Pavlov’s Portraits and Photography is a small business owned by the husband and wife team of Robin Roberts and Kate Bonnelle. Neither of them is named Pavlov, so what’s with the name?
You may remember the true story of Pavlov’s dogs. A scientist named Pavlov was studying digestion in dogs, measuring how much they would salivate when given food. Pavlov noticed shortly after starting his studies that the dogs would salivate not only to the food but when he came into the room without food. He decided to see if he could train them to salivate at the sound of a bell, even if no food was present. Every time he fed the dogs, he would ring a bell. In just a short time, when he rang the bell, the dogs would begin to salivate, even if there was no food present.
In 1991, Robin and his ex-wife added to their family a dachshund puppy. Robin’s ex-wife reminded him about the story and said, “Let’s name the dog Pavlov.” Pavlov was a great dog. He stayed with Robin after the divorce. Some time later, Robin met Kate and brought Pavlov into her life.
Pavlov was a wonderful companion to Robin, Kate, and their daughter Sarah. He lived to be almost 17 years old and had many wonderful adventures with the family. When it came time to start the photography business, Kate said, “Let’s name it after Pavlov.” So, that is how the name happened. Here are some photos of Pavlov. Enjoy!