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While waiting in the lobby of Buckroyd Studio Saturday morning to have his picture taken with Santa during the annual Santa Paws fundraiser for the Humane Society of North Central Iowa, Detroit, a pitbull owned by Tia Newman, of Fort Dodge, got a little excited.

It's hard not too - so many other dogs and so many people. What's a poor dog to do when you want to say hello to all of them?

In Detroit's case, throwing up on the carpet is what he did.

Once back in the studio with photographer Maureen Powers who donates her time and proceeds from the day - Detroit did just fine.

"He's like mama's little boy," Newman said, "I was proud of him."

She promised him a treat once back home.

"He likes rawhide bones," she said, "He'll get an extra one today."

Larry Kramer brought his German shepherd Lulu for a portrait. The 9-month-old dog is a recent graduate of obedience class, and the day was a great way to test her new-found skills.

"She really did well," Kramer said. "She gets treats for being a good girl."

Like many pet owners, Kramer wants to help support the Humane Society and appreciates the efforts of photographer Powers and the other volunteers

"I don't think she's charging enough," he said.

Powers is a veteran at getting a smile out of pets, getting their attention requires different methods depended on the species.

"With dogs it's mostly barking," she said. "You can't do that with cats. ... It scares them."

Besides the new rug stain from Detroit in the lobby - even without a fire hydrant in the room - many of her studio visitors leave little wet reminders for the other dogs to follow.

"Wherever there's one," she said. "Pretty soon there's five on top of that."

Curt Olson, who fills in for Santa during the event, has to endure a lot for the cause. One pet owner had his almost-95-pound Rottweiler/husky mixed breed dog sit in Santa's lap for the picture. Some of the lighter dogs can be a bit squirmy and occasionally, there is a bit of incident involving dampness.

"There was only one dog that wouldn't come near me," he said. "I don't know why."

Cats are, of course, welcome at the event.

Lynette Nielson, of Fort Dodge, brought Casey and her mom's cat, Ginger. She wanted to get an updated photo of Casey. Between the two, Ginger seemed much less upset.

"Ginger is pretty laid back," she said.

Casey, on the other hand, was a whole different story.

"Casey doesn't like dogs," she said. "He's not real happy."

He showed his displeasure at the obvious insult to his feline dignity by hissing and growling from inside his carrier, which he doesn't care much for getting into either.

"I got bit a couple of times," she explained.

Mackenzie Scacci, 11, brought her dwarf hamster Lulu along with Lester, a teddy hamster, to have their portrait with Santa. Her friend. Aubry Salgren. got the honor of holding Lester while Scacci took care of posing Lulu.

After the photo session, Scacci had a few words of praise for her pet.

"You did good Lulu," she said to the little critter.

Some of the pets getting their photo taken Saturday came from the Humane Society's shelter, one of those, an energetic mixed breed dog named Blackjack, got to ride to the studio with volunteer Robin Rongved.

After getting lots of petting and attention in the lobby then getting his picture done, Blackjack went back to what has been his home for a year - the shelter.

If he's lucky, he will have a new family for Christmas and the portrait can be displayed on the bulletin board at the shelter, the one that says "Adopted," above it.

Contact Hans Madsen at (515) 573-2141 or hmadsen@messengernews.net