I’ve got too many sweaters, some that are thirteen years old, and I really should throw them away. But it’s hard because I’m too sentimentally attached to them. I don’t know how anyone could get rid of a thirteen-year-old pet.
Most Sundays I’m at the South L.A. shelter taking photographs of dogs that need new homes. Some are marked “stray” while others are “owner surrender,” like this 13-year-old Jindo mix turned in because the owner had “too many.”
How can you suddenly decide you have “too many” and how can you give away the one that has loved you and counted on you for thirteen years? How can you take it and drop it off in a place where it may be crowded into a cage with a cold hard floor, like some old sweater you’d drop into a donation bin? The former owner didn’t even tell anyone her name.
Just over a week ago I took some photos of this dog and a volunteer sent out a plea on her behalf via email, but really, we didn’t hold out much hope. Well, thankfully we were wrong. That same volunteer and I were there yesterday when she went home with her foster mom Susan who has named her Maddy.
Congratulations, Maddy! Hey, call me if you need a sweater!






