02 JulEpisode 14 | Let’s talk about dog photography with Milla Chappell
As someone who works with pets and pet owners and spends a lot of time on social media, I see lots of photos of dogs. In fact, I see so many dog photos that it can be hard to judge a single one as good or bad any more than I could judge the value of a single grain of sand. But every now and then, I’ll see a picture that really gets my attention. It was a photo like that that helped me first discover the work of Milla Chappell, owner of Real Happy Dogs.
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Podcast Episode 14: Let's talk about dog photography with Milla Chappell
Transcript:
Annie:
Hi, my name is Annie Grossman and I'm a dog trainer. This podcast is brought to you by School for the Dogs, a Manhattan based facility I own and operate along with some of the city's finest dog trainers. During this podcast, we'll be answering your questions, geeking out on animal behavior, discussing pet trends, and interviewing industry experts. Welcome to School for the Dogs podcast.
**music**
Annie:
Hey everyone. Thanks for tuning in. I am here with my friend Milla Chappell, who is an incredible dog photographer. And if you follow us on Instagram, this whole month we will be featuring Milla's photos. So be sure to go to @schoolforthedogs on Instagram to check out some of her photos of our trainers at work, some of our students in our classes and in their homes. It's really awesome. We're really excited about it.
Milla, thank you for agreeing to talk to me.
Milla:
Thank you.
Annie:
So I first met Milla because she was taking photos of some of School for the Dogs’ clients and I was seeing them on Instagram and I was like, who is this photographer that's doing such an amazing job? Not only of getting great pictures of the dogs and having, you know, technically beautiful photos, but also I felt like they were photos where I could see the personality of the dog coming through in a really special way.
I remember in particular, Bane the bulldog.
Milla:
Yes, of course!
Annie:
People might be surprised that your background is actually more in the veterinary field than in the photography field at least as your family goes. So is that right?
Milla:
Yes, exactly. So I grew up in a home with two veterinarian parents. Actually, my grandfather was a veterinarian and then both of my parents are veterinarians. So that has been our world from as young as I can remember. That's, you know, the world.
Annie:
Did you just think everyone is a veterinarian?
Millie:
[laughs] Well, I do remember on, you know, when you bring your parents to work, I mean bring your parents to school and the parents talk about what they do. I always felt like my parents have coolest job. They would bring in, you know, dogs and cats and I always felt really proud. I loved growing up in, you know, in a veterinary home and in a home that loved animals. And it was great fun for a kid.
Annie:
What kind of pets did you have when you were growing up then?
Milla:
We just had the standard two dogs and a cat, but my, my family did always bring home animals that they were treating. So we, we raised a number of different, we raised squirrels and raccoons and we had a pig in the garage at one point and we had a variety of things that my parents would treat and we would bring home. So, grew to love all types of animals, but two dogs and a cat. That was our standard fare.
Annie:
And did you think, gosh, I want to grow up and be a vet then?
Milla:
I did. Yeah. So I thought I wanted to grow up and do exactly what my parents did when I went to school. That's what I started doing. But it just wasn't a good fit.. I hated the classes. I wasn't doing well and was finding that what I really enjoyed was studying literature and linguistics and something totally different. So.
Annie:
Oh, right. I forgot about your linguistic background. We need to talk about that too. I think it's interesting because so many people who work with pets, you know, Oh, it's almost like the joke when you read anyone who works with dogs, especially on their webpage or whatever, it would be like, you know, “Susie has always loved dogs,” or–
Milla:
Totally.
Annie:
I'm like, I'm like, can we get more creative?
Milla:
Exactly. Well, we've always loved dogs, who doesn't always love dogs.
Annie:
I know, right? I know you want to be, I always want to read, like Susie actually used to hate dogs.
Milla:
Exactly! Used to be terrified of dogs. Chihuahuas were the worst.
