TWO PUPPIES
Some dogs love being photographed and others simply hate it. We once had a dog called Tim who was determined to be in every photograph. It didn’t matter what we were trying to take, Tim would do his best to push in. And the worst of it was that when you were busy with the camera you couldn’t be looking after Tim at the same time, and he would somehow manage to get into the picture. Perhaps he hadn’t got in quite far enough, in which case you would see only a bit of him, which was worst of all.
So you may be sure we had no trouble with him if ever we wanted to pose him for a photograph. Tim was a proud dog then, and he would sit or stand any way we liked; the only bother was to keep his tail still, for being so pleased, he couldn’t resist wagging it.
I believe you would have liked Tim because, of course, you are fond of dogs, and he was an adorable dog. He was very sociable and hated being left out of anything, so that if two or three of us were chatting, Tim would jump on a chair and join the party. He would lean over the back, gazing so intelligently into our faces, that it really seemed as if he were talking, too.
A dog’s love for his people is a curious and beautiful thing. Tim did not mind how uncomfortable he was as long as he could be near them. He had once been known to give up his dinner to follow them when they went for a walk. Perhaps he was not as hungry as usual that day.
He would lean over the back of a chair.
We had another dog with Tim called Tess who hated the sight of a camera. We wanted to get a photograph of her and Tim sitting up together, but she was determined we shouldn’t. As soon as we had placed them in a good position and were ready to begin, that silly Tess would tumble on her back with her legs sticking up in the air, and how could you photograph a dog like that! We tried scolding her, but that only made matters worse, for she simply wouldn’t sit up at all, and as soon as we had dragged her on to her feet—flop, over she would go again! At last we had to give it up as a bad job.
Tess had five jolly little puppies, three boys and two girls, and as soon as ever the pups could get on without their mother, she was sent away. She went to some kind people who never wanted to photograph their dogs and where she would get heaps and heaps to eat, for I must tell you, Tess was rather a greedy dog and not as faithful and affectionate as Tim.