Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: There's a moment when you take a photo of your dog where everything just lines up.
The light hits right, they're still for half a second. And somehow in that tiny window, you don't just capture what they look like, you capture who they are.
And that's what today's guest has built her life around.
Kerry Martin is a world renowned and award winning photographer, the creator behind Puppy Tails Photography, and the founder of the Australian Dog of the Year Awards.
She spent years traveling the country with her husband, meeting dogs, telling their stories and freezing moments that most of us wish we could hold on forever.
She is also the author of several beautiful books, including Dog Tales of Australia.
Filled with hundreds of breathtaking photos from Kerry, this book features once in a lifetime shots of iconic Australian destinations, plus dozens of the adorable canines that Kerry, her husband Sam and their pups met along the way.
But like a lot of us listening, Kerry's story doesn't just sit in the joyful moments, because behind the lens, there's lost too.
Kerry lost two of her own dogs, Keiko and Summer, while she was out there doing the very thing that she loves, traveling, photographing, documenting the lives of other people's dogs.
That's the kind of grief that hits differently.
There's something about being surrounded by dogs while missing your own that's hard to explain unless you've lived it. Yes, it's a conversation about photography, but it's about so much more. It's about what we're really trying to hold onto when we take a photo.
It's about what dogs give us long before they leave and it's about what happens after they're gone, when all you have left are the memories, images and love that doesn't really know where to go.
I'm John Littlefair and I'm really honoured to bring you this beautiful episode of Never Just a Dog.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: 16 years of taking photos of dogs.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: Yes. So January was just like 16 rolled over. And it still amazes me you think it's been that length of time until you count on the calendar and then you're like, oh, my God, like, how has it gone that quickly?
[00:02:38] Speaker B: Can you go back 16 years? And was it a definite plan not to do 16 years or was it like, I just love dogs that much, I want to photograph them.
[00:02:47] Speaker C: It was not a plan. I was military, I was in the Navy. That was not the dream.
I joined at 17. You kind of realize as you get a bit older and wiser that I'm not particularly well suited to this. I mean, I Had some great opportunities and life experiences, but you have a bit more understanding of who you are. So I was looking to get out, and I'd picked up a camera to photograph places that we were traveling in defense. Like, you go overseas and you. You have some amazing sort of life experiences. So I picked up a camera for that.
And then we welcomed Kiko. So he was so fundamental to how it all began. And he's actually so fundamental, kind of every change and wind in the road. So I just photographed him because he was the cutest thing ever. Like, he was a little round ball of white fluff. He looked like a baby polar bear. And he was just gorgeous. And, of course, back then, people sharing photos of their dogs probably wasn't quite the phenomenon it is now. It's always been popular. But you could share a good photo of your dog, and suddenly everyone's like, well, can you do that for me? So it all sort of. It wasn't a plan. Also, coincidentally, at the same time, photographed a colleague and his family, and they brought their dog along. And the dog was just brilliant at kind of getting natural smiles and natural reactions and just made the moments that when we looked back at the photos, we're like, that was so good because Bella was in there. So it didn't happen instantaneously, but these two things happened at the same sort of time in different spaces in my world. And then you sort of have this shower moment. Like, how have I not seen that? How. How has it not sort of dawned on me that this is what I want to go and do? So, yeah, that's where it began. And it really just grew from the love that I was enjoying with Kiko and the companionship and all the good parts. Sort of having a dog as part of our family and recognizing that I'm not the only one that thinks my dog is my whole world and the best thing. So, yeah.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Did you start photographing around your area? So you were in Victoria at that time still?
[00:05:05] Speaker C: That was actually because I was still in uniform when it really began. So I was in Canberra, posted to Canberra at the time. So I was actually photographing around Canberra, like, on weekends and things like that. And then I was like, I have to get out of Canberra. Cause I was in Melbourne with my husband. So I was like, missing out. I knew I wasn't happy being there by myself.
And so I got out and I was just like, I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna do this. I'm gonna jump in and see what happens. Which is not a solid business plan. But at the time it was like, let's just, let's just try, like, let's see how it goes.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: Did you start traveling Australia straight away or was there a, a gap of doing other things, including photographing dogs before you in a sense started hitting the road?
[00:05:53] Speaker C: Sort of gradually grew. We took one holiday without Kiko, but we went to. Actually we took two holidays without the dogs, but the first one we went to stay with friends in the US and I went to a ski resort there and there was dogs and I was like, come home. We've got a double coated Japanese spitz. He has to see the snow. It's actually not as easy in Australia to make that happen. So some of the first travels were revolved around what I wanted to do with him. So I researched where you could take dogs to the snow and found in a plane. And so we would go up there every year and a lot of it was Victorian travels. We've got, I mean everywhere in Australia's got beautiful spots, but for autumn we have some really lovely places. So I started doing shorter trips from home and either photographing local dogs that were in that area or because they were lovely tourist spots, people would join me there and bring their dog along. So it started more Victoria based.
Victoria's quite a small state too, so it's not that far to head away for a weekend and come back or, you know, five days. And then the second holiday we took, we had in. We'd welcomed summer by then, so she was our border collie. My brother got married overseas and we had to leave the dogs with dog sitters. Prior to that, they'd always stayed with families. So I found that really hard trusting who we'd leave them with. And then on the plane home, I would say to my husband, I just don't want to leave them, I don't want to do it again. So. So pulled open. What we'd always done when we'd flown before dogs is like we'd pull open the flight guide and you know how they have all their links of where they go. And so we literally have always planned the next trip based like on the way home. This time I pulled it open to Australia and I was just looking at, I was like, in five years we're going to get a caravan and we're going around Australia with the dogs. Like, I don't want to leave them. And it sort of started as fanciful but then suddenly like things fall into line or you're thinking, no, we're actually going to do this we did it and it was. Was about five years later that we headed off. We were very lucky. We went in 2018-2019. It was a golden era. I don't think we realized when we were doing it. Yeah. So we did that for 13 months and then I got home and after that because we then had the caravan. So we will travel four to six months of the year in and around lockdowns. Like we got locked down in a few interesting places being in Victoria, but we'd sort of go for four to six months and then we felt like we had to do bigger trips because those shorter ones were New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tassie to do Northern Territory and WA again, we needed a bigger trips. In 2024 we took off and we've just gone home at the end of March from. From that we had a lot more time. Like we went slower. We sort of did like a lap and then back up through the middle and across to Geraldton and down to Perth. So we did. It wasn't. It was a lap, but it was a lap and a bit because you've got to fit in with the seasons. Yeah, we did a lot. A lot more this time and slower. Such a big country right now, considering
[00:08:59] Speaker B: how we're chatting before about envious but in a. In a great way. Were you photographing dogs the whole way around?
[00:09:05] Speaker C: Yeah. So we. I've photograph whenever we travel. Each one has had a book project associated with it. So the first one was more of the guidebook. So it's got photos of dogs and their story in there, but it's also got the highlights of what to do in Australia with your dog. And then this time, like it's still in progress because we head off again next week just to do a bit more of the east coast. That's the coffee table book, like the portraits and the photos. So they have had Booker products associated with them. But I. I love it because it's a way to meet people in all parts of Australia.
You meet or you end up in places you wouldn't discover, I think if you didn't know, like meet locals or they will sort of go, this is where we hang out. Or this is really lovely and it might not be what you're thinking of an area to go and visit. They're sort of sharing some local insight or it's really lovely. And I've made a lot of beautiful, beautiful friends as well. Like that we keep in contact with when you go back, they're like, next time you're here. Come and see us. We've got a new dogs.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Local knowledge. I'm from a small country town, the town called Pemberton. I grew up on a farm outside. Understand that there's the. The tourist spots, but then there's.
[00:10:22] Speaker A: Oh, no.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: If you go down that track and turn left and we weave around, it's a bit tight, but it's all safe. You'll find this amazing campground. You must have met some really interesting characters. Do you find that everyone out there are dog lovers?
[00:10:35] Speaker C: I don't know if there are non dog lovers, but when you're out and about with a dog, you naturally attract people that either love dogs. When you're in tourist spots, you'll find sort of international visitors or people who are also holidaying, but they've left their dogs at home, so the first thing they want to do is run up and pat your dog because they miss their dogs. They. We lost Summer and Kiko last year. The end of the year, we got Scout as a puppy on the road, which is this whole own set of chaos.
