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animal shelter

The award for Best Underbite goes to…

Most of us are familiar with the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show—perhaps through the 2000 Christopher Guest mockumentary "Best in Show," if nothing else. The competition has been around for 143 years, celebrating canine pedigree and showcasing the best of various breeds. Dogs compete in the categories of Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting, and Herding, and then one lucky pooch ultimately gets named Best in Show.

That's all well and good if you're into that kind of thing, but what about the mutts and misfits? What about the doggos who may be the best human companions but don't have the shiniest coats or the greatest agility? Where's the celebration of them?

Enter the American Rescue Dog Show.

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When a pet is admitted to a shelter it can be a traumatizing experience. Many are afraid of their new surroundings and are far from comfortable showing off their unique personalities. The problem is that's when many of them have their photos taken to appear in online searches.

Chewy, the pet retailer who has dedicated themselves to supporting shelters and rescues throughout the country, recognized the important work of a couple in Tampa, FL who have been taking professional photos of shelter pets to help get them adopted.

"If it's a photo of a scared animal, most people, subconsciously or even consciously, are going to skip over it," pet photographer Adam Goldberg says. "They can't visualize that dog in their home."

Adam realized the importance of quality shelter photos while working as a social media specialist for the Humane Society of Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

"The photos were taken top-down so you couldn't see the size of the pet, and the flash would create these red eyes," he recalls. "Sometimes [volunteers] would shoot the photos through the chain-link fences."

That's why Adam and his wife, Mary, have spent much of their free time over the past five years photographing over 1,200 shelter animals to show off their unique personalities to potential adoptive families. The Goldbergs' wonderful work was recently profiled by Chewy in the video above entitled, "A Day in the Life of a Shelter Pet Photographer."

When Max first arrived at the Susquehanna SPCA shelter, the workers didn't think he'd stay long. The 5-year-old pit bull terrier mix was sweet and friendly—which ironically led to a longer than normal stay. As of March 3, he had been at the shelter for 444 days.

"When he came here, we thought he would find his home easily because he is such a nice guy," executive director Stacie Haynes told Fox 5 News. "Turns out, he just kept getting looked over and he wasn't on our radar as an urgent dog to get out because he is just so sweet."

Max stepped into the limelight recently when Haynes swapped places with the dog for a day in an effort to raise awareness about the shelter and educate people about what life is like for a shelter dog. Max got to hang out in Haynes's office and even wore a tie for the day, while Haynes did her work on Max's bed in his kennel (with an occasional bathroom break, some enrichment activities, and people walking by to check her out, she said).

Haynes told WBGN that Max didn't really know life outside the shelter, having been there so long.

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People who rescue animals from unsafe or abusive situations are a special breed of human. Animals that are mistreated may react violently out fear or self-defense, which can be frightening at best and dangerous at worst.

When dogs specifically have been subjected to abuse, they may growl at, bark at, and bite anyone who approaches them. And who can blame them? If the humans they have known have only caused them pain, it's natural to react in an aggressive way.

But some people have the knowledge and skills in animal behavior to recognize what a dog needs in order to be able to trust people. Theoklitos Proestakis, who runs Takis Shelter on the island of Crete, is one of those people with a special knack for bringing aggressive dogs around to a place of healthy trust and calm.

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