The angels visit Santa Claus

Today I took Presley, Diesel and Bristol to visit Santa Claus at an independent pet supply store in Ferndale called Fetch. It's on Woodward, north of 9 Mile on the west side. I had never been there before but had just read about it in the local Southfield community newspaper.

I was nervous about handling all three of the girls at the same time. In past years I've taken the big girls to see Santa at other stores and sometimes it's a madhouse with dogs and people everywhere. I was hoping that maybe a smaller store might have a smaller turnout.

My mom also came with me and took her dog Dakota. We all piled into the Jeep and luckily found a parking spot just a few feet from the back entrance.

I took Bristol in first to get the lay of the land, while Presley and Diesel hung out in the Jeep. There were only a couple of other dogs in the store, including a 5-month-old Rottweiler that Bristol was really interested in. After the other dogs got their photos taken, Dakota got her chance to visit with Santa. She posed very nicely for the camera.

In exchange for the photo, the store was requesting a $10 donation that will go to the Royal Oak Animal Shelter. Mom paid her donation and I decided to pay my donation in advance so I wouldn't have to fumble around while I had the girls with me.

Everything in the store seemed pretty calm and under control, so Bristol and I went out to the Jeep to get the other girls. After everyone had on their leashes, they were all pretty excited and kinda pulled me up to the door. It was a little tricky getting into the store because I got tangled up in Diesel's leash, but once we got inside they calmed down.

They were all pretty sniffy and had to check everything out, but overall very well behaved. No one was in line to visit Santa, so we walked right up. They all sniffed around him, not really paying too much attention to him. Then Santa gave them some treats and I started to position them for the photo.

First I handed Bristol's leash over to Santa. I thought she might be a little scared and try to pull away, but amazingly she was actually the best one. She sat right between Santa's legs the whole time and when she saw the camera come out, she posed like a professional model.

I then positioned Presley near Santa's left knee. She sat very nicely. However, the tile floor was a little slippery and she slowly slid away, so I had to reposition her.

Then I positioned Diesel near Santa's right knee. She was the hardest one to keep still because she really doesn't like to sit. I think it bothers her knee where she had ACL surgery to sit for too long. She kept standing up and trying to move toward the camera, but Santa had a firm grip on all of the leashes so no one was going anywhere.

As the photographer snapped away, I kept trying to get the girls' attention by waving my arms, whoo-hooing, and jumping up and down. I asked the photographer's assistant if she had a squeaker toy, which got the girls' attention.

All of the girls posed so nicely for the camera and were extremely well behaved. During the photo session, they were looking around a little bit because the people who were watching were oohing and aahing, which was a little distracting. But the photographer kept snapping photos until she felt she had gotten the shot. We get to pick up our photo on Monday, so I'll be sure to add it to this blog then. I can't to see how it turned out!

I was so proud of my girls and a little surprised. I knew they were well behaved, but this went above and beyond my expectations. They were like angels. My little Christmas angels!