But a puppy on the road, like he was the most popular thing, like you couldn't go anywhere without people wanting to pat him or greet him.
So I feel like dogs really do break down barriers and I guess in doing what I do, when people find out, they often just want to talk to me about their dogs or they pull out their phone and show me photos. So it's a really lovely way to meet and connect with people and have a shared interest before you actually even know one another, like you've got something to talk about.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Speaking of Kiko and Summer, you said that you, you lost them. Were you on the road when that happened? Because I believe it was only six months apart from each other. That's so sad.
[00:11:49] Speaker C: So it was on the road and that in one way it sort of means that home doesn't have the memories of where we lost them. But there are spots on the road now that will have those memories. So Summer we lost in Tasmania and she had really aggressive cancer. So it was so.
It was so quick and I. And one of the challenges when you're on the road is you don't have your normal vet care. You don't know who you like, you don't even know where to start.
And the more remote you go, the harder it is because vet care can be in really short supply. So in Tassie, we were lucky. We were able to get into an emergency care facility. But then, like, she needed blood tests to. We were in Launceston when we found out, we weren't sure what we could do. They said you could go down to Hobart to the emergency centre, because there's only one scanning device in Tassie, so there had been two, but one vet clinic had burnt down. So in all of Tassie, there was only one place that we could get the scans we needed. But in order to do that, we needed a blood test from Launceston to send them the results. And we really struggled because everyone, every vet clinic we rang was like, we're not taking on new clients. We ended up finding an emergency clinic that would do it for us. And the sad outcome was there wasn't anything that we could do for her and waiting was just putting her at risk of a massive rupture. So we called, like, there's a lovely vet that does the saying farewell. And she was really accommodating. Like, we went. Summer's favorite spot was a beach, so we were able to have a really lovely day with her. We took her to the beach and then we said goodbye. But I don't know if I can ever visit that beach again now. But, yeah, so it was really heartbreaking just how quick it can be. Summer was only 10. She, like Kiko, had been to the vet. He had sebaceous cysts and not the best teeth, so he was like our frequent flyer at the vet. And Summer was just. I thought she was going to live well into senior years because she just. Nothing like she'd never had. She just had routine vet care and so you sort of. And she was healthy and so enthusiastic and then all of a sudden she wasn't. So it was really quite a shock because she was the younger of the two dogs, so we weren't sort of thinking it. When we took off in 2014 on this trip, Kiko was 13. And I remember leaving thinking, I wonder if we're all going to come home together, because Kiko senior. So I had recognized that he was senior, but he was still really healthy for 13. And so summer sideswiped us, you know, losing her so quickly when we weren't even thinking, like, we were very focused on Kiko and his healthcare in senior years had just turned 10, so we were increasing supplements and doing things like that to support her, but we just didn't. We didn't pick that that was going on sort of beneath the surface, so it really sideswiped us. And then Kiko. Look, I don't know if Kiko missed Summer so much. I think he got six beautiful months as the only Dog, you know, every, every whim, everything he need catered for. But a month after we lost Summer, he ruptured his cruciate. So he was 14 and that's a hard call to even do we treat like what do we do? It wasn't a matter of do we treat it or not, it was whether we did surgical intervention. We decided to and he did really well in the surgery but it slowed him up a lot. And I like he never sort of fully recovered from that, like regained everything. But then we were, we got to see. So he did six more months and in that time we went from Tassie and we went Ezrock and over to Geraldton and in Geraldton he developed a bit of a cough and I thought once we get to Perth we'll go and get that checked. But he had a seizure when we're out on the wheat belt and we sort of had to drive like he'd had epilepsy, like idiopathic epilepsy. So seizures weren't uncommon. But this one just felt really different.
So we took him into the emergency vet and he had cancer as well. Which is. It makes you question how like we're the kind of people who we had looked after their health far better than our own. Like we could be so disciplined with their health and make sure that they had the best of what we could provide them. So to lose two dogs to cancer, you do question did we take them somewhere where like yes, you do wonder a bit.
