Two Winners!

You may remember that, in June, I ran a Lucky Draw Contest through Facebook, in which the winner was awarded a 30 minute pet photo shoot, along with an 8x10 print of their favourite image from the shoot, and a web-ready copy of the photo for social media.

The winner was Alex Wilson, a local business owner here in Invermere - she and her family operate Nature's Floors.

Alex's dog, Dexter, was the subject of her photo shoot. Dexter is Alex's constant companion, particularly on the long road trip between Calgary and Invermere, which Alex drives round trip every single week, come rain, shine, or snow!

Dexter is a tall, handsome black-and-white boy, said to be a Karelian Bear Dog mix-breed. He's very friendly and energetic, listens well, he is obviously devoted to Alex - and he shows signs of being a good guardian for Alex's two young daughters and their friends, too!

Here's my favourite shot from the session yesterday evening:

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If you'd like to see more, Dexter's gallery has been loaded onto my website.

Thanks again to everyone who entered the contest - better luck next time!

The second winner of which I speak, is the delightful Marley. She's the newest guest at the ICAN companion animal rescue facility where I volunteer - and she's a winner because she won the lottery by being found by a caring soul, and turned over to ICAN for care!

As always, I was called in to take some photos of Marley for the ICAN website. What a sweetie she is, so eager to please and characterful, a pleasure to work with! Marley's photos have been loaded onto my website ... but this is my favourite:

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Marley is currently being fostered by Sylvia, a wonderful long-time ICAN volunteer, until she's ready to go to her forever home! Marley's introduction to ICAN was nothing short of harrowing: 

Marley was found by a caring person in the middle of the highway. Marley had neither the will to get up and move, nor the gumption to realize the danger she was in. Marley is now in ICAN's care and is looking for a new home. We suspect that she has never been inside a house before and although she likes human attention, she is trying to figure out what we want from her. Her spirit is a little broken right now, but we are working on that with her. Marley is being treated for mange (hence all the hair loss and redness), which will take about 6 weeks. We will keep you updated on her progress! She is a total sweetheart though and so far just ignores cats and other dogs.

The vet said she's between 1 and 2 years old - and she's already had at least one litter of pups!

I'm happy to report that over the past two weeks, Marley's made improvements in leaps and bounds, learning to trust humans, and having her medical issues addressed and assigned to her past.

She'll be spayed early next week and, as soon as she's ready, will be going to her forever family, which is already waiting excitedly to welcome her to their home!

Don't you love a happy ending?!