How "Pet of the Week" Returned to Our Paper

When I first started at The Pinnacle it had been awhile since the Pet of the Week feature had run. One of our reporters, Melissa, who is now the City Editor, did a story on pet owner rights and responsibilites, and one thing requested to be photographed was animals in cages at the local animal shelter. I did some wide shots and some tight shots, and really fought for this little Airdale to get in the paper, which he did.


I really like this photo, something about his eyes just haunts me, and the look on his face is priceless. I figured he was a survivor, and apparently I wasn't his only fan from the letters I got about him, from people wanting to adopt him or just wanted to know what happened to him. It turns out that his owner saw his photo in the paper and came to get him.

After the overwhelming responses I got I pitched bringing back the Pet of the Week to the paper and my editor, an animal lover who had enjoyed it in the past readily agreed. I alternate, dog one week, cat the next.

This week when I went to photograph the pet of the week, they told me that it had happened again, that last week's pet, a cat had had her owner call up and come get her. I love hearing that the photos helped a pet get adopted or reunited with their owners, and a good number of people call the shelter for the animals I shoot.