And Kiko, there just wasn't anything we could do there. And probably because he was. There's one month shy of 15 too. You do have to weigh up. Are you doing it for him or are you. You doing it for yourself? I suppose it's all of those discussions with vet care are pretty tough, but it's not easier. But it was made easier because they're like you're in palliative care, you can't do anything because it's where they detected it was in his lungs and that's pretty rare as a primary cancer site for dogs. So that means it's in multi organs. So we weren't, there wasn't anything that we could do and we'd sort of. They were like you could have weeks, you could have days. So we took him home and then he just had the, a couple of nights later he had the worst night, like he couldn't sleep and he was just so uncomfortable. And we'd sort of planned like a big trip into Perth to take him to a luxury hotel just to, you know, I spend some quality time together. But we had to cancel all of that and say goodbye because you sort of. You realize that you probably. That's for you. He. He doesn't know. He. He's not gonna sort of go, oh, I missed out on that. He's just gonna have a nice sleep. So, yeah, and we're very fortunate. Again, that was in York and we had really, like, the vet care was really lovely, but we got lucky at the time when we needed to have really lovely vet care that we managed to find it while we're on the road. So. Yeah.
[00:17:54] Speaker B: Did you feel like giving up photography for a while or did you just. You just need time.
[00:17:59] Speaker C: It was weird. We'd never been in the caravan on the road without a dog. We still. We have a cat, so he was there, but he's not a. Let's go out and do stuff. He's a. Like. Like, please leave me in the van. I like looking at. I like looking at the changing scenery from inside the van. So it was. It was very different. And for a while you sort of think, we're on the road. Do we. Do we want a dog or do we want to go and visit national parks and do some other things that we.
So when the dogs were older, we had visited national parks, like, we'd just alternate because they were fine. Like, one of us would stay and one of us would go and do things. We were. That was fine for us to split up or occasionally, if it was a short round trip, that dogs would just stay in the van because they're senior, they love their sleep. So we could sort of leave them for a couple of hours when we didn't have them. It's like, well, do we, you know, do we start?
[00:18:57] Speaker B: What are we doing?
[00:18:58] Speaker C: Yeah, like, we're in wa. We were heading. We knew we were heading to Southern wa. There's a lot of beautiful national parks down there. But then after a couple weeks, we realized. We kept saying, we'll have to come back with the next dog. Like, this spot's beautiful. We'll have to come back. So you start to sort of think, we don't. Being on the road without a dog was really strange for us. And we were still living and planning. Like, we had a dog. Like, we went to some national parks. We went across to Rocknest island, which would never have done, and it was lovely. But it dawned on me that it wasn't. It didn't compensate for not being there and seeing the world with a dog. So I find it Interesting. When you see people talk about, do I take a dog or not? And now I've lived both sides of it and I'm like, it doesn't matter what you miss, like national parks or things like that, because you can work around it if you want to, but the experience of doing all of that with them is so lovely that it makes up for anything that you miss. And taking your dog for a walk on a beach together, feeling like you're the only people in the world is probably makes that the best beach in Australia. Opposed to whatever's on the top list by Lonely Planet. It's more for you. So beautiful because you're there together. So someone that I had photographed on the first trip, they had a litter of puppies and we were sort of. Do we? Don't we? So we did, obviously, and Scout. So he was born in Queensland, so he then flew to Perth. And then. So he's six months old and he's done Queensland, Perth, South Australia, Victoria.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: Like, he's seen more of Australia, more of Australia than I have.
[00:20:38] Speaker C: No. And I don't even think. Because we're home right now, I don't even know if he appreciates this is home or this is just a. Another stop. Like, we're out of the van for
[00:20:47] Speaker B: this is a big caravan we're in at the moment. Wow. It's got heaps of rooms. Where's the other little one that we normally are in?
[00:20:53] Speaker C: Yeah. And he was really quick to toilet train because the caravan you can keep eyes on really well. And then we're unpacking and we just let him have access to the house. And then at the end of the day, we walked up the front and there was like, he'd been to the toilet multiple times and it was. It was totally on us because we had forgot to show him, like, doors and how a house works, whether outside
[00:21:15] Speaker B: is or wherever it goes, because he was just.
[00:21:18] Speaker C: Well, I don't know. So he'd taken himself off to kind of what he thought. And then we're like, oh, we've got to toilet train him again. Fortunately, he's a super smart Border collie so far.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: So I was gonna ask you what breed of dog he was. A Border collie.
