A German Shepard Named Loki. A Maine Photographer

A few weeks back I photographed an 11 month old German Shepard named Loki.  Loki was one of my lucky Dog Wash Etc portrait winners...but I'm the lucky one!!  You see Loki was having a play date with one of his cousins, a 3 year old doberman named Maverick.  Out of all the dog portraits I have taken, I had not yet photographed a German Shepard or a doberman.  Both of these dogs were incredibly mellow, well behaved and gorgeous!

Today I contacted Loki's owner to let her know I would be putting photos up on my blog.  She shared some pretty scary info on an illness Loki has been battling.  She felt because I photograph a lot of dogs I could spread the word.  I'm so happy to do this for her, and for all of us dog owners, and I'm so grateful Loki is ok.  Here is what she told me.
" Loki is recovering from a very serious bout of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Erlichiosis, both caused by tick bites.   It was quite scary and we thought we might lose him but they finally figured out what it was, thank God.  He's lost a bit of weight so it's good you got pictures when you did. I know you deal with a lot of dogs and their owners, so people need to realize that while it's important to vaccinate your dog against Lyme disease, they don't prevent this type.  According to our Vet, the coast of Maine is is a hot spot for this type of tick and lots of dogs are getting sick.  I'm just passing this info along to everyone."

So let's keep a good eye on our pets health and thank you to Loki's owner for sharing.  Now, enjoy these photos of beautiful Loki and Maverick.