Tricks to getting your dog to wear a flower crown
Rewind almost a year ago and I first started talking to Izzy the Golden Retriever’s mom Kat about having a pet session. You see, Izzy is Kat’s world and they have an incredible bond. They light each other’s day up. But due to varying circumstances, Covid being one of them, we had to put our pet session on hold.
Then in the fall, Kat reached out to me and it was time to book Izzy’s pet photo session. Both Kat and Izzy were excited. And Izzy in particular…a natural goof ball at her finest was ready to be a rock star in front of the camera.
Kat loves the fun Flower Crown photos I do and really wanted a few with Izzy. Now, I enlighten pet parents that some pre-training is helpful to get dogs used to having something put on their heads. LOL…it’s so comical to watch a dog’s expression when their human is trying to put something weird and foreign to them on their heads.
So, I suggest making it into a game before the session. Take a few minutes each day, and put a hat/cloth/scarf/etc on your dog’s head and reward them with a treat when they don’t turn-away, shake the item off or try to bite it. Basically you give them a treat for every good behaviour associated with the new trick. Even just looking at the hat without biting gets them a treat. Even just lightly bringing the hat over their head gets them a treat. Then having the item touch their head and they don’t flinch gets them a treat. You see where I am going with this. Before you know it, your pet will let you put anything on their head as they know they will be getting a treat.
I might want to add here that this positive reinforcement training comes from Kim at DogSense. She is an amazing local trainer here in Owen Sound.
This pre-training helps our pet session go a little smoother 😉 BUT even if your pet isn’t trained to have something put on their head, I have lots of tricks up my sleeve to get them to sit long enough to get the shot.
After we got the fun Flower Crown portrait of Izzy, we did other fun poses in the studio…showcasing Izzy’s fun and goofy side. And I even had Izzy’s mom pose for a few photos at the end. After all, they have an incredible friendship and we want to capture that so that Kat can have the photo to remember their fun pet session together.
