What’s better than eight adorable pooches? Eight adorable pooches all dressed up and posing for a nativity scene, of course.
Lois Peckover, 34, from Wickford, Essex, and her friend Claire Koehl, 36, dressed their dogs up in towels, costumes and DIY crowns to recreate the biblical scene.
Pet groomer Lois made the decision to transform the dogs into baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Angel Gabriel and the three (well, in this case four) wise men to spread Christmas cheer. And boy did it work.
The six poodles, one springer spaniel and one cockapoo posed patiently for the camera in Lois’s living room, which the friends transformed into a stable using blankets, a shining star and a bale of hay.
After about 90 minutes of preparation, requiring Lois and Claire to move their furniture and spread some hay to set the scene, it took the women just two minutes to get their dogs into place and snap a few adorable pictures.
In one hilarious shot, camerawoman Lois even held up a toy donkey – pretending the animal which carried Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem was photobombing the festive scene.
Louis, who owns Lois’s Shear Pawfection dog groomers, said:
It was all very good fun. We had such a laugh. People think it is amazing and have said how lovely and special it is. Loads of people don’t understand how we got them to sit still and look at the camera.
I didn’t have a ball or treat or anything like that, it was just me being an idiot shouting ‘look this way doggies’. It was really funny. Being able to share it with people and spread a bit of festive cheer would make my year – that would be my Christmas.
The dog-loving duo hope that using the eight dogs will remind people of ‘the real essence of Christmas’ – Jesus being born – with massage therapist Claire stating: ‘It’s not all about having loads of presents and competing with the next person on how much you’ve spent. It’s all gone a bit crazy.’
Although the actual process of taking the photos took hardly any time at all, Lois and Claire spent a total of six days finding the perfect costumes and props.
Lois bought Santa and elf costumes from the pound shop for the wise men and made their crowns out of coloured card, while Claire borrowed a bale of straw from her local farm shop.
Jesus was played by Lois’s seven-year-old toy poodle Meesha, who sat on a white blanket on a wicker basket on top of the straw. Lois’s 13-year-old miniature poodle Rizzo played Mary, while Claire’s English springer spaniel Harley, five, took on the role of Joseph.
The role of Gabriel was handed to Lois’s grey miniature poodle Frenchy, 10, while her brother Doody, also 10, was the fourth wise man. The more traditional, three wise men were represented by Claire’s cockapoo Poppy, seven, black miniature poodle Faith, eight months, and white toy poodle Missy, 10.
When the photos had been taken, the women spoiled the dogs for ‘being so good’, and even pulled out some of the straw so they could run around in it. ‘The straw ended up everywhere, which was quite funny,’ Lois said.
Claire said the duo are already planning their next photo op, but stressed it would be a ‘surprise’.
Merry Christmas, folks.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).