I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

 

I saw lots of people rave about this book on Twitter, sharing a few of the images from the book. Of course my interest was peeking. Cute dogs? Photographs? Silly photographs? So when I saw this book on Netgalley I just knew I had to get it.

 

Full disclosure: I volunteer on weekends as a dog socializer at my local animal shelter, and on weekdays, I routinely stalk the dogs I worked with on our website, checking daily to see who got adopted and who has new pictures or videos. When I saw a book promising cute photographs of shelter dogs, I couldn't resist.

Shelter Dogs in a Photo Booth is indeed chock-full of adorable doggy pictures and stories. I really hope it has positive impact and raises awareness about shelters. There are a few dogs in the book who are listed as "still waiting" for a forever home, but I'm sure the book itself will guarantee their adoptions. I firmly believe that shelters are the best place to get a pet: you're not only saving a dog from potential euthanasia (and about 50% of shelter dogs in the US are euthanized, by the way); you're also getting a companion who has seen the worst of humanity and still will give you unconditional love.

In terms of the book, I thoroughly enjoyed each of the dog's stories and images, but I think it suffers somewhat from the format. Each dog has exactly four photographs laid out in precisely the same way with a short blurb underneath. More problematically, it quickly becomes clear that all of the interactions being photographed are treat throws. (They look like Beggin' Strips to me.) Occasionally I could even see some whale eyes and flattened ears in non-treat photographs, which are standard signs of stress, fear, and anxiety. I spend a lot of time with dogs, and their expressions when they're actually interacting with humans are very different from their food-focused faces, so I felt like the pictures, while cute, didn't really capture their true personalities. My favourite section was easily right at the end, where the book gives us some "happy ending" shots of the dogs with their new families. Here, finally, we get to see some of the dogs' real personalities.

Shelter Dogs in a Photo Booth is an adorable idea and I hope it gives animal shelters some much-needed publicity. If you're looking for some cute puppy faces, it may be worth a look. Even better, head down to your local shelter and pick up a photo booth puppy of your very own.

 

~~I received this review through Netgalley from the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing, in exchange for my honest review.~~

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life

I am a huge animal lover. Huge. While I love most animals, I am really very partial to dogs. I am also a really big supporter of shelters and everything that they do for the animal population. My house is pretty filled with animals from my local shelter. We currently have 3 dogs and 1 cat that were all adopted from our local Humane Society.



I don't know why but I love looking at the photos of dogs waiting for their forever homes. We adopted 2 puppies from the Humane Society during the last few months of 2015 largely because of this. My husband has now banned me from the Humane Society's website. Like he can actually stop me. So I look and always feel a little sad that they are there waiting to find someone to love them as much as I love mine.



I kind of feel like this book was made just for me. Each page brought me wonderful pictures of great looking dogs along with a few tidbits about the animal. And the best part.....almost all of these dogs have found their happily ever after! I really loved the last section of the book that showed some of the animals now. Sometimes they were alone, sometimes with their new doggie siblings, and sometimes with their human family but they always looked really very happy.



I would highly recommend this book to animal lovers like myself. I think that it is absolutely wonderful that a portion of the proceeds from this book will go to the Humane Society of Utah and Best Friends Animal Society. I applaud the author for all of the time that she has making sure so many shelter animals have a wonderful photo to help them in their search for a forever family. Sometimes all it takes it a photo to fall in love.



I received an advance reader edition of this book from Andrews McMeel Publishing via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Initial Thoughts
Awesome little book filled with photos of shelter dogs. How can a dog lover like me pass this one up?!?!

First of all, these are both currently Free on Amazon.  Both of them remind me of books you make yourself using your own photos and writing in your captions; not to say that that's a bad thing because I've seen some very cleverly done.  Each of these books had a problem, though, Sir Romeo Beau's photos were really too small to get a full picture.  And poor Diesel's photos didn't transfer at all.  (Purchased in Kindle format.)

 

Both of them tell good stories, and they are stories that need to be told.  

 

Sir Romeo is a rescue dog.  When he was brought into a couple's home for companionship purposes, Sir Romeo saw that there was a need for more than companionship.  (I am making the assumption here that the author of the book, J R Pullen, is also Sir Romeo's "mommy" and the person with the medical condition, so I am taking the liberty of calling her J -- otherwise I have no name to call her but Sir Romeo's mommy or mommy -- so J it is.)

 

J walks with a cane and has difficulties getting around.  Sir Romeo made himself useful by nudging items closer to her (her phone and her cane) and was even precocious enough to remind J that it was time to take her medicine.  They realized they had a very special dog on their hands and made the decision to have Romeo trained by a Service Work Dog Trainer.  Upon graduation, he received his Service Work Dog Vest, and now he accompanies J everywhere to assist her when she needs it.

 

The book describes all the ways that Sir Romeo provides her assistance, and the behaviors that are required of a Service Work Dog.  I appreciate the book because it calls attention to a growing population of service work dogs and therapy assistance dogs, and that a service dog doesn't need to have a pedigree in order to be trained as one.

 

The language is very simplistic, and at least part of the time they tried for a rhyming pattern which I wish they would have foregone.  But the message is the important thing and they made shout outs to various organizations including the American military and canine soldier dogs.

 

 

Diesel's book is written by his human grandmother, L. K. Brown, and she says it just fine, so I am quoting her:  "I wrote this book about Diesel, hoping to increase the awareness of dogs and cats in animal shelters all around the world.  It breaks my heart to read about all the dogs and cats that need forever homes.  Please spread the word and Opt To Adopt!  There are so many wonderful animals out there that need a home."

 

Then she tells the story of Diesel, who was born in the shelter along with seven brothers and sisters who were all adopted, (YaY) and eventually, the mother also found a forever home.  

 

She provides appalling statistics about the number of animals that are euthanized each year in American cities because we do such a terrible job of spaying and neutering our pets.  She reminds us that shelters need our support and encourages us all to help them with our resources when we are able and if we are so inclined.  

 

Both books are cute and fun and include links and contact information for further information.

 

 

The writing style in this book is a wee bit too simplistic for my liking. Yeah, I realize it's a children's book but kids do appreciate descriptive, emotional writing just as much as us older folks. It's what hooks you. Despite that, these true stories of once unwanted dogs who have beaten the odds and found loving homes are inspiring. A big black dog (the hardest to adopt out) becomes an agility champion, a terrier mix whose loving owner passes away is nearly euthanized until a shelter volunteer utters a magic word that spares his life, a large rowdy, unaltered (and unadoptable) dog is taken in by a disabled woman who trains him into an award winning service dog.