Nico found himself relinquished to the front of the house this evening because he decided to snack on some frozen poo out in the yard.

Nico isn’t always the brightest. This evening he was falling asleep on the couch with his head perched over the edge. He eventually repositioned himself, so his head was on the couch. Though, we have witnessed him fall over from falling asleep while sitting up, which is always hilarious.

All curled up for the night.

I believe Nico’s favorite thing in the world is this super soft bed Shelly bought for him. This bed is in her office under her desk and he loves it so much he often chooses to spend the night in this bed as opposed to sleeping on the couch.

One of the things I love about shooting with my 60MP Sony A7RIV camera is the incredible detail the camera captures. This level of detail isn’t always flattering for people because it will pick up every little skin imperfection and blemish, but for puppies, it ensures every little hair and whisker is captured. Of course, you can also see even the smallest bit of dirt on Nico’s fur.

Having this cute little face around certainly makes for a good day. Today was a snow day at work, so Nico and I worked from home with Shelly. Nico enjoyed running around in the snow in the yard but wasn’t enthusiastic about helping me shovel. As soon as I start shoveling, he bails and puts on a helpless dog sitting in the snow routine until someone lets him inside.

Nico is a prancer. You can see him mid-prance here as he is returning on a recall. His prancing is so regular that there is noticeably less wear on his front toenails compared to his back from walking on pavement.

We’ve run out of Fresh Kisses, which Nico gets after dinner every night. He is very confused about where his dessert is.

Shelly and I had errands to run today, some of which were over an hour drive away. It’s very interesting how Nico responds to car rides. He is pretty chill if we are in my truck, which has a custom platform and bed in the back. If we are in Shelly’s car, he whines all the time. We aren’t entirely sure why, but we think it has to do with him being farther away from us when he is in her car. Today we took Shelly’s car and listened to Nico whine for a few hours. It must have been exhausting for him because he immediately came into the house and laid down in our front sunroom.

What better way to start the day than running around the Paul Smith’s College campus?

oday is Nico’s third birthday! To celebrate we headed to our local Tractor Supply and walked all the isles while letting Nico sniff absolutely everything.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Nico is really good at being a dog model. Historically, I’ve approached this project as a documentary or lifestyle photography project. Most photos attempt to capture Nico’s personality, an activity we are doing, or in some way convey a story about the day. Recently, I’ve been using this project, along with short winter days, to dabble in this use of artificial lighting.

When Nico has less stimulating days, we sometimes feed him dinner through training or puzzles to give him mental stimulation.

This is the look I get when I forget Nico’s post-dinner Fresh Kisses treat. Nico is a very expressive dog in his facial expressions and mannerisms.

Fly Nico, Fly. I haven’t been shooting action with Nico for a while. The reason is I tend to leave a particular lens on my camera for a period of time and work on shooting within whatever focal range that lens is.

Nico got his dinner by way of a folded-up towel this evening. We’ve been using this as an enrichment exercise.

A little bit of running through the snow is a great way to tire a young dog out. I’ve been thinking of easy ways to help Nico get in more exercise.

The theme for this month’s Dog Photo Contest is dogs doing goofy things. Nico is a big goofball; throw a snowball toward him and see what happens.

Nico was putting serious effort into begging for a second dinner. He does a pretty good job of putting on a famished dog act if we spend time in the kitchen after he eats dinner. In his defense, we’ve likely inadvertently reinforced this by one of us accidentally feeding him again. He is polite about it and always lies outside the kitchen threshold. And forgive the banged-up threshold; our house is over 120 years old, and we can’t bring ourselves to replace a piece of wood that’s been walked across for over a century. Khyber and Nico have added their marks to the wood, giving it more meaning.

I’m not going to lie. One of the best things to come out of Nico’s time at the Upstate Canine Academy and our focus on training since then is this cute little face staring at me a lot more ask, “ok Dad, what are we doing next?”