The way I met Molly & Maggie and their human parents is just one of those things; you know, the kind that is meant to be?
It was June 2010, and I was taking photos at the Hawaii Kai Dog Walk in Honolulu, an annual event organized by the wonderful people of Hui Ilio Hawaii to support the local dog park. I was donating my work, and had my tent set up with a back drop in an area of the park where I was hoping the light would be best and the wind would not take the whole thing to Kahala.
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It was my third year doing this, and I decided to also run a contest, with first, second and third place prizes, the first prize being a free pet portrait shoot. The line of people and dogs was long and I was working as fast as I could, grateful that a friend had agreed to help. I saw many familiar sweaty faces, panting tongues (hey, it’s hot in June in Hawai’i, even at 7:30 in the morning) and scraped knees. The latter must go with life with a dog, as I have never seen so many adults with scraped knees and legs before, all in one location.
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When I do this kind of work, because of the time restriction, I do a bit of quick interacting with the humans, give the doggies some fuss, but mostly I have to stay focused on… the focus and aperture, and making sure that everyone is looking at the camera, preferably without squints, yawns and other funny stuff. So everything and everyone goes into my subconscious to be relieved later during the editing process. And yes, I do remove the scrapes on the knees in photoshop.
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When I came across their photo, I instantly remembered this couple with their dogs for two main reasons: 1. they were cute and looked really good together, all four of them; 2. the hu-mom was wearing a tank top that said ‘Sleeps with Dogs’, which I thought was brilliant as I could relate. In the moment that was that. I edited all my photos, posted them in an on-line gallery, selected the winners for the competition and sent out the relevant e-mails/snail-mails communications to the winners, and moved on with work and life.
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Guess who won first prize? Oh yes, just the cute couple with the two dogs, and the ‘Sleeps with dogs’ t-shirt! And in the process, they became some of my dearest friends. Brrrr…. I get chicken skin at this.
Aside from the photo from the HK Dog Walk, all the other images are the result of the photo session we did one very early morning in September 2010 at a beach on the Windward side of O’ahu, right off one of the military bases in Kaneohe. The sun hadn’t even come up when we started, and to the north the sky was threatening rain. The color, the light, the sky, the ocean, everything was just spectacular.
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Maggie and Molly are outdoorsy girls, and have traveled quite a bit. They have camped on an island off North Carolina with wild horses, run through fields of bluebonnets in Texas, hiked all over Virginia, swam any chance they got in both Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and finally rode cross-country to California before hopping on a airplane for their new life on O’ahu. They enjoy sidewalk cafe’ lunches, sleeping in with mommy and daddy with their heads on the pillows, and giving lots of kisses: the more they give the happier they are.
They love home made stew, salmon and Frosty Paws ice cream, and have a rich and varied diet of raw foods and whole foods.
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Both girls are very sweet, love to cuddle and are very loved and super spoiled, which is no less than they deserve.
Molly, or Moll Ball, is quite the personality, very opinionated, a bit aloof and – as her mommy says with a giggle – a little ‘piss & vinegar’. She likes life in Hawai’i, and enjoys the beach, but is disgusted at the lack of a/c in their home. She is quite the lady.
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Maggie, or Magpie, Magadocious, on the other hand, is so innocent in comparison to Molly’s squirrely-ness. At least it seems that way… There was a time when her Mommmy came home to find a book chewed up. She did not expect to see evidence and had no doubt that the culprit had been Molly, until out jogs Maggie with a classic “I’m so happy Mommy’s home” lab smile and red-book-cover fibers in her teeth! Then there was the cute and sweet fooling around in the doggie ride, while she inhaled a constant supply of cookies; or the electric tennis ball thrower. Maggie surely loves chasing balls. And water, Maggie loves water. Oh such happiness to swim in anything: skuzzy pond water, backyard pool, indoor doggie therapy pool, crystal Hawaiian waters.
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Once a day they get to ride to the beach for a run and a frolic. They both enjoy that, but Maggie has a ball, literally. As you can see, the day of the photo shoot was no less fun, and the girls chased balls, splashed in the water and sniffed for weird stuff to their heart’s content, while I chased after them trying to catch action and good light, preferably together.
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I have been writing this post in the present tense because, well it just did not feel right to do otherwise. But now I need to switch gear, because sweet Molly and Maggie are over the rainbow bridge. They both became ill at the same time and flew over just a few weeks from each other. It was a heartbreaking time, the only consolation being that these girls had had a good life, and were very loved. All the same, it is just so very unfair that dogs should have such short life spans.
Now The Girls are being guardian-dog-angels for The New (human) Girls in the family’s life: Maddie and Emma, two of the happiest and most shining girls I have ever seen. And yes, they are twins.
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More adorable Tales of Tails for you to enjoy:
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What beautiful photos. As someone whose 13 year old dog passed on recently to become an angel in my life, I can see the love of these now angel dogs in these photos. Thanks for sharing.
LINDA
Oh, Linda, I am so sorry. I know how heartbreaking it is to let them go. Thank you for your words. <3 Monica