Christmas Pictures With Elvis (The Dog)

Since I was born in February of 1997 my only goal in life has been to be a dog mom. However my parents never allowed my to have one growing up because my brother and dad have SEVERE allergies to basically anything with fur. Fast forward to 2022 and I am still living with my parents which means I am still not a dog mom.

Although I don’t have a dog of my own I am lucky enough to have a best friend who happens to have the cutest dog in the world, Elvis (see below for proof that he is ADORABLE).

A Little Bit About Elvis (The Dog)

Elvis is a shih tzu cross who was adopted by my friend Amy and her family when he was 2 years old. They didn’t know much about his background when they picked him up from the Edmonton Humane Society but what they did know was that he was nervous and needed to be loved.

Elvis is now ten years old, has a brain tumor, is blind, deaf, and has a heart murmur. Despite this list he is still a spunky, loveable ball of fur who wants nothing more than to sit in your lap and snore the day away.

Since Elvis is slowly getting older Amy didn’t know how many more Christmas’s she would have with him, so we decided that we needed to take him for holiday photos to remember the festive season with him.

Holiday Photo Day

I am fortunate that Amy lets me pretend Elvis is also my dog so naturally I tagged along to be a part of the holiday photos with Elvis.

We thought since Elvis was a rescue from the Edmonton Humane Society that it would be great to help give back to them and get our holiday pictures taken as part of their Pets With Santa Fundraiser.

BOY WERE WE WRONG.

Now since Elvis is blind and deaf he usually doesn’t have too much awareness about his surrounds (or at least he has made us believe that). However when we pulled into the parking lot of the Edmonton Humane Society it was as if this dog visions and senses were returned to him because he knew EXACTLY where we were. I have never seen him breath so heavy or shake so much but it was like all his past trauma came rushing back and once…

We had already paid for the photos so thought maybe he would calm down once we got inside…. this was not the case. We got inside and put Elvis on Santa’s lap and the fear in his eyes was evident. Elvis squirmed and wiggled and tried to get out of Santa’s lap, all while locking eyes with Amy and I as if to say “You crazy ladies better not be leaving me!”.

We took a few pictures of Elvis with Santa and then Amy and I joined in the photos. The whole process took maximum 5 minutes but I’m sure in Elvis’s world he thought it was hours. After photos the poor little guy wouldn’t leave our side – we felt AWFUL. Both of us wanted to make him feel better but didn’t know what we could do to tell him “Sorry we traumatized you”.

We got Elvis back in the car and he snuggled up into my lap but was still breathing very anxious and heavy. But Amy had an idea. She put the car in drive and mapped the closest Dairy Queen. The one thing about Elvis is there is absolutely NOTHING this dog loves more than ice cream – it is his Kryptonite. We just had to hope that a small cup of vanilla ice cream would erase the traumatic holiday photos.

We pulled into the drive through and again it’s like Elvis knew exactly where we were ( I am starting to think he is more aware of what’s going in the world than he has led us to believe). We order the ice cream and he vacuumed it up, let out a big sign, then instantly started snoring in my lap. THANK GOODNESS the ice cream worked. Hopefully all he remembers from that night now is his delicious treat and good nap and not the scary experience of this holiday photos.