Rally Trainer Shares Passion for Photography

Understanding dogs helps Brian Tippy capture action.

A high school English teacher by profession, as well as a writer and photographer, Brian Tippy is also a certified professional dog trainer who teaches at Paws ‘N Effect in Hamden, Conn., and a successful WCRL rally competitor. He writes and photographs on a range of topics including birding, hiking, and sea kayaking, in addition to dog training and therapy.

Rally and therapy training

Brian first got involved in rally as an excuse to bond and have fun while working on his young dog Murphy’s reliability and connection to make him a stronger therapy dog, which Brian enjoys as a volunteer. “Rally skills work really nicely in the real world because your dog ends up getting more and more reliable in listening and responding to cues, and because he learns those skills in the context of playing a game with you, he responds quickly and happily, which helps us represent therapy work better. For example, when I say ‘sit’ or ‘let’s go’ in a patient’s room, he looks happy and stylish when he responds, which makes the clients happy and also makes it clear that we are representing a positive version of what therapy work can look like,” Brian explained.

In addition to Murphy’s success as a therapy dog, he has shown promise in the rally competition ring. “I got an RL-1 with Murphy at our first trial weekend in 2019, not long before everything shut down, and I’d like to get him out again. I haven’t competed since the pandemic shutdowns, but I do plan to get back into it,” said Brian, who just added a new puppy to the family. 

Capturing canine action in photos

Ten years ago, Brian took his photography from a hobby to a serious focus. It was about the same time he moved from training his own dogs to an interest in training professionally.

“Once I was teaching basic obedience, puppy classes, etc., and training my own dogs in basic competition classes for agility and rally, it was natural to start photographing other people’s dogs and dog sports events, since I was already doing some practice shooting at events and classes when my own dogs weren’t out on the floor. I trained my photography skills on my own dogs, and since photographing dogs well involves understanding dog behavior, dogs’ personality, and dog sports, it was a pretty natural fit for me to move into photographing dog events professionally. Because I ‘get’ dogs and their bonds with their owners, it lets me take better pictures,” he said.

Brian’s photo of his dogs jumping off a dock in New Hampshire is one of his favorite action shots. “It’s my favorite because on a technical level, it’s a really strong photo in terms of capturing the action really sharply. But I really love it because it captures the attitude and spirit of the dog just perfectly, from his bright eyes to his paws pushing off against the old wood of the dock, to his tongue just barely sticking out like he can taste the moment.” 

If you want to see more of Brian’s work, visit tippykayakphotography.com.