Birthdays and Gotcha days should be celebrated! Louis, the Shih Tzu, celebrated his first birthday with a Barkday shoot with Vanility Photography. It is one of the cutest birthday celebrations I’ve seen!
Not only does is Louis adorable, but I love all the accessories, including a dog-friendly cake from The R&B Treatlist.
Sara (the photographer at Vanility) named her studio after her Labrador Retriever, Vanilla.
From Sara: “There aren’t many places, except for dog parks, where you can take your pets to play and enjoy together. The Vanility Studio has been specifically designed for pets and their parents in mind, making the perfect place to spend time out together as a family, creating hilarious and loving memories out of moments.
We have lots of fun design props and clothing props for humans and pets. Shannen (The R&B Treatlist) is our go-to for Barkday cakes for Vanility Photoshoots.
From Liah: “Louis is a social butterfly with paws. He exhibits the most friendly and likable personality. Many people told me that this characteristic would be diluted once he is out of the puppy phase. However, that has not happened in the slightest. 
Being our first family dog, we were quite nervous at the beginning about how to transition into a pet-friendly home.
We soon found that Louis has been the best source of happiness in our lives as he continually elevates our mood on a daily basis and unknowingly helped our mental health while we were struggling. Every single morning he greets our family members as if it is the first time he has seen them. Whenever Louis encounters new people or any animals – he starts to grin widely and moves his tail uncontrollably. He cannot contain his excitement, and he jumps up and down and around in circles with happiness.
It is impossible not to fall in love with him at first sight. Both friends and family members (and sometimes strangers on the street) tell me that they became animal lovers upon meeting Louis. His warmth radiates out of him. He loves every race, gender, age, human, or animal. We should all strive to be like Louis. 
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Find a pet-friendly photographer near you.
Check out this dog cake recipe if you don’t have a dog bakery near you.
About Vanility Photography: Based in Toronto, Ontario, Sara specializes in studio photography.
Our little Bella will be turning 2 in July. I would love to throw a paw-party and a photoshoot for her. Louis sure looks like he loved the photoshoot. I wish my Bella would also behave so we could get some good photos of her. BTW, I saved the dog cake recipe too.
Loving this fun photography session. I need to do one for my pups!
I really enjoyed these photos. I love dogs and haven’t been able to have one since we had to move a few years ago.
Aww, this is adorable! I’d love to do something like this on my dogs’ birthdays
Wow! These are all really great and amazing shots! So cute and so adorable!
This is the cutest that I’ve seen today. Happy Birthday, Louis! I hope it was super fun!
OMG! I can feel the joy and happiness in these photos! Love them all!
Well isn’t this the cutest! Happy first birthday to Louis! My oh my, what a wonderful birthday celebration to remember for years to come.
Now I feel guilty that I have never done one for Layla and need to do one next year for her gotcha day although I always make that a special day for her. Love the photos and Louis is just adorable