::: laughs ::: This can be quite the challenge. I can't help much with cats, but I've taken more than my share of dog photos in my life.

Generally speaking, it takes two people.

If a dog is mature and trained to "sit", just use the sit command and have him/her sit remotely from you while you do your thing. To get their heads in various positions, i.e, looking upward or to the side: have someone standing behind you with an item that will get their attention saying "hey pup, pup" or something. I generally use a baseball cap or my hands waving.

If they are younger and/or not trained, start working on sit with them. Have the second person help them sit and hold the "treat" over their heads and high enough to not show in the photo.  You'll just have to get in and around the second person, but it's generally pretty easy to do.

To photograph more than on dog at a time, the dogs will have to be trained to sit. And be sure that any sitting beside other dogs "get along" or you'll have some unexpected action shots. ;x

The best angle for the camera and any dog is to get down on their level. Photographing them from "above" will make them look distorted.

Here are some good and bad examples of my amateur works: www.gatorpointstexasgentleman.com/main.h...

Here's some excellent examples from the guy I use to take professional images of my dogs: upclosenature.com/main.php?g2_itemId=103...

And here's a pretty funny example of three people trying to set up 6 dogs for a photo together: upclosenature.com/main.php?g2_itemId=278...

Those kittens are adorable.  Yes with two cats, I can also say candid shots are the best ones.  Although there are certain toys if I hold up they will sit and not move (getting ready for stalk mode).  Burst mode is good for those types of pictures.

Kevin - Those are great photos and I can see why there are on covers of magazines!! I'll think more about  my level relative to my subject next time I snap a photo... thanks for the tips.

Cats and dogs wow.  My Molly -yellow lab- loves to chase them off our property.  Our neighbor's black cat is rather cheeky- it comes up to our patio doors and taunts Molly and plays 'you can't get me game' sometimes when Molly is indoors.  So now if we see the cat we let Molly out and they have a good game of chase. 

We also have coyotee and fox and deer, besides rabbits and woodchucks.  I'm trying to capture and deport the woodchuck that has been digging under my fence and eating up all my newly sprouted veggies....peas and green beans- a big nuisance.

I dont get 'red eyes' on my dogs, I get bright light eyes every time.  I have no idea how to fix it.