Take a walk around a suburb and you will hear dogs barking. These are the bored, left at home alone in backyard dogs who are going out of their mind with boredom and confinement.
Dogs are pack animals, whose need to walk, smell and be part of a pack is integral to their happiness and well-being.
It’s not ok to leave a dog alone all day without mental stimulation. It’s not ok to not walk your dog everyday. It’s not ok to not treat a dog like part of your family.
There is a distinct difference in behaviour that is dislplayed by an enriched dog in a backyard and a dog who is getting no mental stimulation, attention or walks in a backyard. All the dogs pictured in this series are known to me and are known to be neglected and overlooked. One is locked in the sideway of a house 24 hours a day and all the others bark all day and night, escape often and NEVER get walked.
There is a great sadness to the forgotten, left alone dogs of the suburban backyard.
Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally.