Happy Thanksgiving!

All suited up and ready for Thanksgiving dinner production.

We got these aprons for our Thanksgiving cooking team. Gobble gobble.

The QA team was ready to test the turkey to make sure it was okay when it came out of the oven.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Really looking forward to Thanksgiving! I'm in full on turkey dinner planning mode.

A video posted by Jenny Cisney (@ljc) on Nov 16, 2015 at 10:46am PST

Painting holiday

As I mentioned before, we spent the Fourth of July holiday helping my parents paint. Being the listmaker I am, I had each step listed for the satisfaction of crossing each task off.

We went through 12 cans of paint for 7 rooms in 4 days.

And the pugs would have you believe they did all the work.

Toiling away on scaffolding.

Cutting in.

And rolling on.

In reality, this is really what they did the entire time. Find the least convenient spot in which to nap. As you can see Wally was in on it too.

This looks like they tried to get to the charging station but ran out of energy just inches away.

Splat.

Splat.

Splat.

Happy Fourth of July

The pugs saw it coming and posed like champs for some Fourth of July pics.

Do we get our treats now?

Wally thinks he is cooler than the pugs.

I make this look good.

Ever hear the saying "Knee high by the Fourth of July"? The corn in PA is taller than me. From what I have read that is a good thing these days.

Pugs on vacation

The reason we love this spot at OBX is because we can bring our pugs with us.

Dogs need vacations too!

Oscar and Hugo love the beach!

Hugo especially loves running in the waves.

They also love coming back inside to the air conditioning and snacks.

Mini-pack walk & blossoms

My friend Liz has been trying to catch a local peach orchard in full bloom. We went along for the ride and took the pooches along for a mini-pack walk. The boys love Sable.

We missed the blooms but Hugo got to tear around like a nut.

On the way home we did spot another orchard with a cool hilly road.

It inspired a few shots.

Nothing like a mini photo adventure with friends.

Yackity Yak Yak Dog Treats

Oscar and Hugo got a kind of treat we hadn't seen before in their last BarkBox. Yeti Dog Chews are supposed to be a sort of "cheese", made of cow milk, yak milk, salt and lime juice. They are very hard however, until you put them in the microwave. When heated in the microwave they puff up like popcorn. I did not find them to be as odor free as the package said but the pugs certainly enjoyed them.

Adopt me ties for rescue dogs

I wanted to make something really special for my friend Liz's birthday. What do you make someone who is an awesome rescue pet photographer? Adopt Me ties!

I have a large collection of ties I've been saving for an as of yet unknown but very cool project and this is it. Oscar and Hugo were very nervous about modeling them. They wanted to be sure I made note that * THESE PUGS ARE NOT UP FOR ADOPTION.

Real Men of Rochester - Spay and Neuter Your Pets

While most people know the benefits of spaying or neutering your dog, there are some that still choose not to do it for irrelevant reasons. Most of them are men that feel fixing your dog is not macho. Truth is, spaying/neutering is the only way to control the unwanted dog population. It also lowers health risks for your dog, curbs the desire to mark, be agressive and run away.

In order to help get this message out in Rochester, members of the Verona Street Animal Society, took on the challenge to create a campaign to show that real men fix their dogs. (Oh this goes for cats too!)

My friend Shireen came up with taglines and themes, found models and coordinated the photo shoots. My friend Liz set up the lighting, arrangements and photographed real men that live right here in Rochester. Baseball players from the Red Wings, lacrosse players from the Knighthawks, firemen from Rochester Engine 5 firehouse and more.

The photos turned out amazing and perfectly illustrate the taglines that show real men do the right thing by fixing their dogs. I was happy to help out by doing the poster designs.

Doesn't that guy on the left and the pugs look familiar?! You can view all the posters in this public Facebook album -> http://bit.ly/realmenfixpix.

For a campaign this amazing you have to have a launch party. For one evening all the photos were on display at Rochester Brainery. Just in time for February - Spay and Neuter Awareness Month!

I should have taken more photos! This was towards the beginning of the show when people were starting to arrive. Soon both rooms were packed!

We had so many generous donations - beer from Genesee Brewery, adorable cookies and cupcakes and so many food donations from volunteers and supporters!

Samson, one of the campaign models came to opening to soak up attention and admiration.

Here is Aaron's photo on display, along with a stack of posters below for people to take and hang to help spread the word.

[Liz, Aaron, Me, Matt and Tina]

It was so nice for my friends to show up for the show! What a great night for Liz to see her hard work and talent pay off.

Huge thanks to these ladies, Liz and Shireen for their incredible work on this campaign. Stay tuned, there will be more to come through-out the year! [photo from Liz's instagram feed]

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! My parents' house is packed with pooches. Wally, Oscar, Hugo and my sister's dog Bronson.

Our critters were featured in our Christmas cards again this year. I couldn't decide on just one design so I did four. Who knows which one you might get in the mail?! I am really happy with our cards this year. I love how I was able to put a message on the back with a pattern... made on a Kodak Picture Kiosk!

It was a struggle to roll the pugs over onto their back for the Christmas card shot but Stewie was a champ. There were photos taken of Aaron and I too, but they didn't make the Christmas card cut. I told Aaron "The boys look adorable shot from above. But us... not so cute. I left us out." I think it was a good call.

Hugo's favorite show - do dogs watch tv?

We enjoyed watching the National Dog Show on Thanksgiving. Hugo enjoyed it most of all. Oscar never notices what is on TV but Hugo is very aware. I'm not sure why some dogs watch tv and some don't. Popular Science says it has to do with refresh rate and a dog's temperment. This article says it has to do with a dog's retina, which might explain the difference between Oscar and Hugo. Another article says dogs just see the movement and not the subject. I disagree with this because Hugo definitely notices the difference between people and animals on TV.

Hugo will sit and watch TV like a person. He especially goes crazy when there another dog or animal on TV. He watched each and every dog show contestant trot across the screen with a critical eye.

Hugo 'loved' watching the 2014 National Dog Show and found it hard to contain himself when one of his favorites came on.

A video posted by Aaron (@aaron_istic) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:50pm PST

Hill’s® Science Diet® Grain Free dry pet food Klout Perk

Oscar and Hugo got a Klout perk in the mail! They were very excited to get a bag of Hill’s® Science Diet® Grain Free dry pet food.

Did they like it? The proof is right here. I was really interested in the fact that this Hill’s® Science Diet® Grain Free dry dog food is grain free. I have had suspicions that wheat is making the pugs skin itchy... seems like they lick their paws obessively when they have too much.

The size of the Hill’s® Science Diet® kibble is perfect for the pugs.

This is a small detail about the Hills dog food that I really appreciated... the dog food bag closed with a velcro seal. So nice!