Rescue dog & cat portraits for charity.
The 2020 Sandton SPCA calendar features a collection of gorgeous adopted cats and dogs. This is the ninth year of production for the calendar project which came to life after I adopted my Daxie boy Jeremy from Sandton SPCA on Valentines Day in 2011.
The cover star is Ollie, and this is the second time he’s featured in the calendar! His last starring role was in the 2015 Golden Oldies collection.
All of the featured creatures have been adopted from Sandton SPCA, so these portraits should give you a great insight into the variety of wonderful animals that can be found at a shelter.
Romeo gave me a whole 2 minutes to get this shot before he insisted on being taken home. Cats rarely enjoy travelling, let alone wearing scarves, so I think he did pretty well all things considered.
Amy was rescued by Sandton SPCA after she’d had her ears cut (which is illegal in SA), been starved and used as a bait dog by some unpleasant individuals involved in the barbaric world of dog fighting. Thankfully she now lives with a delightful family and has an adopted human sister who she adores. Funds raised from the annual calendar go towards helping fight cruelty cases and saving more dogs like Amy.
Lilly & Eddie quite a pair of fidgety midgets who spent 45 minutes not sitting still. Eventually I got this shot by having their mom hide behind me and open their biscuit tin to get their momentary attention.
Queenie. Named because she’s now treated like royalty and of course behaves like one of the Queen’s corgis. Quite a step up for a humble shelter dog.
Milly. If I thought Romeo was unwilling to cooperate, Milly made him look easy. She refused to do anything other than lie down and had to be tempted to sit up with a tin of tuna. What a diva.
Azzi is one of those rare rescue dogs that has funny joints and things that require surgery to mend them. Thankfully she was adopted by a family of vets who were able to help her, how’s that for miraculous. She’s now fixed up and fabulous.
Limo looks a little like a larger version of Ollie. She was adopted from SSPCA in 2009 so is on the senior side of life now and was simply a delight to photograph. I’m told she was a bit of a hell raiser in her youth and liked to chew everything, thankfully she’s much wiser now and only eats treats.
Archie looks like some sort of posh exotic pooch that should be in Paris Hilton’s handbag, not a doggy from a shelter. I’ve had a few people tell me that he’s too beautiful to be from a shelter. Tsk tsk people, you can find lots of gems at your local SPCA.
Ella & Azi, also a bit of a troublesome twosome. The ants in their pants made posing together very difficult, but we got there in the end. Sometimes I wish I had a bar in my studio.
Jake was at Sandton SPCA for 4 months before he was adopted. He’d not been treated well and was very shy. Some patience, TLC and doggy school soon sorted out his nervousness and he was a very good boy for his photo session.
Ziggy was another very shy pooch who struggled to find a home. However he was adopted by one of SSPCA’s long standing volunteers and now enjoys car rides, beach holidays and bossing the other dogs around.
Kirsty cat (best cat name ever) had no problem with being photographed, in fact she totally worked it for the camera. She’s got an air of Zsa Zsa Gabor about her, not bad for a humble shelter kitty.
To order your copy of the 2020 Sandton SPCA calendar, please click here or pop into SSPCA. All proceeds from calendar sales go to SSPCA.