Senior dog photography sessions are definitely one of my favorites. This precious senior golden boy, Dutch, belonged to one of my favorite people Janine from J9's K9's Dog Training. He was such a good buy for our session and loved having time with his time with Janine. For being an old dog, Dutch was 15, he was in great shape and still a very happy boy.

Senior Golden Retriever Los Angeles Dog Photography Session

When you have a dog as long as Janine had Dutch you have lots of stories about them and Janine shared many of those with me during our time together. Dutch also made it clear he liked my treats and was eager to be my bestie in the hopes he'd be able to talk me out of more of them.


I am sad to say a few short months after our session Dutch's health took a turn for the worse and it was his time to go to the rainbow bridge. While I was heart broken for Janine I was also relived that she already had these photographs to give her comfort after he was gone.

Senior Golden Retriever Los Angeles Dog Photography Session

The secret to senior dog photography sessions


The secret to senior dog photography is to not wait till the bitter end to get professional photos done. I get so many calls from people for rainbow bridge sessions after their dog gets a life threatening diagnosis or has a quick down turn in their health and at this point it's harder to get those photos that your heart wants. The key is to do your session with your senior dog while they are still themselves. Take photos while life is good and your dog is in high spirits. Sometimes at the end of life dogs are a little more cranky or don't feel well and don't photograph like they once did when they were feeling better. And isn't that how you want to remember them? Fun and full of life!

Senior Golden Retriever Los Angeles Dog Photography Session

Dogspeed Dutch, you were a very good boy.