got worse and he developed seizures which only got worse over the years. He was too big to fit on a stair but even if he wasn’t, the seizure risk made it necessary to keep him on the floor.
If you look closely, you will notice right away where Sue was standing for this photo. She was standing to the right of me, holding both hands out saying, “STAY! EVERYONE STAY!!!!” Her dogs eyes are all fixed on her. I also was saying, “STAY!!! GIRLS STAY!!!” Notice the Scoops all looking straight ahead at me.
Truly, I took so many photos in just a few seconds and then it was time for the release and that was the hardest part. Usually when I am done with a group shot, I will say, “OK!” and the dogs will run to me to get their well deserved treats. That was NOT an option here with open backed stairs and a bunch of dogs. I could only think about the possibility of a severe injury. So both Sue and I walked up to the stair case and pulled each dog down, one at a time to ensure everyone came away from the photoshoot feeling like it wasn’t a big deal. And the yogurt bar eating immediately commenced! I have photos of that too that I should share.
I have seen many sites that have shared my photo over the years (as long as my name stays on the photo, I am totally good with it). Some folks have called it “Stairway to Heaven” which is interesting because it seemed to go that way for a bit. Cowboy became an angel at the age of 9, followed by Beethoven the following year at 11 due to Lymphoma. Mary earned her wings in January 2019 at the amazing age of 15. Leaving only the yellow ones. Then in April 2019, Toby earned her wings at 13 1/2.
Beautiful Princess Reese just celebrated her SIXTEENTH birthday, May 15th 2020, we are so blessed to still have her!!!!! Of course I still have my sweet baby Annie too, who is now 11 this year!
I hope that this story gives some of you new found appreciation for what went into this photo, it will always be a special memory to me. And thank you to the many of you that knew that in fact I took this photo and that it was NOT done in Photoshop, though that can be done. Nope. I used the BEST dogs, good treats, a damn quick camera and patience to capture this one!
When you see a photo such as this, please let the photographer know that you enjoyed their work, it is those encouraging words that keep us going back for more!
The actual name of this photo is: Full House, Full Heart.