Annie:
But it's the cliche. But you were, you came from a home where you didn't just love dogs. You were surrounded by people whose lives were devoted to taking care of them. So I think that's interesting, but I also think it's interesting cause it sounds like you, like I as a kid, it never occurred to me that there were jobs that you could do with pets outside of being a veterinarian.
Milla:
Exactly. When I realized that veterinary medicine wasn't going to be a good fit for me, I never even thought about, like, how else could I work with dogs until much later.
Annie:
And actually that's one thing with this podcast where I feel like maybe maybe I can encourage young people thinking about professions to think about other things other than–
Milla:
More creatively.
Annie:
Yeah. Because there are lots of, you know, being a vet is a wonderful job, but there's so many other things that you can do.
Milla:
Yep, exactly.
Annie:
Did you see downsides of being a vet for your parents?
Milla:
Absolutely. I mean my parents were always, they worked really hard so they, they own their own practice. So it was just the two of them.
Annie:
Where was this?
Milla:
It was in central Florida. And so they were just always very busy. It's a very demanding–They had employees and constant, you know, dog boarding, dogs under their care. It's a 24 hour day, seven day a week job no matter what when you're in your own practice like that. So it has its upsides and downsides for sure.
Annie:
How did you then come to study linguistics?
Milla:
So I just in school enjoyed literature and linguistics. So that's what I studied. I have two master's degrees, one in one in literature, one in linguistics. And I did teach for a while in Pittsburgh and while teaching, and I loved teaching, but while teaching I started working with a photographer just for fun to make some extra money and discovered that that was really my passion. That was what I wanted to do.
Annie:
So you already had two masters when you started
Milla:
At that point. So, you know, I learned a lot through those years in school that I'm using all the time, but I'm not specifically using those degrees. Which at first felt like, is this a waste?
Annie:
Of course not.
Milla:
I feel like to do what you love to do is, yeah, is more important. So that's how I started working with her just for fun and then really quickly realized that this is what I want to do. I just need to learn and get better.
Annie:
But you weren't initially shooting animals were you? Human animals.
Milla:
Human animals, yeah. I photographed weddings for eight years full time. So that was what I did. Engagement sessions, families, babies, that sort of thing. But weddings was the main focus for all those years. So all of those years I learned to be a better photographer. I learned to deal with people, I learned to run a business. And on the side I started doing engagement sessions where people would bring their dogs, and of course those were the most fun. And so just started wondering is this something that people would be interested in having on its own? And really, it just very slowly grew into what it is now, into Real Happy Dogs.
Annie:
You know, what's funny is something unusual that both you and I must have in common as we've both been to a lot of strangers’ weddings.
Milla:
Absolutely. Now why have you?
Annie:
Well, you know, I was a journalist for 10 or so years full time and one of the main things I did, one of my main beats happened to be writing about weddings and engagements.
Milla:
Are you serious? Oh, we have so much in common.
Annie:
Yeah. So I used to go to, I didn't have to go to the weddings of all the people I wrote about, but I wrote a lot for the Vows column of the New York Times. And for that I went to a lot of strangers weddings.
Milla:
That's really interesting.
Annie:
Until I kind of had my fill and it was like, “I can't do this anymore.” [laughs]
Milla:
I had my fill too.
Annie:
Did you find it draining sometimes going to people's weddings when you didn't know?
Milla:
I really loved the weddings themselves, but the pressure of weddings– I love doing weddings, but it's a very stressful job. And there’s a lot of pressure.
Annie:
You only have one shot.
Milla:
Yeah. So I did it long enough to feel comfortable. Like I've really experienced this, I'm ready to move on to something different. And thankfully the dog business was growing to the point where I could quit doing weddings.
Annie:
So at what point did you kind of make that full time transition to taking..
Milla:
When we moved to New York. So two years ago we moved to New York and I made the transition to photographing dogs full time and closed the wedding business altogether.
Annie:
But you had started Real Happy Dogs before that.
Milla:
Yup.
