Charlotte With Dogs

This is sponsored by Annabeth’s ridiculous faces 😂

Fast CAT photos available at www.charlottewithdogs.pixieset.com

Busy season has begun and it’s going to be an adventure!

Honestly, I am feeling a bit stressed and nervous. I know it won’t feel as busy once I’m actually IN it, but looking at it ahead of me feels overwhelming.

We are currently en route to St. Louis to visit our friends for a few days and make Annabeth’s show debut! It will be my first show too…I have a lot of anxiety about learning to show dogs, so I’m glad I get to do this first one with a friend.

From there, we are heading to Denver to photograph the Arapahoe Fast CAT! I can’t wait to see you and your dogs!

Then a quick trip back home to New York to show Annabeth in the Wine Country Circuit show. This show is only 20 minutes from home, which I’m grateful for!

Then North Dakota; West Virginia; a local Fast CAT in Oneonta, New York; and Arizona twice. With all this travel, it is definitely time to invest in an RV or at least a mini van, haha.

This is why photographers call fall “busy season”! It is going to be so much fun, but I’m pretty sure that I will spend all of December sleeping!!! Unless I make a visit to NYC, which I would love to squeeze in…

Let the whirlwind begin!!!

I love the typical running photos, but bag grab photos are my favorite! There's something so fun about the intensity of dogs going for the bunny!

2024 Fast CAT photos available at https://charlottewithdogs.pixieset.com

I just love watching my dogs have fun, and they have the most fun at Fast CAT 🤩🥹

Photos available at https://charlottewithdogs.pixieset.com/

And this is what I like to call the “drive by”

Ginsburg used to really go for the bag but once she realized it wasn’t a real bunny, she sort of stopped. Now her primary motivation is going FAST FASTER FASTEST, but she will still do a drive by fake bite now and then 😂



Fast CAT photos are available for purchase on my website at www.charlottewithdogs.pixieset.com

Dear Ginsburg,

You are four today and I am not sure how that happened so quickly. I wish time would move slower, but I am so lucky for every day I get to spend with you.

You are such a gift, a treasure, a once-in-a-lifetime dog. You were meant to be a happy and confident addition to the pack, the Golden Retriever I had dreamed of having for so many years.

But you are so much more than I ever dreamed of.

I didn’t expect to get a dog so driven and motivated. I didn’t expect a dog so full of life and personality. I didn’t expect to get a second once-in-a-lifetime dog. I am so lucky.

You and I are so similar. We have been called (and called each other) “a lot”, “intense”, “dramatic”, “crazy”, “insane”, “wild”. And sure, maybe we are those things, but maybe that’s also why we are the perfect match. I’ve never met a dog more like myself. We reflect each other, different species mirrored in each other’s personalities.

I cannot imagine life without you, my partner, my co-pilot, my teammate.

Happy fourth birthday, Ginsburg. You are everything I dreamed of and so, so much more.

Take more photos WITH your dog. You won’t ever regret them, not a single one.

I love my little pack.



—

📸

I think this is my favorite photo of my dog from the North Country Kennel Club Fast CAT! If you bought your photos, share your favorite in the comments!

Get your NCKC photos here: https://charlottewithdogs.pixieset.com/northcountrykennelclubfastcataug23-25/

Updated schedule available! I will be covering the Del-Otse-Nango Kennel Club Fast CAT in October 😊 I can’t wait to see y’all there! A perk of photographing multiple events in the same area is that I start to get to know you and your dogs personally. It’s the best part of the job 🤩

photography schedule — Charlotte Lehman Photos from past events can be found here. Request coverage for your upcoming event here. Sep 19 to Sep 22 Arapahoe Kennel Club Fast CAT Thu, Sep 19, 2024 8:00 AM Sun, Sep 22, 2024 3:00 PM Google Calendar ICS Aurora, COPlease see the AKC event search or club website for trial premium and additional....

North Country Kennel Club, Inc. Fast CAT photos are AVAILABLE!!

North Country Kennel Club Fast CAT (Aug 23-25) Photo collection by CHARLOTTE WITH DOGS

CLAYTON EDITING UPDATE: Photos are on track for Monday evening/Tuesday morning finish ☺️

Happy Gotcha Day, Starsky.

My Old Man, my Starskle, my Storsky, the dog I got in my early twenties, the dog who guided me into adulthood, the dog who loved me fiercely and protected me loyally.

I miss you beyond words.

—

Please consider making a donation to today in Starsky’s honor. They do amazing work and are a truly ethical rescue. I can’t think of a better way to honor to my boy. https://www.empirerescue.org/support-e-a-r-s

She is not ✨demure✨
…she is a Foxhound

very ✨loud✨
very ✨slappy✨
very ✨weird✨

CLAYTON FASTCAT EDITING UPDATE

I made a lot of progress yesterday and finished editing Friday’s photos! The only thing on my to do list for today and tomorrow is editing. I currently expect your photos to be ready by Sunday!

Western NY/Upstate friends: where do you go to get OFA done?