[00:21:32] Speaker C: Yeah. He's about to get full on. I mean, he's a little bit full on, but yeah, it'll. It'll get full on.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: I think I do remember someone recently talking to me about how Border collies, they sneak up at new. They're great when they're puppies. And then they go full on. And that's Dr. Katrina Warren.
[00:21:49] Speaker C: Yes. I think it's true of all puppies, though. Like, brace for. You know, that they work and the training and everything, but when they first come, they sleep so much, you then go, this is easy. Like, what was everyone talking about? This is really easy. And then they get a bit older and cheekier and. And I think, like, it's beautiful. But Border Collies are smart, so. So they are very trainable. But then as they get. I mean, I don't know how old Scout will be, but they get to an age where they realize, like, I can do this thing.
Like, whereas some other dogs take longer to train, but they're never as independent thinking, so they don't suddenly think, oh, I might go and try this, or, I might get away with this naughty habit. So we. It's probably coming with Scout. We definitely had it with Summer.
But it's even more frustrating because you. You look at them and they'll look at you with the corner of their eye and be like, yeah, I'm going for it. And you'd be like, I know, you know you're not supposed to do it, but they twinkle and then off they go, like, tweet. Like, they get a sparkle in the eye. Not that they go to the toilet, but they kind of get that cheeky glint, and then they're off doing whatever it is they know they shouldn't be.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: They must have been and still are such an inspiration to, you know, your work at the time and the work that you do now.
[00:23:04] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. I think you mentioned, was it hard to photograph? And I actually found comfort probably in two ways. One, it just takes you out of your own head because your grief is so real. But then when you turn up and you're doing something you love for that time, you're probably a little bit disassociated from your grief. Like, you're doing what you do. It's a bit. I don't want to say it's autopilot, because that undermines what I do when I turn up to a photo session. But you kind of step into your professional role and you're not so caught up in. In all the sadness that every other sort of thing has, but it was also really lovely because you're hanging out with, you know, gorgeous dogs and people who love their dogs, and that is always just lovely to be around. Like, it's. It's very heartwarming because we all love our dogs, and that depth of love that we have doesn't really change from person to person. It might be that you do different things with your dog or you enjoy doing different things, but that connection is very universal. And so it is lovely to be around that. I think the hardest thing is still I don't see many dogs that look like Summer, but when I see Japanese spits, like, I'm the weird person that has to go up and talk to them. And Japanese spitzers aren't really gregarious, so sometimes you're just sitting next to them, like, letting them get comfortable. But they also look quite like, you know, they're. They're white, they're fluffy, they've got black eyes and a black nose.
Now, you can pick differences, but they are, as a read, very similar.
So I have gone over to talk to people because I want to see their Japanese spits and then end up crying, which is sort of a bit neurotic, because they're probably like, who's this girl? Like, she came over, we were nice. And I mean, they get it when you explain, but it. It is harder to spend time around, I guess, dogs that are very similar to what you've lost. Summer, I mean, she was actually a mix. So I've had three people on Instagram from around the world send me photos that look like Summer of their dog, but I don't see them walking down the street. I don't sort of go, oh, that looks like Summer did meet another Border collie. She didn't look like Summer, but had the mannerisms. And as that dog ran off, she did that. You know, I was just talking about that look back of, I'm gonna go for it. And their dog did that, and I just started, like, blubbing up. And these were people we just met at a caravan park. So I was sort of like, I'm so sorry, I'm heading home now.
Because the mannerisms were the same as what Summer would do. And it's interesting watching Scout develop. Like, in my mind, I was getting a Border collie that was a boy. So I was kind of getting.
I knew it would never be a mix of my two dogs, but some of was a girl Border collie and some was a boy. So I was like, well, it's kind of. I might get the best of both dogs with this dog and Scouts, like, just growing up so very different. It's like proving a point to me, which in your head, you know, but in your heart, you're still a little bit hopeful of some of what you like having some of what you've lost. But he will Be his own dog. And it's lovely to watch him grow and develop and like, he is so. So we call him Scout McMunchy because he wants to chew on everything. And I've never had a pup like, the other guys were not like that. He is just such a. He'll pick sticks up and walk with them for five minutes and then he'll want bark and he'll play with that. And he just has to have something in his mouth which is very different to the other guys.