Annie:
So tell me about the name, Real happy dogs. I love that name.
Milla:
We brainstormed the name for so long and I feel like it's the perfect fit for what I do. So it has, it has three kind of parts. Real meaning photojournalistic, I try not to do too much posing.
It's very kind of hands off. Fun, interactive. Real. And then happy. My focus has been working with rescue work and with just families with dogs that I really want the photos to capture the happy spirit of dogs. So, even with rescue work, I want the photos to reflect that. So “real” and “happy,” and then just my family and kind of my love for dogs, obviously. “Real happy dogs”–but, I hope, you know, I feel like it captures well what I'm trying to do.
Annie:
Well now you have a brand kind of, cause you also have happy cats, right?
Milla:
Yeah. Exactly.
Annie:
And Real Happy kids
Milla:
[laughs] It hasn't taken off, but Real Dappy dogs has been the thing. But yes, there is potential for Real Happy Cats and Real Happy Kids and all of these things.
Annie:
So when you started, did you look around and see what other photographers–when you started specifically doing dog photography, did you survey the competition?
Milla:
Yes, I felt like what I was mostly seeing was more portrait work. And I even actually studied with a girl who, or did some workshops with a girl who was doing dog portraiture. And, what I found for me is that I found it to be very stifling. Like it was very hard to, I felt like it was against going against the dog's nature to try to have them really like sit still and be this certain way. And for me, what I loved doing was just letting them be dogs and photograph that. So most of what I was seeing was portraiture. So I thought this is something a little bit different. If we could just do very lifestyle, very photojournalistic. And it has been, I think it's been something a little bit unique.
Annie:
Yeah. Well that seems to appeal to people.
Milla:
Yeah.
Annie:
Did you have any inspiration, other photographers that you saw that were doing things that you liked? Or even in other arenas?
Milla:
Well, I love photojournalism and that's my training, is in photojournalism. So, no one specific to dogs, but I in general, even just reading the Times and the Journal, like I am inspired by photojournalists because I feel like watching how people capture emotion and light and stories in a very unposed, you know, hands-off way is inspiring to me. So cause that's what I w that's what I aim to do.
Annie:
It seems to me like we're living in a moment where there are more dog photographers than ever before. And I wonder as a professional how, how that seems to you because now–I mean when my, when my dog, who's now 13 was a puppy, I don't think I had a digital camera and I think I have maybe two photos of him from when he was like in the first year of his life.
Milla:
And now dogs are celebrities and everyone wants to photograph them.
Annie:
Right, and I take photos of every single day, which just wasn't part of it was my normal life 10, 13 years ago and now we take that for granted. I wonder as a professional, how that's affected your business. Does it make people, you think either, I mean I would think either it would make people more educated consumers about what a pro could do or it would make people dismissive and think like, well I could do this too. Or I am doing this too.
Milla:
Totally. I think it's both. I mean, even in wedding world, you know, it is kind of like everyone's a photographer now. We all have phones that take lovely pictures and we have nicer cameras than we used to, and because of Instagram and Facebook, there's a lot more desire to have nice photos. So even when I was working in weddings all the time, people would say, you know, kind of along the lines of, “I'm learning to do photography too,” and same in dog world, but it doesn't bother me. I think that, I think there's still a, there's still a place for a professional. And I think that people, the people who hire me recognize that and I, and something that's special about what I do is that the people are actually a big part of the photos. So, when, when you're taking photos with your own phone or even with your own cameras, it's of your dog, but there's not that interaction between you and your dogs. I think people really want to be, to have that captured, like the relationship that they have with their dog. And you can't do that yourself. So, yes, everyone's learning to be a photographer in their own way, but I think there's something special about having the relationship that you share with your dog captured by a professional.