My sweet Foxhound girl (breeding prospect) is almost at that age, and I’d like to do hips and elbows on her Golden sister while I’m at it! (not a breeding prospect but I would like to know) Our longtime vet doesn’t do OFA 😢

Life lessons from my pack:

Annabeth: Embrace what makes you unique. Don’t be afraid of letting your goofy side show. Authenticity is the key to happiness.

Ginsburg: You can find so much joy in hard work. Sometimes using your body is more fulfilling than using your brain.

Quito: Love heals. That healing doesn’t always happen the way you expect, but love will heal.

Starsky: Be loyal, share your wisdom, and support your loved ones. Never forget to take time to rest and enjoy the sun.

In honor of , share a lesson from your dog!

Barney needed a quick sniff in the middle of his run!

I’m up in Clayton, NY for the North Country Kennel Club, Inc. Fast CAT this weekend!! We have PERFECT weather to run today!!!

Day of entries are still available! Come run your dogs!

Town of Clayton Cerow Park
615 E. Line Rd, Clayton, NY 13624

One thing I've tried to do this year is write blog posts for my events! I haven't gotten to them all (or even most of them, admittedly), but I did just publish a recap of the DOTCORNY Fast CAT in June!

Fast CAT Trial Photography: DOTCORNY (Canandaigua, NY) — Charlotte Lehman To purchase photos from the DOTCORNY trial on June 8-9, 2024, please visit my gallery page . Photos will be available until March 31, 2025.

Fringe benefit of dog sports: when a mouse is seeking refuge in your 134 year old house, the barn hunt puppy knows what to do

Of course, this doesn’t actually help that much if you already put the dog in bed for the night and she hasn’t done barn hunt in two years

We gotta get this girl back on her rat hunting game!!

Ok so technically this photo is from last year because I keep forgetting to bring my camera to the lake this year!

We have been loving this summer! Ginsburg gets a couple lake days a week, Annabeth gets lots of sniffaris, and I get to watch my dogs having fun ☺️

How have you and your dog been spending the summer?

I’ll be there!

Grand Forks Dog Training Club Fast CAT Event is OPEN for Entries!
Opportunity to run under Friday Nigh Lights!
Go to https://www.harmonydogsports.com/gfdtc-entries to enter online.
Go to: https://www.harmonydogsports.com/grand-forks-dog-training-club to download the premium list!

Starsky Buford and Ginsburg Elaine ❤️ Annabeth and Quito don’t/didn’t have middle names

A classic Fast CAT shot: the hover photo.

One thing I find fascinating about Fast CAT photography is how effortless and relaxed hover photos look. I know it is partially due to where the dogs are in their strides, but I like to think there’s more to it than that. I think the hover photos showcase dogs’ mental states during Fast CAT. Joy oozes out of these dogs when they are running and the hover photos capture the authenticity of that joy. The dogs don’t appear stressed in their hover photos, just happy. Joyful. Not forced, not tense, not meek. Just joy.



Photos from Scottsbluff Kennel Club Fast CAT with Harmony Dog Sports in Scottsbluff NE, March 29-31, 2024. Photos can be purchased at www.charlottewithdogs.pixieset.com.

Annabeth watched TV for the first time last night, and it felt like Starsky was there with me again.

A few months after I adopted Starsky, I quit my toxic job. I didn’t have anything else lined up, but I needed out. I was unemployed for a little while and during that time, I watched Gilmore Girls for the first time. Starsky sat next to me on the couch every day while I watched. He didn’t watch TV, but he did come running to the couch when he heard the Gilmore Girls theme song. I love that theme song because it reminds me of those days where it was just my boy and me. My first dog, my best friend.

So how fitting that the first time Annabeth watched TV, it was Gilmore Girls.

Starsky left a legacy in so many large and small ways, and this made me feel like he was still right there with me. Same show, same breed, new dog, happy memories. I love that my old man still winks at me from wherever he is now.

I still miss you so much Starsky, but thank you for sending me Annabeth. I’m so glad you chose her. Where you lead, where she leads, I will follow 💕

since I haven’t taken any new photos of my girls recently, I’ve been going through some old ones, and I just love Ginsburg’s expression in this one 💛

We traded mountains for water 🏔️ ➡️ 🌊

Ginsburg and I have been loving the lake this summer! She gets excited as soon as she sees her life jacket. When we get out of the car at the lake, she pulls me straight to the water. It’s an incredible feeling to watch her joy around water!

I bought some waterfowl scent to put on bumpers to hopefully help Annabeth swim. She’s not genetically predisposed to love the water the way Ginsburg is, but since she’s a scent hound, I’m hoping some game scent can help build her water confidence and enthusiasm. She will go up to about her belly, so my dock diving trainer friend suggested play and game scent as a possible way to get her swimming.

Otherwise, there’s not much exciting happening. I’m working a lot on legal projects and bolstering my passive income streams, while enjoying a much needed break from travel while I gear up for a busy fall season. I have 6 more Fast CATs booked this year (and hopefully can add one or two more 🤞🏻) so it’s going to be a busy autumn for us!

That’s our update! Now what’s going on with you? Leave a comment telling me something going on in your life!