We have been working with local animal rescue groups for over 2 years now. In that time we have met some amazing people, been moved by every single animal’s story, and been shocked to the core by some heart breaking abuse. Currently dog rescues are run off their feet. The boom in dog rescues during the COVID lockdown has resulted in an influx of dogs surrendered once people have gone back to work.

For rescue dogs that are lucky enough to be transported to the island, they are immediately given a name, a warm bed and a generous meal by Clare and Marcel who volunteer under the umbrella of Starting Over Dog Rescue. Clare and Marcel have fostered and rescued hundreds of dogs over the last 8 years and they welcome every new rescue dog as if it were their own; it’s honestly quite remarkable. A large number of rescue dogs are not desexed so they have a trip to Cowes Vet for desexing. Some come with injuries, lumps, bumps, rotted teeth, ear infections, skin irritations, the list is endless. Clare and Marcel do all the surgery aftercare, dealing with some very large energetic dogs with Elizabethan collars, dogs that need surgical areas cleaned and rebandaged and so much more. As you can imagine, these costs quickly add up: $500 for desexing, a teeth clean is $400, most dogs have never been wormed or had any vaccinations, they need revisits to the vet and some even need medications. Some bills easily climb into the thousands, this is before you add things like food (big dogs that have usually been underfed eat A LOT), and flea, worm and tick treatments. This makes their small $450 adoption fee a drop in the ocean.

Once the dog has settled and recovered, it is often around this time that we will come in and do some adoption photographs. We have met over 60 rescue dogs now and every dog is unique with their own personality and quirks. More often than not we are bowled over by a large dog that just wants some love (sometimes Dale will take the lead and go “skiing” much to my amusement). We spend a little time with each dog and see what they like (eg treats, noise makers or toys). Most rescue dogs can’t go past a treat and a squeaky toy. We get some full body shots and a few close up profile photos of their faces, some are left confused, where others completely rock the session leaving us wondering if they were a model in a previous life. Every dog has warmed to us eventually and we have always been able to provide the rescue with at least 3 photographs of each dog.

That was until this week.

This week, we met Wally.

Straight off the bat, when we were so used to energetic and excited dogs, we could just see a pair of legs behind Clare. She patiently reassured Wally and came towards us. This sight was something we had never seen in 2 and a half years of pet photography. This big dog, probably 40 kilograms, cowered at us and lowered his head and back legs. His tail was down as he averted his gaze from us, immediately we were given so many cues that things were not right in Wally’s world. Dale squatted down facing away from Wally but held a little cabana in his hand, at this point Wally lay down with his ears pinned back. Clare tried her hardest to calm Wally and reassure him; she does this fantastic noise where she rolls her tongue and makes a fun “RrrrrrRrrrrrRrrrr” noise. We’ve witnessed so many times before at the rescue, Clare’s dogs utterly losing their mind with excitement when she makes that noise.

Not Wally.

Wally just glanced up uncertain at Clare, you could see the concern in his eyes. I slowly bent down and managed to get one photo. It was then that Wally noticed me and began an all over body shake. I can’t imagine what Wally’s previous owner had done to get an immediate reaction of this magnitude. I had tears in my eyes as I realised Wally was petrified of humans. This was a first for me, we’ve sadly had many dogs that owners have said they don’t like men, or men with beards, but they all always warmed to Dale (he’s just a big weirdie beardie man after all), this is the first time I have ever had an animal afraid of me and it utterly shattered me.

After photographing 720 animals, I finally met one that was afraid of me. Wally was just a ball of angst and it was clear immediately that Wally would not be getting any photographs done. Both Dale and I slowly backed away as Clare reassured him and slowly moved him back to the safety of his kennel.