With the children mostly grown but no grandchildren on the horizon as yet, my wife. Bella, and I are rapidly becoming what is referred to as empty nesters. What was once a three bedroom townhouse shared with four teenagers is now just a home for the two of us with two bedrooms still used by our two youngest who are still in college and use the rooms as a place to sleep and store their belongings.

A few months ago my Bella decided we needed a pet, so we ended up adopting a little refugee from the local humane society.

While she started out as simply a pet dog, Chika has now become, for Bella at least - for me Chika is still just the dog - a replacement for our children who are now making their own way into the world.

While we have never tried to live our dreams through our four real children and have always encouraged them to follow their own dreams, my wife's new replacement child is different.

With her new found interest in photography, my wife naturally began photographing Chika. Then, for variety, found a costume on sale and brought it home to take pictures of Chika in it. A co-worker whose daughter is starting a business making baby and dog clothes saw it and decided Chika would be the perfect model for the dog clothes.

Having done some part-time modeling herself early in her career, Bella decided to not only buy the costumes and take the pictures but also teach Chika the art of modeling.

What follows is a sampling of Bella and Chika's partnering as photographer and model.