- After a portrait session with Poupee, a 3-year-old Maltese, David Beardsley goes over photos from which the customer will pick.

Kathy Wall coaxes 4-month-old golden retriever Lucy while Teri Beardsley prepares angel wings. After a portrait session with Poupee, a 3-year-old Maltese, David Beardsley goes over photos from which the customer will pick.

Piglet, a one-year-old English bulldog, sits as noisemakers and hand motions are used to get his attention. After a portrait session with Poupee, a 3-year-old Maltese, David Beardsley goes over photos from which the customer will pick.

- After a portrait session with Poupee, a 3-year-old Maltese, David Beardsley goes over photos from which the customer will pick.

David and Teri Beardsley hope their love for dogs, photography and business will make their Lil' Pals mobile pet photo studio a success

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Date published: 5/3/2007

By LAURA MOYER

Sadie is not ready for her close-up.

Inside the air-conditioned RV that is Lil' Pals Pet Photography studio, Teri Beardsley needs just the briefest moment of calm to capture Sadie's beautiful basset hound face and strong, sleek frame.

But Sadie is all ears and tail and wiggle. She sniffs at the scratchy green artificial turf that's part of the garden backdrop her owners have chosen for the photo. She knocks over a pot of silk sunflowers.

Sadie's people, Robin and Scot Harrison of Fredericksburg, are used to her exuberance.

"Sadie's not a sit-still type of girl," Robin Harrison says fondly.

But Beardsley is determined, and eventually she captures Sadie on a Redskins backdrop, draped in a fuchsia feather boa and reposing (for about .42 of a second) on a blue velvet princess pillow.

When it's all done, Sadie gets praise, a treat and a scratch on the ears. And the Harrisons will get their choice of heart-melting hound glamour shots that capture Sadie's sweetness and sparkle.

The Lil' Pals mobile photo studio is in the back of of a comfortably appointed gooseneck trailer, 28 feet long and 8 feet wide.

This was its first day in business in the Fredericksburg area, but new franchise owners David and Teri Beardsley have booked appearances at pet stores, groomers and other petcentric sites through June.

The Beardsleys, who live in Fredericksburg, have been in business for 20 years selling an all-purpose cleaning product called Sterling's Magic.

Teri's dad, James I. Sterling, now 91, invented it in 1957. The Beardsleys took the business over when he retired.

With the Sterling's Magic company requiring less time, the Beardsleys started looking for a franchise they could get into without a bricks-and-mortar capital investment.

They wanted to put their sales background to use and control their own hours. Their interest in animals and photography led them to Lil' Pals, and they became the national company's seventh franchisee after completing a training program in January.

Teri Beardsley, 46, is the chief photographer while David Beardsley, 60, handles the technical side of things, showing clients digital images on two laptop computers and taking portrait orders.

The Beardsleys' Lil' Pals schedule of local appearances through June is posted on the Web at lilpalsva.com. The business phone number is 800/958-8158.

Date published: 5/3/2007