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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you may have read this post. In it I related my deep love of animals in general and dogs in particular. Don’t get me wrong, I love cats as well. And rabbits. And birds of all sorts, whales, otters, mongoose, horses, lions, tigers, bears (oh my!), giraffes, deer, monkeys, hippos, etc. All of those are well and good but come on now, there’s nothing like a great dog. Man’s best friend. The companion, the partner, the protector. There is something different about dogs that try as I might I can’t fully put my finger on. Perhaps this is why I can’t stand to see them sad.
As I said in that previous post I can handle seeing cats in a shelter. I believe I could handle, as much as it would be heartbreaking, seeing other animals in captive situations. Yeah yeah, I know, zoos are captive situations, but that’s not what I mean here. What I can’t stand seeing are dogs in a shelter. They weren’t hurt or in any danger when I saw them. On the contrary, the SPCA does a fantastic job considering how many animals come through there. But it was the look in their eyes. These are intelligent creatures who thrive when free. They can be trained, they can do so many things, they can spend a lifetime showing you unconditional love, yet there they were reduced to sitting in corners waiting for someone to come along and show them something different.
Well someone did. No one can help all dogs in need but Andrew Grant has done an amazing thing for the ones in his area. Pure chance gave him an opening to use his talents to show people the personality of dogs. Using the power of photography he helped move people and as a direct result of his efforts some amazing animals have found great homes. Come on, who could say no to a face like this?
That’s just one of the faces you’ll find in Grant’s book, Rover. 200+ pages of doggy awesome. With a portion of the sales going to shelter animals Rover is making an active difference in the lives of these awesome pets. Thank you Grant.
And a big thank you to all the great dogs I’ve known or been close to in my life. Duke (pronounced Dookie because of a Spanish accent oddly enough), Chispita, Osito, Bubba, Palomo, and Fabio. I love you all. <3
I’m an animal lover. To my core I love animals. I love the young puppies and kittens, the old dogs on porches, the old cats who sleep 23 hours a day. I love them all. I’m still waiting with bated breath for the day that I get to shoot a wedding with some hardcore animal lovers who somehow incorporate their pets into the proceedings. I just can’t get enough of our four-legged friends. With that in mind, today was a little bittersweet.
I told Kellie that this year I would get her a new cat for her birthday/Christmas present. Granted, both of those are in December, but I knew that if I got the okay on this from Rayleen (who owns this house and all the furniture which may or may not be damaged by a cat) that she wouldn’t want to wait. So today we went to the Sacramento SPCA to look at cats. They were ALL cute. All of them. But, being a dog man myself, I was able to resist the urge to take them all home a lot more than Kellie was. Since it was her gift I wanted her to pick one up I knew I had to be there to keep her from taking them all.
We walked through both cat areas for a good long while looking for a cat that meet all of our criteria. Eventually, we were able to narrow it down to a few candidates and while Kellie was looking at the last few to decide between them I took a walk across the hall to the dog area. It may be a little…emotional, but by the time I walked out of the dog area I was almost tearing up. I couldn’t take much more of seeing such wonderful animals in these scary places just waiting for someone who would take them home and love them. I wanted them all, but alas, I was there for just one cat, not a dog. If you were waiting to read why today was bittersweet, that was it. I wish I could help them all but it’s just not realistic. I do what I can, when I can. Today, I know I made a difference in the life of one cat.
We decided to spend some time with a cat named Patches. They took her from her private room and put her with us in a much bigger room where she could roam and crawl around on some cat posts. She was four years old and had been at the shelter for just under a month. Right away she was loud, she was cuddly, she loved to be held, and she was very friendly. Once Kellie picked Patches up and I saw how big her smile was I knew our search was over.
So, tonight, we welcomed a new baby into our home. Welcome, Patches England. We’ve been waiting for you.
Lastly, if you’re wondering what my title is about, check out this video. I must warn you though, it’s damn cute, and damn funny. 
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