Listing excellent pictures of your puppy’s mother is an effective area of marketing that is often overlooked. Customers want to know what their puppy will look like as an adult and use parents’ photos to ascertain the look their puppy’s future will reveal. Good looks abandon a puppy during an awkward period of doggie adolescence, but well-bred puppies regain their breathtaking appearance as they mature into adults. Keeping listing photos up to date is beneficial, but older puppies often take a back seat to the younger puppies in terms of appearance. Having amazing photos of the parents allows you to showcase who your now gangly puppy is destined to become in just a few short months! Before scheduling adult pictures you should consider your dog’s body score, coat condition, and select a good background!

When doing parent pictures, the number one mistake breeders make, is photographing the mother when they photograph the litter. Post whelping photos will never ever be as flattering as pre-breeding pictures. When taking photos of adults, you want to capture your dog at her best so you can showcase her beauty when she is less than gorgeous. This lets customers know who she really is when she is not haggard from weeks of wrangling a stampede of greedy puppies. Females with pups rarely possess the perfect body score being either a few pounds overweight from cleaning up extra puppy food or underweight from being taxed by a large litter. Seeing the mother with a sagging underline, incorrect body score, and a balding haircoat will not make a customer wish for one of her offspring but seeing a lovely picture of her will!

Wait to photograph your dogs until they have a nice hair coat and are at a healthy weight, usually between litters! Take some time to bathe them or have them professionally groomed. My sister has a ruby Cavalier whose beautiful tail waved like a banner in the wind, thick and feathery until her first litter when her once luxurious tail had only a few pitiful strands of brittle red fur. She looked like a little red rodent, and we were worried it would never grow back! We were so glad we photographed her while her coat was healthy and unaffected by post puppy hormones!

Photographing adult dogs is different from puppy pictures because adults are larger and hate holding still even more than puppies! Adult dogs do best in outdoor settings on lovely days where they can be photographed in an environment in which they are comfortable. Placing adults in new or unfamiliar areas can make them look anxious or frightened and create unwarranted concerns about their temperament. Be sure that the background is cheery and appropriate. Avoid using props that will make the photo look outdated if you do not plan to get new pictures of her in the future. Avoid backgrounds that are busy or distracting so that the viewer’s focus stays on your dog!

Capturing the parents at their best will make a customer choose your puppy when they realize who the pup will grow to resemble, even if the puppy is older or did not cooperate during the photoshoot. While many puppy sales can begin with a great photo, it’s difficult to move all of your puppies with one round of pictures, and it can be challenging to get the perfect picture of every puppy every time. Having excellent parent photos displayed beside them can make a customer overlook the puppy’s lack of cooperation during photos, and having stellar photos of both the puppies and the parents is a combination that will attract an interested customer every time. It’s worth it to invest in your dog’s appearance for a good picture you can reuse with every future litter!