Jan Renegar loves the whimsical family portraits her neighbor and friend, Jamie Clauss, takes for a living.
"She saw [these photographs I took of an infant] and thought they were beautiful,” Clauss told NBC's "Today." “She said it made her wish she had a newborn baby to do that with.”
Renegar and her husband, Chase, don’t have kids; but the photographer pair do have an adorable 6-year-old in their lives whom they consider family: their rescue Jack Russell terrier, Snuggles. So the couple decided to pose for a series of decidedly untraditional (but entirely adorable) family portraits with their beloved pooch.
“We decided to do some cliche newborn poses, but with a furry spin,” Clauss, who's based in Huntsville, Alabama, told the New York Daily News of the shoot.
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According to Clauss, Snuggles was an excellent photography subject.
“Snuggles was so comfortable with it,” she told BuzzFeed of the shoot. “She started falling asleep and snoring… It was all we could do not to laugh and wake her up.”
The photographs of the family have gone viral this week, as a flood of netizens delight at their cuteness. Some, however, have criticized the couple for going too far in their love Snuggles by anthropomorphizing the pooch. But Clauss told BuzzFeed that the photos should be seen through a lens of humor and that the two absolutely “treat their dogs like dogs."
"We want people to have a good laugh and not take themselves too seriously," Clauss told Al.com, adding that she hopes people will be inspired by the pictures to consider rescue adoption when looking for a pet. "Have fun with life. Enjoy your animals and make them part of your family."
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