Morning sessions can be difficult to schedule because most people, at least in my experience, don’t want to be in front of a camera in the morning. Dogs don’t tend to have this issue and are usually down for anything that involves you interacting with them. So, since she was available while I was up one morning in Puerto Rico, we did a photo session.
This dog is awesome, by the way.
As always, remember that pets just want to make you happy. They don’t know what a camera is or what you are trying to do so be patient and be positive with them.
For more active breeds, like German Shepherds, I find active shots work best both in getting them to pose and getting them to look awesome. For these I used two tricks. One was just getting her to stay, walking across the yard, and then calling her to me and photographing as she moved to me. The other was throwing a stick across the yard and having her bring it back to me.
That’s two mentalities being pulled from the dog. One is inquisitive and working, while the other is triumph and fun. When working with animals, or even people, that is something you might want to consider. I always recommend having your subject to some sort of task, but people attached different emotions and mentalities to different tasks and that will impact your photography.