Pet Photo Friday: celebrating big, black dogs and black cats

Posted on Fri, Jun 22, 2012 : 6 a.m.

Pet Photo Friday: celebrating big, black dogs and black cats

By Lorrie Shaw

"Here is our one-year-old rescue dog: Axl. Axl is half German Shepherd and half brindle Coonhound. He was rescued at two weeks old when his mother's owner, who was homeless and living out of her car, could no longer keep her German Shepherd's ten puppies. He is extremely affectionate, and adores his older sister, a Minpin."

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"Here is our one-year-old rescue dog: Axl. Axl is half German Shepherd and half brindle Coonhound. He was rescued at two weeks old when his mother's owner, who was homeless and living out of her car, could no longer keep her German Shepherd's ten puppies. He is extremely affectionate, and adores his older sister, a Minpin." by Kris Kaul

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"Here is our one-year-old rescue dog: Axl. Axl is half German Shepherd and half brindle Coonhound. He was rescued at two weeks old when his mother's owner, who was homeless and living out of her car, could no longer keep her German Shepherd's ten puppies. He is extremely affectionate, and adores his older sister, a Minpin." by Kris Kaul /calendar/photologue/photos/cache/AxlShepCoonhoundA2_fullsize.JPG
"This is Mickey, my 5 year old border collie/husky rescue I "foster failed." Many of my foster dogs are black because they are so many of them and they have a much longer stay at my house. I couldn't bare to give Mickey away because he is such a lover of people, he lives for pets! 'Pet me please, I need your love!' In some ways, I'm pretty sure he thinks he is a person. He acts like my other fosters are idiots and beneath him. Someone clearly loved and trained him well and when he came to me at approx 3 years old we couldn't believe such a wonderful stray wouldn't have an owner looking for him. Even my mom, who is very afraid of dogs, loves Mickey. Unfortunately, like most black dogs, his photo does not do him justice." by Jennifer Behnke /calendar/photologue/photos/cache/Mickey5A2_fullsize.JPG
"Here's our black cat, Chuck D. He is 10 years old and resides in Ann Arbor. When we adopted him, we were joking around about black cats, using the phrase ‘fear of a black cat.’ This was paraphrased from an album from Public Enemy titled Fear of a Black Planet, so we named him after one of the members of Public Enemy, Chuck D. Now that we have children, he is more often called Uncle Chucky, though we also call him Chuckles and Dr. Chuckenstein (for Dr. Funkenstein, not Frankenstein). He is zen-like and I often joke that he could be a Dalai Lama in a future life. He is easy-going and very loving. My husband says that, if anyone ever broke into our house, Chuck would cuddle them into submission. Nothing to fear from Chuck at all." by Melissa Combs /calendar/photologue/photos/cache/ChuckDcatA210yrs_fullsize.JPG
Capito is seen here being his funny self. He is owned by Richard and Sue Dyk of Dexter. by Julie Woods /calendar/photologue/photos/cache/CapitohorseChelsea_fullsize.JPG
"This is our cat Harley, she's now just over a year old. I am from Ann Arbor originally but my husband and I are stationed in Vicenza, Italy with the U.S. Army. I couldn't decide which picture I liked the most so I attached my two favorites. One is of her when she was a kitten and the other is of her while we're preparing to pack up for deployment. I don't think she wants us to leave!" by Nicole Hodge /calendar/photologue/photos/cache/HarleykittenA2Italy_fullsize.JPG
"Chocolatina is a year old and lives in Ann Arbor. She is a delightful cat in many respects, but particularly in her desire to keep all of the members of our family company. When we go to bed, she comes too, falling asleep at our feet, and when we go down in the morning to make breakfast, she follows. She is also very playful, and loves to chase elastic around the house and bring them back to her owners. An all around delightful cat." by Sarah Kennedy /calendar/photologue/photos/cache/chocolatinaA2_fullsize.JPG
"Josie is a 2 yr. old ultra-sweet black lab mix. She loves everyone, doesn't jump on people, doesn't bark, loves to swim and run. She was rescued from Skinny Little Buddies in Ohio at 4 months of age, where I was told "we have trouble finding homes for black dogs". She recently became the "best dog friend" of a little girl who was terrified of dogs, having been twice attacked by loose dogs. She's wonderful!" by Patty O'Connor /calendar/photologue/photos/cache/Josie2A2_fullsize.JPG
Max - who is 7 - is seen here helping his human get some writing done. He lives with his family that includes a fellow feline in Ann Arbor. by David Bardallis /calendar/photologue/photos/cache/MaxCatA2_fullsize.JPG
Harley, (now a year old) whose family is originally from Ann Arbor, lives as an "Army Cat" with his humans who are currently stationed in Vincenza, Italy with the US Army. by Nicole Hodge /calendar/photologue/photos/cache/Harleycat1A2Italy_fullsize.JPG

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Earlier in the week, I wrote about the plight that black pets of all ages suffer, and to many, it was surprising.

The fact is, shelters across the country find it challenging to place large breed, black dogs — and cats.

Some humans find it difficult to "read" the dark faces of these canines: Their black coats can make it difficult for their facial expressions to shine through. Because of that, they often do not photograph well, either — ask anyone who has tried to snap a photo of a sweet face that seems to get swallowed up by darkness.

We put out the call to help dispel the myths that surround black, large-breed dogs and black cats, and readers from all over responded in a big way: by sharing photos and stories of their beloved pets.

We know that there are more aficionados of these perfectly worthy creatures out there. To highlight how great they are, you're once again invited to share your photos and stories of your special pets with us.

So for this week and next, our focus and theme of Pet Photo Friday is "Big Black Dogs and Black Cats."

Participating is easy!

Simply email a photo of your furry friend to ppsa2mi@gmail.com, at any time of the week, and be sure to give a little anecdote about what's best about them. Your photos will be included as part of a very special edition of our ongoing Pet Photo Friday feature.

Please include the animal's name, age, and city or township of residence in your email. Be sure that your photos are 600 pixels wide and in .jpg format.

We'll put the series' photos into a slideshow, publish and promote on next Friday as well here in the Pets section.

Be sure to include the name of the animal(s), as well as their age and city or township of residence in your email. Photos should be 1200 pixels wide and in .jpg format.

We put the week's photos into a slideshow, publish and promote each Friday here in the Pets section.

Lorrie Shaw leads the pets section for AnnArbor.com. You can follow her daily pet adventures on Twitter and subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.

Comments

Sarah Rigg

Tue, Jun 26, 2012 : 3:38 p.m.

I think this just shows that you CAN get good, expressive photos of black pets if you're careful with lighting and composition.