Eyes That Melt Your Heart

7/22/2021

The Eyes Have It - July 2021

...a dog's eyes look human except less guarded. -Roy Blount, Jr.

In this series of photo essays, the Shoofly Magazine showcases the work of local photographers. Their only instructions? Show us the coast through your lens.

This month we feature the work of artist Laura
Sanders of J. Lolu Photography, whose images of shelter pups will tug at your heart strings.

To see more of her work, check out her website. You may also click on any of the images below to access the website.

Many of the dogs below have been adopted, but the shelter is full of other equally charming pups who are desperate for homes. Learn more about adopting a dog from the Hancock County Animal Shelter, click here or visit their Facebook page.

Dog curls against my back asleep.
I feel him breathing slow and deep.

dog has no name, no place he’s from
no one was ever going to come
to save him from this fear this fate
so in this cage he knows and waits.

the last time out will send him on
spent by the world, who’ll know he’s gone?

he’s been a good dog, honest, true
but in this cage who ever knew?
no one to want what’s pure and humble
so in this cage dog softly trembles.

eyes once so bright and clean and bold
grow dark as broken heart grows cold

his gifts he keeps close to himself
‘til he forgets and nothing’s left.
no heart that beats so true for one
the one who’s never going to come.

but what rejected heart will meet
another heart so lost and weak?

together healed and strong and true
and better yet and better new.
another heartbeat. Now he’s home
and neither one again alone.

Dog curls against my back to sleep.
And feels me breathing slow and deep.

- by Laura Sanders

Dogs are the most amazing creatures;...they are role models for being alive. -Gilda Radner

Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul. -Pythagoras

Dogs are not our whole lives, but they make our lives whole. -Roger Caras

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man. -Mark Twain

When an 85 pound mammal licks your tears away then tries to sit on your lap, it's hard to feel sad. -Kristan Higgins

A dog is not a thing. A thing is replaceable. A dog is not. A thing is disposable. A dog is not. A thing doesn't have a heart. --Elizabeth Parker

I sometimes look into the face of my dog and see wistful sadness and existential angst when all he's actually doing is scanning the ceiling for flies. -Merrill Markoe

My fashion philosophy is, if you're not covered in dog hair, your life is empty. -Elayne Boosler

The best thing about dogs is that you can act like something really good just happened and they'll instantly start celebrating with you...they have no idea what the context is, theyre just always ready to party. -Unknown

Everything I know, I learned from dogs. --Nora Roberts

Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen. -Orhan Pamuk

Whoever loveth me, loveth my hound. -Thomas More

...I have felt the truest, purest love--the love of God really, I imagine that's what God's love feels like--is the love that comes from your dog. -Oprah Winfrey

The dog lives for the day, the hour, even the moment. --Robert Falcon Scott

Happiness is a warm puppy. --Charles Shultz

Whoever declared that love at first sight doesn't exist has never looked deep into a puppy's eyes. -Elizabeth Parker

Let's start by taking a smallish nap or two. -Winnie the Pooh

And then my soul saw you and it kind of went, oh there you are, I've been looking for you. -Iain Thomas

Rescue animals aren't broken, they've simply experienced more life than other animals. -Unknown

If you don't own a dog, at least one, there is not necessarily something wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life. -Roger Caras

Happiness starts with a wet nose and ends with a tail. -Riley Bernauer

You can't change a dog's past, but you can rewrite his future. -ANU

If there are no dogs in heaven then when I die I want to go where they went. -Will Rogers

Dogs never talk about themselves but listen while you talk about yourself and keep up the appearance of being interested in the conversation. -Jerome K. Jerome

Saving one dog will not change the world, but surely for that one dog, the world will change forever. -Karen Devison

And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also...Seek him always with hours to live...For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. --Kahlil Gibran

Enjoy this feature?

The Shoofly Magazine relies on readers like you to underwrite our photographers and writers.

Use the button below now to keep features like this coming!