[00:26:44] Speaker B: Scout McMunchy.
[00:26:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm hoping it turns into. Because we decided for a few reasons that we would give him a nickname that would be Mac something. I'm hoping it turns into something endearing. Like it will change throughout his life. He was McChatty for a while because he was very vocal. That's. That's passed a bit.
McMunchy stayed. And I'm like, I hope that, you know, by the time you're six. I've got some endearing nicknames for you. Not ones that focus on your worst behavior.
[00:27:14] Speaker B: But imagine if dogs ever had to get a passport, they had to write their surname. So first name, Scout McChatty, McMunchy, McSleepy, McNaughty. But it's all written there, going, imagine being in the post office trying to fill that out, going, this, like, can we wing the.
[00:27:32] Speaker C: Do you have the best surnames, though? Like, you know, there's some. Well, Toby the Wonder Dog and Wiggle Butt as a surname. Like, there's some. And I've photographed dogs that have, like, proper full first last name combinations. And some of them are hilarious.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: Dog of the Year Awards. Tell me about how this started, because this is an amazing part of your journey.
[00:27:55] Speaker C: It is. So we're in Melbourne. 2020 was not a great year for someone who likes to travel. We spent a lot of time at home. We actually spent a lot of time where we couldn't even go outside 10 minutes of. So we, you know, as a side note, we had. We did a street by street muster of everywhere that we could go from home. Like, this is the life that we had. We were so bored. Like, for someone that loves to travel and go new places, being stuck at home was bizarre.
Then, you know, we had all these stories surfacing of how amazing dogs were during this period. And I. I know it. We summer and I got into trick training because she loved it. So when you're sort of feeling anxious or worried, you'd actually turn to your dog and they would be the source of just clearing your mind. Or taking your focus away from what's going on. And those stories were everywhere. And it just dawned on me that we should have, like, we should recognize dog Zigu. Because, I mean, the more I've done it, the more I realize it wasn't just 2020 that they stepped up, but in that year, dogs were saving people's lives, saving people's sanity, giving them the respite that they needed from what was going on externally. So I just sort of thought, I'll just do the Australian Dog of the year. Like, why not? Like, let's recognize.
And it obviously resonated because it's growing quite big the more I do it. It's, you know, you've got beautiful stories that are. An individual like that. Like that time in Covid, that their dog just helped them, gave them a reason to get up in the morning, gave them a reason to keep going. But then you have so many dogs with jobs, and I don't. And even now, I still find a job that I'm like. Like dogs are kind of everywhere, providing services across so many avenues in our community. You've got dogs in courts providing, you know, victims with help to deliver their testimony or get justice. You've got dogs going out and they can find weeds or certain types of wildlife to alert people to where they are so they can count or protect them. You've got assistance dogs and guide dogs, which I guess they're the ones that people traditionally know of. But when you start looking at it, we've got. And at Cova, we had dogs that were able to detect Covid. Like, they can do things that we people can't do, and they do it in a really ecologically friendly way. Like, if you look at the seagull patrols, they have them in Sydney and now in Federation Square. Like, there's no chemicals, there's no introduction of plastic or things like that. They are just so well suited to this role that they're the best thing. And I don't say thing lightly, but they're the best at the job over anything, anything, any technology.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: What are the seagull patrols?
[00:30:48] Speaker C: So I haven't heard they. This is someone you. One day when you're on the road, you can go and interview or find someone. So in Sydney Harbour, like, particularly around the Opera House, in that area, you've got a lot of outdoor cafes, and there were big problems with seagulls that were stealing chips. You also have the Maritime Museum there, and I'm not sure which was first, but the Maritime Museum had problems with Seagulls fouling on the ships and things like that and just being pesky. So they brought in dogs who loved to chase birds and their sole role is to go and move, like, move the birds on that were causing a nuisance.
And they had tried a whole lot of things before this, you know, noise, something's a noise, or introducing like plastic discs that in theory shine to make them fly away. And. And now you've got this dog who is like, this is the best job ever. Like the one at the Maritime Museum. His name was Bailey. I assume he's still there. He was a rescue dog and they went to a rescue and, like, we want a dog that loves to chase things and we'll see if he likes to chase seagulls. And he was like, job ever? Like, he's so happy. And they get an employee for like some training and some biscuits.
So, yeah, it's. It's fascinating when you think seagull patrol.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:32:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: If I was a dog, I'd love that job.
[00:32:08] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And they've introduced it at Fed Square as well, I guess for the similar reasons of the birds just being pesky. And when you think about it, it's not harming the bird, but they're just being moved on. And it's kind of in the most easy way for them too. If you introduce some other measures, I'm sure that they would not be so
[00:32:29] Speaker B: kind of well, well received. Absolutely. In all ways. In all ways, yeah. Seagull patrols, we need that in Western Australia, some of the places down there, Fremantle, and that.
[00:32:38] Speaker C: It only takes someone standing up the idea, I think.
So when you think about it, like, there's so many ways in which dogs are helping people.
And you've got your working dogs, of course, Buster dogs have kind of really shone a light on what they can do. They're all doing it for food or for a reward. Like, people would never do that. And people can't do what they do. Like when it comes to scent work and working in customs and picking up things that we shouldn't bring bringing back into the country. Like, people just don't even have the natural abilities that dogs have.
And I learned something because I photographed a deaf dog last week and they were saying when they lose one of their senses. So for deaf dogs, like hearing, their smell is even better than a dog that has all five senses. So we got. We were chatting and we're like, well, why aren't there more deaf dogs employed in those scent work roles? Which would certainly help with Them finding homes and things like that because they so often end up in rescue. Yeah, it just blows your mind what dogs are out there doing.
So from what started as kind of humble and saying thank you for what they did for us in Covid, has grown into just trying to recognize dogs. And, you know, if you sit down, there will be bad news about dogs, whether it's your neighbour complaining because someone left dog poo on their lawn or an unfortunate dog attack. And I feel like that taints the viewpoint of dogs and we really should recognize the ones that are out there making sense. So much difference whether that's me with my dogs. They were. They certainly inspired me and led me to do all the things that I do.
The dogs that are in hospitals giving care to people, I just felt we should recognize them more. So we do. We try. Now,
[00:34:26] Speaker B: 2024, what was the award that you won? Was it a category of photography with pets and people?
[00:34:32] Speaker C: Yeah, that's correct. So the International Pet Photography Awards, they have a number of different sort of categories and yeah, I won that. And it's such a. That actually came from the Australian Dog of the Year Awards. Like, I met her, she was a finalist and then she just booked a session in and a lovely dog. We just. It was just a really.
I don't know if they knew the story behind the dog so much as just the technical merit of the photo and. And that it was lovely. It's a hard one to explain, so it's taken looking down, but it looks like they're standing and. But the dog is kind of lying on top of her, which was how the dog would give her support when she got anxiety. So in that photo for her, it had a lot of meaning. It'd be interesting to know if the judges ever picked up on that or they just like the elements of the photo because it was a bit unique the way it was constructed.
Being just with a couple of people and being part of their world works really well for me.
[00:35:37] Speaker B: Kerry, this has been amazing chatting too, and it's been so much fun and also the serious parts as well, and hopefully we can get to see in Western Australia.
[00:35:46] Speaker C: Thank you so much for having me on. It was really lovely to chat and share and hear a little bit about you as well and share some of what we've been up to. Thank you.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: What Kerry does with a camera is incredible, but if you really listen to her, it's not just about photography, it's about noticing.
Noticing the small things your dog does, the way they look at you, the routines you don't realise are routines until they're gone.
Photos matter not because they're perfect, but because they remind us that was real. That relationship is real.
And when someone like Kerry, who has seen thousands of dogs, thousands of families, thousands of moments, she still feels the loss of Kika and Sama as deeply as she does, it says something important.
This grief doesn't get smaller just because you understand it. It doesn't go away because you've seen it before.
If anything, it proves the opposite.
The more you understand the bond, the more you feel when it's gone.
So if you're sitting there missing your dog, looking at photos, wishing you could step back into one of those moments, you're not stuck.
You're connected.
And that connection doesn't end when their life does. It just changes shape.
I'm John Littlefair and thank you for listening to this very special episode of Never Just A Dog.