Annie:
Do you advise people to take better photos of their dogs with their phones or, or do you advise people to not use their phones and use a better camera or…
Milla:
No, I think phones, I mean, I rarely pick up my camera if I'm not actually going to work. I use my phone for everything and I think absolutely. Use your phones. I do, I do see things a lot, you know, scrolling through Instagram that I'm kinda like, Oh!. Or “if you would have moved to the left a little bit,” you know, of course my brain, I can't help but notice those things. But yeah.
So I think that one of the biggest things that I notice is just watching your backgrounds. So when people are taking photos–and I do it too all the time, but I am pretty aware of it now that you know, just to be aware of what's behind you to position your dog, you know, in a, in a clean spot on the background to make sure there's no trees growing out of the head or um, you know, those sorts of, you'll see funny things when you start to notice this.
So that's a big thing. I think that's the number one thing that I can advise is just to watch your backgrounds, backgrounds, backgrounds, backgrounds, always watch what's behind you and to move, to move around. So for example, if you're in the park and you want to take, you know, it's a beautiful day, you want to take a photo of your dog to take some from the front, take some from above, take some from the side. Sometimes what I have found is when I'm shooting a session, the photos that I end up loving the most are the unexpected ones. The ones when I, you know, got up and moved to the other side or when I looked at what's the background going to be if I go to the opposite direction, that sort of thing. So I just think play around, move from side to side, take from above, take from below.
Annie:
Last year we had a whole bunch of um, little uh, like Fimo/Sculpey kind of dogs made by this woman in Rome who makes these tiny miniatures. And I sent her photos of the dogs that we were going to have made and when we got them back I realized that all the dogs are looking up.
Milla:
Yes, exactly, exactly.
Annie:
At some point I was like, Oh it's because in the photos that I sent her, all the dogs were looking at, cause we're, we're so human centric as humans.
Milla:
It’s so true
Annie:
That we don't get down to their level.
Milla:
Yes, exactly. That's what I really joke when I do dog sessions, my knees are all the time bruised because I spend 90% of dog sessions on the ground. So I think that's a really good point get down on their level
Annie:
Oh my God, my jeans, I mean just as in working with puppies and dogs, my jeans, I go through so many jeans, like the knees.
Milla:
Yes we need to wear knee pads, like the volleyball knee pads that we used to wear like high school. I'm like, this is what I need for dogs sessions.
Annie:
Well you know The Dogist?
Milla:
Yes.
Annie:
He wears knee pads. And I've seen him around the city sometimes and I'm like, that must be The Dogist, ‘cause I don't know what other photographer would be wearing knee pads.
**music**
Annie:
I’ve come around to a different way of thinking about something about which I think lots of people could kind of roll their eyes. Like there's a sort of dog ownership culture that's, that's happened, happening, that I think can be interpreted as, you know, people with too much time and money on their hands and spoiling their dogs, dah dah, dah. And I, and I get that and I can see that point of view, but I also feel like, isn't it great? Like, isn't it great that this is where people are putting their time and money and energy rather than, you know?
Milla:
It's such a healthy thing, right? I mean there are a lot of other ways that we could be–
Annie:
Right, right. It's like, I mean, you could almost say the same thing about working out. Like kind of weird the way it Instagram has fetishized certain parts of that world, but at the same time it's like, isn't it great that like that's what people are doing, it's like being that concerned with our health.
Milla:
Right.
Annie:
And isn't it great that people are wanting to bring their dogs places and take photos of their dogs and by their dogs? Funny toys? Like even if the dog doesn't know it's funny. And even if you're not like an official pet photographer, just if you're really into taking photos of your dog, either way you're, you're spending a lot of time looking at your dog, watching your dog, just noticing your dog. And that can only be helpful.
Milla:
I mean, I think this is so important. I would love to learn more about, I mean, I think everyone, especially with how Instagram has made dog owners want to take more photos of their dogs and want to be having their dogs and all these different places and situations that sometimes can be stressful for dogs, that it's so important what you're doing to help people understand, you know, how to better, how to care for your dog.
