For more information or to schedule your pet's session, call 571.432.0561 | Jeanne Taylor Photography

Published and awarded pet photographer serving the Charleston SC area with seasonal appointments in Northern Virginia.

 

Home  | About Me  |  Portfolio  |  Rescue Work |  Rates & FAQs | Blog | News | Monthly Selections | Contact Me | Kind Words | Memorials

 

Stories do matter.
When I meet shelter animals for photos, it’s a rare day when I am able to learn their actual stories. Most are brought in as stray or transferred in from another location. Even owner surrenders are often vague for information so we are left to speculate and surmise.

This is Ripley's story, or at least the start of it.

The time I get to spend with these animals during photos is pretty brief. But when I first met "Meringue" on January 14 at Dorchester Paws, she spoke to me somehow. Her eyes conveyed *something* and I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She stayed in my mind, and the next day I posted her with this note and photo:

"I need someone so very loving to go adopt this baby ASAP. Her name is Meringue and she could not have been sweeter if she was a puddle of sugar. It looks to me like she was used for breeding … over and over and over … and, I imagine since she landed at a shelter, she was tossed aside when her breeding days were deemed to have passed. Her teeth have been worn down either from years of rock chewing out of boredom or maybe they were filed down intentionally – I don’t want to be judgy but sometimes it’s hard.

She is a LOVE. Usually I leave a shelter shoot knowing I have met some wonderful animals and I go about my day of editing. But yesterday I left a little heartbroken knowing I was leaving her there. This baby needs a person to call her own - someone who will put her needs as a priority, who will love her worn down teeth and saggy parts, and who will give her that soft place to land that she so deserves."

That post received almost 600 shares on socials and she was seen by more than 52,000 people.

Fast forward to a week or so ago when a Dorchester Paws post hit my feed about recently adopted Meringue, now named Ripley, and how her new family had received a terminal diagnosis for that mammary mass that was so visible in her adoptable bio photo (sadly, had that been treated sooner by whomever had her previously, her prognosis could be drastically different) . She was still a foster when Deirdre and John took her in for her post-op consultation and they moved forward with the adoption, knowing her time with them may be short. When I read the post, I knew I needed to meet people who were this special and selfless. Wheels were set in motion and we were able to connect so I could invite them to bring Ripley for photos. (She kept her harness on for photos as she is still recovering from her surgery.)

I saw them arrive at the park and waved from a distance. Maybe Ripley could sense my extreme happiness to see her and she was heading toward the positive energy, but her humans said she was pulling like she knew me. I like to believe she remembered me from January but no one can say for sure except for Ripley.

We walked the park, we chatted, we laughed. We talked about Ripley and my boy, Roux, having a date to walk together. Ripley sniffed the trail and chased birds and made friends with other dogs who were walking with their people. She SMILED! And it was such a sweet, soft smile! She gave kisses. She had treats. LOTS of treats. And she did whatever we asked for photos. She was, as I had originally suspected: a perfect girl who just needed some love and an opportunity to show it.  And my goodness, they love her SO MUCH and their affection is so genuine, it's palpable.

Now, none of us knows how long we really have on this earth. But what I DO know is she and her family will make the most of the time she has. (She even has a pet cat, who she mothers like it’s her own baby.) Maybe all the love she finally feels around her after a lifetime of waiting will keep her going longer than science may suggest. I do hope so.

See you again soon, sweet Ripley!

 

 

 

Back to Top

 
     
           (c) 2008-2020 Jeanne Taylor Photography. All Rights Reserved.