I am really happy to announce that Posh Pets was recently granted membership in an organization called HeARTs Speak. What is that? Well, it is a group of pet artists (photographers included!) who provide their services to rescues and shelters to “foster the importance of animal adoptions, (and) dispel the notion that shelter animals are inferior or damaged…” It is something close to my heart as both of our two cats, Ripley and Lady Jane, originally came from a shelter and, more than 16 years later, are still the most wonderful pets!

The HeARTs Speak group has recently embarked upon “52 HeARTs” which is aimed at producing images each week centred around a common theme.  For this week, the theme was friendship. I hope you enjoy the images below!

Meet Luna. Luna is a 7 year old black Lab, so she is by no means a puppy anymore. An older lady, she is a little overweight, walks a little slower, and doesn’t jump and down like a unmannerly dog…rather she looks intently at you, wags her tail and patiently waits. She was recently transferred to the Toronto Animal Services from Ohio as part of a group of 3 black Labs. For some reason, black animals can sometimes have difficulty finding homes and, given her age, she did not have much hope of finding a home in Ohio before a heartbreaking decision would have to be made. The good thing is that Toronto shelters don’t seem to experience the same issue as their US counterparts – lots and lots of black coloured animals are adopted. I am not sure that I can pinpoint a reason for the difference – I can only say that I am happy that TAS had the room and were willing to receive Luna and her friends.

I met Luna as we were preparing to take her adoption photo. She came into the little courtyard, and immediately greeted me. The soft muzzle of an older dog is a wonderful thing. You never know the background of the individual dogs, so you try a few things to see if they know even basic commands or can take direction. Happily, when Luna was asked to sit, she did.

And then Luna did something magical…without being prompted, she held out her paw to the staff member who was with me. Who, of course, took her paw. In a moment, friendship, graciously offered and accepted.  From a shelter animal. One that someone didn’t want anymore.

All those that meet her know that Luna will make a wonderful pet for a loving family. We sincerely hope she will find her forever home soon. Surrounded by love, belly rubs and a warm bed.

And because we are all about equality, I have another image (this time of cats) from a few weeks ago at the same shelter. The cats at the TAS have a pretty nice place to hang out, a lovely “cat pod” that has an entire bank of windows on one wall, tons of toys and the ability to interact with each other. (For those who prefer to spend limited time with others, there are lots of places to snuggle in and sleep and other private rooms.) Each week, I enter the pod to see who is new and needs their photograph taken. Then begins the process of isolating them from the others and coaxing them into a cute, little pose…

I was photographing the brown guy on the right who was lounging up on his cat tree where I could get a photo of him. At this point, I was pretty sure I had the image I wanted, when the orange boy, jumped up and settled in as well. Now, this cat bowl/perch was really not big enough for the two of them. In fact, you can see the big orange guy hanging off the edge in this image. In some circumstances, this could have resulted in a bit of a cat fight. But, not these two. They were obviously friends and they figured out a way to get the both of them on there and then began grooming each other. Proving that, friendship can blossom just about anywhere…