Annie:
I like to think that we're helping people see that dog training is not something that's one and done. And it's not just, you know, well, he already knows how to sit and lie down and stay, so we're done. It's so important, but more seeing it as figuring out how to live with this other species all the time and makes their lives as happy–
Milla:
Especially in a city like New York when we do take our dogs with us. So many more places than I feel like you would if you lived in a house with a yard and that sort of thing.
Annie:
And we're asking, we're asking a lot of them.
Milla:
Yes.
Annie:
Yeah. So you recently had a baby and before we started recording you were saying that you'd never, you had never spent a lot of time with, with kids. So what I'm interested in is the socialization process as it relates to children, cause I don't have any children at this point, but I have dealt with lots of puppies in New York City. I mean I myself grew up in New York City, so I wonder–having grown up in New York city in a way, it's something I don't think about that much. But you, you not being from a big city, having a baby here, like, do you feel like you're, you're giving her an education about the world or do you feel like you're asking a lot of her?
Milla:
I think New York is, I mean it's only been a year and a half, but I've loved having her, you know, I hope that, I hope we can be here and that she can grow up here. I just think it's wonderful. It's every day. It's a lot–What I have found is that it's a lot more social than life in kind of suburbia. It's, I mean, every day we're spending time with neighbors and with meeting new people at the parks and she's, you know, riding on subways and seeing people that are all different types of people from all over the world and hearing new languages every day. And I just–
Annie:
it's a socialization process.
Milla:
Yes, I think it's amazing. And I, I wish that I had had more of that in my childhood and I really hope that we can be here and she can experience that all the way through.
Annie:
Have you ever thought of that? Like dealing with puppies first, dealing with babies?
Milla:
No, but I mean, honestly, that's a very good comparison because it is all socialization.
Annie:
Yeah. Well, and you grew up with it in a household with lots of baby animals, but not baby people.
Milla:
Exactly. Right. Exactly. So I, I think it's a great place to raise kids. And dogs.
Annie:
So when someone books a session with you, what's the process like? What's the first step?
Milla:
So when I show up to a session, what I usually do actually before I show up, I ask them what their normal routine is. So what do you love to do? Tell me about like a typical Saturday. What would that look like?
Annie:
Do they like fill out a survey or?
Milla:
Yeah, just an email online with some questions other typical day would look like. And you know, I ask what are some of your dog's funny, you know, habits or quirks or things like that. Just before I even show up, I have a pretty good sense of what the dog is like and then what their family life is like. Just accompany them on their normal life. So we'll hang out at the house, we'll have breakfast and drinks and then go out for a walk to the park or whatever it is that, that family or person enjoys doing with their dog. A lot of times we'll go to dog friendly restaurants that they love, or we'll go to a park, or we will meet up with friends. Just, what I want to do and what my goal is when I give them this final kind of set of images is that they would look at the images and feel like, yes, like that's what life feels like in this period of time.
So that, you know, five years from now, 10 years from now, our dogs are with us such a short amount of time, that when they look back on those photos, they’ll always have those feelings of, that was my life in New York when I was 26 and had my dog and you know, whatever it may be, I want to capture those feelings and photos. I don't want it to just be, here's my dog kind of sitting in a field. I do a few of those like sit-stay kind of look, but mostly I want it to be like, Oh, there is that spot that we loved and you know that I always took him or that's how he licked my ear or that you know, the little quirky things that you remember about your dog. That's what I want to capture.
Annie:
It's funny because before we started recording, we were talking about how as adults you have to expect that you're going to lose some pets and you're going to lose your parents. I mean, if you're lucky enough to have either by the time you're an adult. But when you, when someone hires a photographer to take photos of them as a family, first of all, it's when you're talking, I'm thinking that, Oh God, people don't usually do that. Like people don't usually hire a photographer to like tell the story of their family. I'm sure that does exist and it's happening more and more thanks to Instagram. But people also aren't doing that with the thought of like, I want my son to remember me and how I was as a parent, you know?
