This photographer shares beautiful photos of her four dogs, and their adorable faces are bringing joy to people stuck in quarantine
Zoë Ettinger
- Shandess Griffin and her husband, Jason, live in Maple Ridge, Canada, with their four dogs.
- The Griffins' four dogs are Zero the Samoyed, Navi the mutt, Arbor the Bernese mountain dog, and Harvest the Australian shepherd.
- Griffin runs an Instagram account with over 53,000 followers called @shandandherdogs, where she posts adorable snaps of the pups every other day.
- Her cute photo shoots have been helping lift spirits through the quarantine, and she's received many Instagram messages of support.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Shandess Griffin's whole life revolves around dogs, and she wouldn't have it any other way. After growing up without pets, Griffin adopted her first pup as soon as she was able to, at age 21.
Since then, her love for dogs has only grown, and she now has four special pups with her husband at their home in Canada — and they're not the only ones obsessed with the four gorgeous dogs.
Griffin's Instagram account, @shandandherdogs, has over 53,000 followers and features perfectly posed photos of some or all of the dogs. The photos are adorable, but it's hard work: "I do a lot of work behind the scenes, like rewarding them to do the behaviors I need for the photo shoots," she told Insider.
Since the coronavirus outbreak, she has received many messages saying how her pictures brighten strangers' days in a particularly trying time. She hopes her photos can help transport others feeling trapped in their homes. "It's really nice to hear that it helps," she said.
Keep scrolling to see if these four adorable pups bring a smile to your face, too.
Read the original article on Insider"Pets are the only thing that will love you more than they love themselves," she said.
"Every single day, no matter if you left the house for five minutes or two days, they are so excited to bring you into their world and love you more than anything," she said.
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After seeing her photos, many of her clients wanted her to do the same for their dogs.
"I started my own company called Shand & Your Dogs because people were obsessed with my photos of my dogs, so they started asking for photos of their dogs," she said.
The doggie day care has been deemed an essential service, so she is still going to work every day.
"All the essential workers who have pets that are working around the clock who need somewhere for their dogs to go [are able to bring them here]," she said.
Along with being a dog photographer, Griffin manages a doggie day care.
Griffin, who has worked in the dog industry for 17 years, photographs dogs at the day care every day.
Harvest, pictured below second to right, is the youngest and the most spoiled.
"He is definitely a momma's boy. I love everything that dog does. He is one of the greatest gifts I have ever given myself. I love them all, but he is my ride-or-die," she said.
Arbor, pictured below second to right, has a lot of anxieties, but Griffin loves seeing him conquer his fears.
"It's super cute to see when he has done something he's proud of. For example, he is afraid of the ticking sound on a timer, so when that comes on and he comes out of his little room, and stays in the room while the timer goes, he'll get so proud of himself and start dancing around the room like 'I didn't get scared! Are you proud of me?'" Griffin said.
Navi, pictured below second to right, is their only female dog, and Griffin said it took longer to bond with her.
"She was very much a daddy's girl, but in the last five years, she has bonded really strongly to me. Every time I come into the house, she'll roll on her back asking for pets, and if I stop, she'll smash her foot on the ground for more," she said.
Navi, pictured below second to right, is their only female dog, and Griffin said it took longer to bond with her.
"She was very much a daddy's girl, but in the last five years, she has bonded really strongly to me. Every time I come into the house, she'll roll on her back asking for pets, and if I stop, she'll smash her foot on the ground for more," she said.
Each dog has its own unique personality. Zero likes to "sing" when he hears songs she played him as a baby.
"Zero sings in the car to the songs he listened to with me when he was under a year old. Only those songs. If he hears a familiar one, he'll howl in the car with me, which is very cute," she said.
Griffin wants her photos to help transport others feeling trapped in their homes.
"It's really nice to hear that it helps," she said.
Griffin says the messages about how her photos have helped others mean the most.
"It's hard for my mind to think of all these people who are seeing these photos, and the effect it has on them, but it happens to me too. I look on my feed and see others people's dogs and I love it," Griffin said.
The photos of Griffin's dogs have also helped others who are struggling through the quarantine.
"I had a lady message me that she suffers from severe depression and that she really looks forward to the posts I make. She wakes up in the morning and goes to my feed to make herself feel better and calm herself," Griffin said.
The Griffins have their own yard, so they've been able to spend time outside with the dogs.
"We have a pretty big yard so we can just hang out in the yard and in the sun and get some fresh air," Griffin said.
"They have made the quarantine a lot more happy and fulfilling for me. It's a lot less stressful," she said.
She's enjoyed the extra time she has been able to spend with her pups.
Their dogs have been especially helpful now, as the Griffins are spending a lot of time at home due to the coronavirus.
"We're not on mandatory lockdown, but all our parks are closed and everyone is supposed to stay inside as much as possible," she said.
She does plenty of themed photo shoots, like this Valentine's one below.
Griffin captioned this photo, "What the inside of my heart is filled with."
"I absolutely love the training aspect of it," she said.
"There's a lot of training that goes into each photo idea," she said.
It's especially tough to capture a good photo when the dogs are posing with objects, like the crowns below.
One Instagram user commented on this photo, "Such pretty princes and princesses too."
But a lot of work goes into getting the photos just right. Getting the dogs to pose at the same time is no easy feat.
"I do a lot of work behind the scenes, like rewarding them to do the behaviors I need for the photo shoots," she said.
They're not the only ones in love with the four pups. Their more than 53,000 Instagram followers often say how much joy the photos bring them.
She shares their adventures on her Instagram, @shandandherdogs.
The couple does not have any children, so the dogs are like children to them, Griffin said.
"We don't have kids and we'll never have children, so these dogs are our kids," she said.
Being a dog lover was "pretty much a requirement to date me," Shandess Griffin told Insider.
Thankfully, her husband also loves dogs and participates in many of their photo shoots.
She lives with her husband, Jason, in the town of Maple Ridge in British Columbia, Canada.
The Griffins have been together 10 years. They got married five years ago, and Harvest, their Australian shepherd, "was our wedding gift to ourselves," she said.
Shandess Griffin has four dogs: Zero the Samoyed, Navi the mutt, Arbor the Bernese mountain dog, and Harvest the Australian shepherd.
"I wasn't allowed to have pets as a child, so I think that shows why I've now overdone it as an adult," she told Insider.
Growing up, Griffin's mom had allergies, so she couldn't have any furry pets. She got her first one as soon as she was able to, at age 21.
She got Zero in 2007, and since then has adopted a dog every two years. She adopted a Bernese mountain dog named Holden after Zero, but sadly he passed. She then got her mutt, Navi, then Arbor, another Bernese, and finally Harvest, their Australian shepherd.
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