Saturday, June 13, 2009

Here's to All Good Dogs


When I began to blog I promised to post photos of dogs that I knew briefly when I volunteered at an animal shelter in central Arizona. These dogs are very typical of the many dogs that are picked up every day by animal control all over the United States. Sadly for them they often spend their last days in these shelters, as many of them are never rescued or adopted.
My husband and I spent one day a week, every week, photographing each new adoptable dog, placing the photos on the petfinder website, and hoping that some of these guys would find new homes. Some actually did. Many did not, and of those that did not I observed that many were black, adult dogs. For some reason, unknown to me, if a dog were a rather plain black dog, it would go ignored by the public. Maybe it was because there are more black dogs than any other color, maybe it was because this was Arizona and folks didn't want to deal with a black dog and the hot weather. But for whatever reasons, many very nice dogs were not able to find what they wanted the most, somebody to bond with and love.
As I went through my huge file of shelter dog photos it was very hard to pick and choose which dogs to post, but here is the small sampling of those plain old black pups. I do not know how many of these actually found homes, so I would like to honor those that didn't with this posting. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I hope that one day all good dogs have a loving home!









6 comments:

  1. All good dogs deserve a home. I am a home to one inside house dog, and 4 outside dogs.
    If you want to be horrified, visit someone who owns a 'puppy mill'. I have and promised never to go back. According to the USDA they were legal. But how can someone love and care for each animal when they have 300 dogs?

    Oh..and three of my dogs are black and tan hounds...very black, very very incredibly loving and wonderful gentle dogs to be around.
    One of my favorite dogs was 'Nick the Ugly' dog, who we kept until he died of old age. What a great and fun animal...
    sorry...I got carried away.....

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  2. Val, I get carried away when it comes to dogs too!

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  3. You know, I can't tell you how I really connected with this post. I volunteer at my local animal shelter and know how the black dogs always get ignored. As I write this, I'm actually 20 mintues away from going there today to walk dogs. I do hope this post is seen by many. I wrote a post a while back on my experience being a volunteer and it is truly my hope that my actions become contagious, as I hope yours are too. I could really write a novel here, because I'm so very passionate about this issue. I volunteer for an energy conservation group too, and this is why I can't seem to post, or visits blogs, and do so many other things as much as I'd like. But none of that is really important. I always feel good when I come home knowing the animals go to run. I will be dead exhausted when I get home, and my feet hurt to the core because it's like a mountain they must go up. Anyway, your post really tugged at my heartstrings more than you know. Thanks, Lisa

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  4. Lisa, I have been following your site and enjoying your insights regarding nature. I guess the love of animals and the love of nature go hand-in-hand.
    Hard thing to do, shelter work, but gratifying that you may be the highlight of the day for some of those dogs that you are walking.
    Thanks for joining my blog site.

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  5. All of them are soooo cute! I hope they all found a great new home! I would take them all in a minute.. :))

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  6. Surprise Surprise! It's my plesure to let you know that I've nominated your blog for a lovely Award... you are welcome to pick it up at my blog!
    :))
    HUG!!!!

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