Milla:
So true. Yeah. It’s both.
Annie:
It is both interesting but you don't think like, Oh, I want my son to remember this period of time after I'm gone the way that you do for the dog.
Milla:
And honestly, that's such a good point. And it does those things too. It does capture just this moment in time. We don't know what tomorrow is going to look like. But we have this kind of snippet of what life looks like right now. Before the first of our two dogs passed, I had a photographer friend come over and do photos of our family. And I had no idea that within the next year we would have moved, we'd be in a new place, we would have lost both of our dogs. And those photos are probably my most cherished photos because it's both of our boys. It's in our home that we love in Pittsburgh, just very sweet, very every day. And I had no idea at the time how much they would mean to me. So.
Annie:
Well, so, which brings me to another question is what do you suggest people do with their photos? Because we kind of are no longer in a period of people doing slideshows for their friends and people do put things on Facebook of course. But then what, where do you keep your favorite?
Milla:
I love to encourage people to print their photos and to have them in their homes and to– I love to put them on cards. I think greeting cards are actually a really great way to just enjoy, like for my daughter's birthday, I just had a set of greeting cards made with her picture and a little thank you. You know, prints for your walls. It's also affordable now that you don't have to feel like if I get a print for my wall it has to stay up for the next five years. Get a little set of prints for your wall, enjoy the photos of your dogs. I mean, even Instagram photos, there's all there, there are ways to have them print it and just switch them out, you know.
Annie:
Are there certain services that you'd like to use?
Milla:
I love, so I love Mix Book. I think that they're a great company, they have a great vision. Their products are beautiful. I have their albums in their prints, on my walls and on my coffee tables. So I recommend Mix Book. I love Mpix.com
Annie:
Mpix?
Milla:
Mhmm, It's a, it's a photo printing–but really I think I'm not even super picky. I just feel like the more that you can print them, put them on your walls, put them in albums and enjoy them the better.
Annie:
What kind of camera do you use?
Milla:
I shoot with a Canon five D Mark three and I have a very simple setup. I use a 50 millimeter and a 35 millimeter. I've pared down my equipment over the years and I think that especially for dogs, I want to be able to be jumping up, down, moving with them. I don't want to have a bunch of heavy gear, so I shoot with one camera and two lenses and that's it.
Annie:
Wow. And you mostly use natural light?
Milla:
Almost entirely. Flashes with dogs–I again, I used to shoot dogs in a studio situation. I just didn't like it. I felt like it was too forced. It was stressful for the dogs. I want it to be very comfortable for them. So I don't use a flash unless it's going to be, unless it's an event. And I know that it's going to be dark.
Annie:
Do you use a squeaky toy or any–Milla:
I love the little Kong ball.
Annie:
Little tennis balls?
Milla:
Yes. They're amazing. Gets the attention every time I actually keep them in my pocket and I can just go squeak squeak squeak, I don't even have to take it out of my pocket.
Annie:
That's smart, that’s a good tip. Do you, do you have any funny noises that you make?
Milla:
Oh, all the noises.
Annie:
Let’s hear.
Milla:
[makes dolphin noise] That's the best one. [laughs] Or actually cat noises will often really work [makes cat noise]
Annie:
Yes! High pitch.
Milla:
I'll get the head tilts.
Annie:
I'm trying to think of my noises now. I’m out of the moment, It's hard to do it.
[high pitched animal noise]
Milla:
Exactly. See, we're pros. This is what people hire us for.
Annie:
[squealing sound] Oh wait. Here's my favorite one. [makes funny sound]
Milla:
Oh I need to learn that one.
Annie:
You have to like say girl in like the very back of your mouth and-
Milla:
[imitates sound]
Annie:
One day you'll learn.
Milla:
I know I'm going to have to hire you to train me in your noises.
