Gus at the Public Garden

The tennis ball was a fabulous assistant on this photo shoot.

Here is the final pet shoot at the Boston Public Garden. This is Gus, or Gus Gus, or Gussy, or He Who Would Not Be Photographed Without His Tennis Ball. He was not interested in treats, or squirrels or sticks or anything you had to say unless it was “GusGusdoyouwanttoplaywiththeball??” Just about every shot I took involved the tennis ball. Even if it’s not in frame, someone is holding it just outside. We used it to get him to sit on the grass, to sit on the docks, to stand up and prop himself against the railing of the docks, everything short of ending world hunger.

His human sisters came with a tennis racket which they used to lob the ball across the park. We started the session with what his sisters thought would be a 5, 10 minutes of rigorous fetch, and then he would tire enough to sit for poses. But lob after lob after lob passed…Gus zipped back and forth like he had a rocket ship tucked under his bottom…nothing was going to slow him down.

The funniest thing about Gus was that even though he was absolutely obsessed with his tennis ball, he still took a moment to graciously look my way as he went running by. Every single time. His sister dubbed it his “glamour glance.” We like the Glamour Glance by Gus!