Wade ran to his neighbor’s house to fetch Lucy, then met Rachel, Cora, and the dogs in their backyard. Daisy and Lucy had been friends since the Cohens brought Daisy home as a roly-poly puppy, and they still romped together despite their size difference.
After fifteen minutes of hard-core play, the people hustled the panting dogs into the editing room. Cora put Fritz in a down-stay on the backdrop, then lined Daisy up a few feet away and put her in a down-stay as well.
“Check out my good dog!” Wade exclaimed as Daisy held her stay. “See, wearepracticing!”
Cora didn’t want to push her luck trying to get a trifecta of stays, so she picked up the brindle Frenchie and gingerly walked between the two resting dogs. She sat between them cross-legged with Lucy standing on her lap.
“Aww, I like how this looks,” Rachel exclaimed. “Here we go!”
The quick playdate in the yard took the edge off the dogs’ energy levels, so they posed without protest, each with a wide panting grin. Rachel snapped photo after photo while Cora laughed and petted the dogs surrounding her.
“I can’t get them to look at me at the same time. One of them is always looking away,” Rachel said as she flipped through the photos on her camera. “So close, though!”
“Make a funny noise,” Cora suggested. “Like a little squeak or bark. That usually works to get them to look and give a head tilt.”
Rachel made a crying sound like a lost puppy, and all three dogs froze and looked at her with curious expressions on their faces. She tried a kitten-like “meow” and each dog cocked its head in a universal “huh?” look.
“There it is! The money shot!” Rachel exclaimed as she snapped away. “This is great.” She continued making strange sounds, each one eliciting a new and adorable expression on the canine models’ faces, and finally Cora could relax and enjoy the process.
“I think we’ve got it,” Rachel said, resting her camera on her shoulder after about ten minutes of shooting, when the dogs had tired of modeling.
Fritz fell onto his side, and Daisy plopped down facing him, placing her front paws on top of his. Lucy was already on her back between them, indelicately splayed with all four paws pointing in opposite directions.
“Wait!” Rachel said quietly as Cora started to stand. “I see one more shot. Lie down in between them and look up at me.” She grabbed a step stool and moved it closer so that she was looking down on the resting dogs.
Cora tiptoed among the dogs and positioned herself on the floor amid the sleeping scrum. She pulled Lucy next to her so that the fat little dozing dog was on her back nestled into Cora’s side. Daisy sighed and adjusted herself so that the top of her head rested against Cora’s cheek, and Cora reached back and snaked her arm around the dog’s shoulder. Fritz, suddenly possessive, placed his big square head on Cora’s chest and reached his paw across her body, as if to hug her. Cora took his paw in her other hand.
The effect was a canine version of Yoko and John’s iconicRolling Stonecover, with the three dogs flanking her at every angle. Cora closed her eyes and surrendered to the sleepy sweetness surrounding her while Rachel snapped away above them.
“Perfection,” Rachel murmured. “Okay, I promise now we’retrulydone.”
Cora sat up and the dogs barely stirred. She gently stroked Lucy’s pink belly. “I can’t thank you enough for doing this. May I peek?”
Rachel handed her the camera, and Cora was stunned by the final images of the day. The initial photos of them sitting at attention looked professional and adorable, but the last few shots were something else entirely. They actually radiated the love Cora felt for all dogs.
“You are an artist, Rachel. These are amazing.”
“Aw, you’re gonna make me cry! It’s easy to take great photos when you have subjects like you guys. That was pretty magical.”
Wade interrupted, “All right, all right, enough of the sobfest. We’ve got more work to do. Cora, come here.” He beckoned her over to his computer. “Check this out.” He pushed a button and suddenly Cora’s face filled the screen—her impromptu on-camera training session with Daisy.
“Oh my God, turn it off!” she screamed, hiding her eyes.
“Deal with it. If you’re serious about doing this you’re going to have to learn to critique yourself.”
Cora peeked from behind her hands and saw that Wade had filmed some additional footage of Daisy, so the shots of her talking to the camera were supplemented with close-ups of Daisy’s attentive face. He also added music and graphics, so the casual three minutes of footage they had filmed off-the-cuff now looked like a professional training piece. The clip ended with a screen showing Cora’s full name, e-mail address, and phone number.
She was dumbfounded. “That’s amazing—you made me look like I know what I’m doing. Why ... why are you doing all of this? Why are you guys helping me so much? Can I pay you? Can I give you free dog training for life?”
Wade smiled. “Oh, we’re definitely taking you up on the free dog training. But it’s no big deal to do this stuff. I edited that footage while you guys were taking the photos. This kind of project is fun for me ... I deal with boring stuff in my real job. Dogs are easy! Plus I had a mentor who did something similar for me way back when. I’m paying it forward.”
“And you gave me a reason to pick up my good camera again,” Rachel added. “Now that the twins are in preschool maybe I’ll get back to my photography. I used to be so creative, but now there’s barely enough time for me to brush my teeth.Youdidmea favor!”
“I’m just so honored by all of this. Really ... thank you.”
“We’re not done yet. Let’s pick your favorite photo. Wade gave me strict orders that you’re not to leave until you’ve submitted your stuff.”
Cora was incredulous. “You mean you want me to send it right—”