**music**
Milla:
One of my favorite things that I do are sharing rescue stories. Photos and written stories of dogs that have been rescued and adopted and kind of sharing the after success story.
Annie:
That shouldn't be left out is that you're a talented writer on top of it all. Clearly someone who’s gotten two Masters’…
Milla:
Thank you. Working on it, but I do enjoy doing it. So to be able to write and do photography all together in these stories and then to help raise awareness about and you know, raise awareness about and just celebrate dog rescue to me is really, I love it.
Annie:
Is there a rescue story that stands out in your mind among all of them?
Milla:
There are so many. Honestly. I mean, the first one that I did was Emoji the pug, so that one will always stand out in my mind. He was a senior rescue pug who, his mom was just, she's just one of the most wonderful devoted dog moms I've ever met. Her name is Mary. So that one will always stand out as just being very special because it was the first one that I shared and it was the first time that I saw people's response to it. And how people just, they wanted to hear more.
Annie:
What was Emoji’s story?
Milla:
He was rescued just as a very senior, you know, blind, deaf pug and had some health issues and we don't, if I remember, they don't know much about his past, but what I focused on was just how devoted his mom is and then how her life has changed for the better through knowing him. And the story that I'm sharing next is about how Emoji’s story inspired other people to adopt senior pugs. And now the next story is going to be about four different families that all have adopted senior pugs and they're all connected to Emoji. So it's really cool to see the ripple down kind of effect.
Annie:
Didn't you do one also on um, Khloe Kardogian?
Milla:
Yep. They're good friends.
Annie:
What was her story?
Milla:
She adopted, again, that was a senior rescue story where she adopted Khloe as a senior and then Cupid, she thought that Cupid was a senior because he was in rough shape. But then once he kind of got healthy–he's a younger than she thought, but it's a great story as well. And then the stories that have been so meaningful to me are the pit bulls, you know, princess Gracie and Tater and Amelie. There's so many stories of dogs who had been in abusive situations that now have these amazing, happy lives. And I love telling those stories because I think it encourages other people to even consider adopting a senior or a breed that you might not have or you know, a dog that had been abused. Or if I can just share the success stories and help people think, like I can do that, then I feel like my job is well done.
Annie:
Is there another dog in your, in your future?
Milla:
Yes, I hope so. I hope so. We're every dog I photograph. I'm like, Brad, look, he needs a home! She needs a home. Well, the right dog will come along for sure.
Annie:
Do you work at any kind of shelters doing any photos in there or have you ever done that?
Milla:
I work with just private rescue groups.
Annie:
Which groups do you work with?
Milla:
I've worked with Mr. Bones and Company quite a bit. I've worked with Animal Lighthouse Rescue. I just did a session for a girl named Bunny from PupStarz Rescue. I love taking photos of homeless dogs in a different way where I try to show them interacting with their foster family, show their true kind of personality and spirit so that it's not just a sad homeless dog, but you can see like the dog's personality a little bit more.
Annie:
You know, I just read this really interesting book called The Dog Merchants. And there's a chapter on it about rescue, about how rescue dogs have been branded as the sad underdogs, whereas dogs from breeders and stores have more a sort of shiny veneer? But that really, like, they're all the same dog. Right? There's nothing inherently special about one or sad about one necessarily. And photos, actually, in this book she talks about how photos of like, when they show photos of dogs in shelters, they don't show these like happy beaming dogs that you're going to see on a Breeder's website.
Milla:
Exactly. And that's what, that's what I'm trying to do differently is to, even the way that I word it when I show that, like I say like “beautiful,” “adoptable,” like I'm trying to even change perceptions about these homeless dogs, that they're beautiful. They have, you know, funny personalities they're loving. They're like, I love to show them interacting with their foster parents because I think that there is a place for sad photos of dogs behind shelter bars because sometimes that motivates people to just do something. But then I think there's also a place for happy photos of dogs that are looking for homes that capture their personality in a more complete way. So yeah, that's, that's what I'm trying to contribute.
