I'm trying out my digital camera and will Dicksy my 14wk old Cocker sit still?  No.  He thinks it's a great game to sit and wait and then as soon as I look through the viewfinder the Gazelle in him appears and he's leaping around!  How do you get your dogs to sit there?  I've got some pics of people holding him or him sitting on their lap and I know natural pics are best etc., but I see so many photographed dogs but I know mine won't be joining em for at least the next 5 years cos It's gonna take me that long to get him to stay still!   

Have you tried teaching him the "wait" command? If not, start off by making him sit then say 'wait' and take one step away from him, step back and praise/reward him once he gets the hang of that just keep stepping further and further away for longer periods of time.

I have some great pictures of pawprints in the sand (LOL)
Try balancing one of your puppies toys on your head, you might keep his concentration for a few seconds longer and he will be looking straight at you.

We  had this problem so we put some sparkly bits of foil and things on a bit of string and hung it from the ceiling and our pup would sit underneath staring for ages.

Steve

Hiya
You have to be quick!  I have taken a pic every week of my pup to look at how she is growing up.  I think stay is vital.  Then I held a treat in the air so she looked at it.  To get her standing looking in the other direction I stuck a bonio to a target stick lolol and held it out and she looked at it.  But then she is food mad. 

Here are the piccies of her:
http://www.angelfire.com/blog/ember/

you need an assistant to distract her.

Just keep clicking you can always delete what you dont want

Jean

Dont worry craigles i have the same problem with my cocker . she starts running all over the place when the cams out!one side of the garden to the other :d shes taught the command and is v  good at it  but with a cam in sight :P noo it dosent work.but shes started to behave a little more now id like to get her to do the normal cocker pose  :)  but i doubt if shed stay , i dont know how show people get there dogs to behave i supose you have to train for alot of hours , ill be watchin crufts but i doubt the dogs there are half as mad as my bell ;)

tess could be sound asleep on her back, legs in air, tongue hanging to one side, absolutley  soundo so that you can give her a paper hat glasses or whatever to make the pic funny, you go get the camera she wakes up and plonks herself right in front of it so that all you get is her nostrils :D i have got some lovely pics of her though but i ended having to carry camera for a while and hiding behind doors then snapping quick :D oh tess stays or waits until you get the camera then its snout to the camera :D

what beautiful pictures you have ginauk84, I find it easier to camcord him but I'm going to try with a few of the tips on here and I will succeed in getting a picture of him on his own!  Your dog is beautiful.

Nearly all my pictures of my working cocker when we bought her home at 8 weeks are of a black blurr!! She is a bit calmer now (7 months) and is very photogenic.  We ended up buying a digital camera because of all the film we were wasting: she was completely manic up until around 5 months.

thank you Rosemarie that gives me a bit of reassurance, I walk him on a lead and consider him to be quite good, but compared to my friends GSD's he is as scatty as scatty can be and I'm sure he's part Gazelle the way he leaps around!  I was walking him last night and altho I know my other dog is 13 yrs now she has always been calm and I said to my daughter can you ever imagine him walking like her and waiting to be told what to do!  Seems an impossibility!  she never hardly has a lead on is totally in tune with me and just looks waiting for me to point which way to go next, he's off in every direction possible when we stop!

Our Cody was the same - never still for a second!  Then when he was old enough to know the 'wait' command - in a nice pose! - he then decided that he didn't like the camera, as sometimes the flash goes, so I'd end up with pictures of him with his eyes squinting!  (he would close them just in anticipation, even if the flash didn't go off!).
  Hilda

Mabe some dogs are camera shy ;)

until I trained mine to stand still I resorted to tying him to something and getting him looking alert by throwing something behind me, and hoping for the best! Otherwise I just took point and click candid shots!
It didnt take long for him to learn to "stand stay", so I can now get all kinds of show off pics! lol!

I work with Guide Dog puppies & quite often we have to do PR photos of pups.
1 or 2 pups - not too bad, but a whole litter is not easy & I have done photos of 15 pups all in a row!
the finished product is always perfection. the secret is......patience & about 10 pairs of hands 2 inches out of camera shot & a good photographer.

A little tip. - We make sure they're not hungry, get them out for a play & a leg stretch & when they settle a bit..... time for pictures.

snoopy.  :)

Get a Spanish Water Dog and then you'll never have a problem.  They are the biggest posers ever.  My friend and I were at a show last week and it was only in a small hall.  The photographer asked if he could take a photo and we said yes, our dogs are 10 and 12 months just.  We told them to sit, whilst people were shwing in rings all around them, told them to stay and they did, the photographer couldn't believe it.

They are so funny, you just go to pick up a camera and they're sat there posing!!!  It's great at champ. shows when you meet up with people that you've never met before or only see occasionally, because we all get to line up our dogs and 90% of them will just sit there and stay no matter what age.

Is there any other breed which are as good at posing?  I'd love to see some of your photo's :d

doubt you'd wanna see mine as guess what when i got what was a reasonable picture i'm now having trouble printing it!  I'm just not computer literate and will get a picture one day Dicksy may be 12 yrs old but i swear I'll get one!