Black Dog Syndrome

As most of you know, I volunteer weekly at a local animal shelter photographing the dogs. It's been wonderful to help the shelter showcase their amazing dogs, and it has also driven me to use my camera at least once a week. When I first started this effort, one of the things that became immediately apparent to me was the difficulty I was having with photographing black dogs. As I began doing more research, I stumbled across a phenomenon known as Black Dog Syndrome.

Within shelters across the county, black dogs are passed over for adoption in favor of light colored dogs. The shelter where I volunteer knows this all too well, experiencing it every week as light colored dogs fly out of the pens. We currently have over 60 black lab mixes, and that doesn't even count the black Shepard, Coonhound, Chow, and Terrier mixes. The exact reason why this is the case is highly debated, but the shocking numbers don't lie. Shelters all over the county are disproportionately  populated by dogs with black coats. Some people believe the reason is because they are hard to photograph, while others say it's because they aren't as easily recognizable or memorable as, say, a spotted dog. Hollywood, of course, doesn't help, often portraying black dogs as aggressive or violent. Whatever the reason, I'm doing what I can to get the black dogs in my shelter adopted. I hope by getting the word out people will consider a black dog when looking for their next best friend. 

(***Note: The dogs photographed above are all available for adoption. The longhaired one in the middle is named Gabby and has been at the shelter for over 5 years!! Truthfully, they only reason we can even think that she is still there is because she is constantly being overlooked for a light colored dog. She is sweet, extremely affectionate, good on a leash, and wonderful with kids. Unfortunately at 6 or 7 years old she is now entering a totally new category of highly unadopted dogs, the "senior" group)

*2013 Update: Top dog: Adopted 
** 2014 Update: Jagger, Bottom dog.... ADOPTED! 

Here are a few more links on Black Dog Syndrome:
* http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/black-dog-syndrome/
* http://www.startseeingblackdogs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=12