Annie:
Well it also, like just talking about it makes me think like you see things differently when it's like in a home setting. Like when you're looking at apartments, the apartment looks different when they put furniture in the apartment and makes you want to buy it. Maybe I'm wondering if it's like that with dogs.
Milla:
Yeah! Then you see a dog in someone's home and you can picture, Oh like this dog is funny laying on the couch. Like I could have a dog on my couch– yeah,I think there really is something to that, that seeing a dog behind shelter bars, there is a place for that, but a lot of times people have a hard time connecting to it or they fear, like what kind of issues would that dog have. But if you show that same dog on their foster mom's couch curled up next to, whatever, it’s something that people can relate to and that people can imagine for themselves.
**music**
Annie:
Our fun dog fact of the week is about dog tongues. Did you know that when a dog drinks water, they actually drink it into the bottom of their mouth? Their tongues form a ladle pointing downwards, and with a very swift speed, they're able to kind of spoon water into their mouth with that downward curl of the tongue.
Our Woof shout out this week is to Milla's brand new dog. Mona. Mona is a beautiful gray rescued pit bull, and shortly after we recorded this together, I think maybe a day afterwards I got an urgent flurry of text messages from Milla saying we had to include something about Mona, but Mona hadn't been in her life when she and I met. So you can learn more about Mona at Milla's Instagram page, which is Real Happy Dogs.
I also wanted to reach out and say hello to Matt Volkov who follows us on Instagram and had a question about something that we often have our Day School dogs do, which is learn how to push something. He was watching a video of one of our students, Meatball, pushing a cone around the ground and he wrote and said, what does the cone pushing teach the pup? Which is a good question.
So pushing a cone is just one of the many things that we teach dogs that I would call perhaps “concept training” more than specific behavior training. For instance, one of the things I teach pretty much every dog I work with during the first session is to do a simple hand touch, which is just teaching them like if I touch X to Y, then some good thing happens. And beyond that you can use that hand touch to then teach lots and lots of different things as well as teach things that involve this simple concept of touching X to Y. And once you have a dog who is good at understanding that concept, you can build on it even further.
For instance, I want you to touch your nose to my hand with duration, right? I want you to keep your nose there or I want you to push my hand really hard, which is kind of what's happening when you're pushing a cone on the ground. So at the surface, a lot of the things we teach don't have utility necessarily in and of themselves. Unless you have a dog, I guess, on a field and you want them to move around cones. [laughs] It's more just warming up their brain to these different kinds of concepts and challenging their brains by giving them new obstacles.
Why might you want to eventually teach a dog to push something in a useful way? Well, you could teach a dog to push an elevator button. You could teach a dog to close a door or close a drawer. You could teach a dog to push something to you on the ground if you can't go and reach it. Really, there's so many things that we can teach in just everyday training when we're trying to do fun stuff and keep their brains occupied that could eventually translate into service dog type training or even just fun training that you can show off to your friend, right? Like, check out how my dog pushes the elevator button.
But my feeling is always the more things you teach a dog, the better they get at learning. And whether you're teaching something that's clearly useful for some immediate purpose or not, you're still working out your dog's brain and having fun doing training together. So that's the long answer to the question of why would anybody want to teach a dog to push a cone on the ground. Anyway, thanks for writing in Matt, and if you have any questions for this podcast, email them to podcast@schoolforthedogs.com and I will gladly answer them.
Thank you so much for listening. We’ll be back next week with another show. If you liked this episode, please remember to subscribe, rate, and give us a 5-star review on iTunes. And of course, tell your friends. If you have suggestions for future topics or questions about training, please make sure to join our Facebook group. Facebook.com/groups/schoolforthedogs. See you next week.
Links:
@realhappydogs Instagram
4 Tips for Getting the Best Photos of Your Dogs, from Milla Chappel
Mix Book
Mpix
