Tuesday, 10:16 AM - ​“Rudy” was quite the forgiving pup. Just one day after being bit on the nose and nearly pulled through his kennel gate by a pitbull in the shelter, he was willing to go out and play nice with other dogs again! The scar on his nose can be clearly seen in the photo and tells the story of what the kennel attendant went through to get the other dog to let go of his snout!
 
Rudy was turned in by a citizen to the Walton County Animal Control shelter on November 20, 2017. He was found running loose and his owner wasn’t located; his faded, dirty collar which lacked a tag offering no help to get him home.  Being a heeler mix, he wasn’t too big a dog; perhaps about 45 pounds. 

​Tuesday, 10:29 AM – “Gatsby” was a happy, playful young boy that was surrendered to the shelter by his owner on November 27, 2017.

​Being about 10 months old, he was still a puppy, but in a big boys body! He was a lot of fun to romp with before his photo session.
 
Instead of getting him neutered and waiting for him to age a little out of his “teenage” years, his owner gave him up because he had “too much energy” for her children and other, older dog.

​But with some more training, a little maturity, and some long walks and play sessions, “Gatsby” would be an awesome boy. Their loss and someone else’s gain… I hoped. As long as we could get him rescued or adopted out! 

​Thursday, 9:02 AM - It isn’t very often that the shelter gets a great big Dane like this! And it isn’t very often that a Dane wouldn’t get claimed by its owner!
 
“Hartley” was picked up stray on October 16, 2017 when she had found her way into somebody’s horse pasture. The animal control officer had quite a time squeezing her into the animal compartment of the vehicle! She was posted on www.helpinglostpets.com and her owner came to claim her the following day.
 
But the next week, on October 24, “Hartley” was brought in to the shelter again by a citizen that found her roaming. The shelter called her owner and waited. But after 9 days, she still hadn’t been claimed. During that period of time, she got five potential adopters and four licensed rescues wanting to take her in.
 
To be honest, “Hartley” didn’t really need a photo session. She had plenty of interest from the quick shot snapped in my office. But I didn’t have any Great Dane shots in my portfolio… and certainly none of a gorgeous harlequin Dane. I took her to a few different locations around the shelter and fired away.
 
“Hartley” was more difficult to photograph than I initially thought. Her size filled the viewfinder, requiring me to back up pretty far to get the full body shots using my 70-200mm lens. Then I'd scoot along on my butt a little bit closer to get some face shots. All the while, she was pacing back and forth. She didn’t sit still for a moment!

​When all was done, I came away with over 30 decent shots, but had taken over 400! A full SD card forced me to end her photo session.