Say Cheese!

Remember picture day when you were in school? No matter what you did or how you dressed the pictures always turned out looking corny. But your parents and family loved them. Well, pets at the Virginia Beach SPCA are getting their pictures taken today and they’re not going to be corny at all.

VBSPCA won a gift from the Purina One Bowl by Bowl program. A professional photographer from Shelter Me Photography will be there today taking photos. Nanette Martin an award winning documentary and editorial photographer and has been featured in LIFE, People, Sport’s Illustrated, Reader’s digest, and more. She has been taking photos and winning awards all over the world.

So what good is a professional photo of a homeless pet? When pets are picked up or turned in, they’re scared. Scared pets curl up and try to hide to protect themselves. Needless to say, any picture you get in the shelter is not going to be very good. A lot of people looking at scared pets will just pass them by thinking something must be wrong with them. And this isn’t fair to the pets. When they aren’t scared to death you can see their true personalities and behavior. It’s much easier to find a home for a happy confident looking pet than a scared pet. This can cut their shelter stay from a few months or more to just a few days and they get a loving forever home.

Purina One Bowl by Bowl program helps feed shelter pets too. You go visit their page at www.facebook.com/home.php#!/PurinaOne and take a short quiz. Every quiz completed gets a bowl of food donated to a shelter. There’s a goal for donations each month and when the goal is reached, a bonus or “kicker” is unlocked. VBSPCA won the kicker for September and they’re getting their prize today.

Hopefully I’ll get a copy of a photo. If I do I’ll share it on my Facebook page so you can share it too. Maybe we can find a home for one of these sweet pets.

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