Advocating for Turkey's dogs
Since 2004, Turkey has a no kill, no capture policy towards all its stray animals. This means that cities have the responsibility to treat, vaccinate and sterilize their strays, then release them into their natural environment. Pioneer in the stray dog quandary, the country has been celebrated for its peaceful cohabitation between stray animals and humans in the city of Istanbul.
But all of that changed dramatically last year. After several dog attacks, the debate around stray dogs took a gruesome turn – some celebrities even suggesting dangerous stray dogs should be poisoned. In July 2021, the government banned several breeds, including pit bull terriers, dogo Argentinos, fila Brasileiros, Japanese tosas, American Staffordshire terriers and American bullies. Dogs who weren’t registered as “dangerous” by their owner, could be seized, and sent to shelters to live out the rest of their lives. Suddenly, shelters were flooded with unwanted, unadoptable dogs.
Most of the population in Turkey doesn’t find stray animals dangerous. But in a speech in December 2021, President Erdogan ordered city officials across Turkey to round up stray dogs and to send them to shelters for life. He also accused pet owners of elitism. After his declaration, shelters filled up with even more abandoned animals and strays, and dogs were reportedly massacred in the streets.
I was approached by multiple journalists and organizations for comments. In particular, I had a wonderful interview with ArtDog Istanbul, a contemporary art magazine. We talked about BSL (Breed Specific Legislation), and how inefficient it is. We talked about whether or not dogs are dangerous, and how to best address them if they are. I shared thoughts about what I have learned over the years advocating for dogs. Being able to share my work and my images in this way, for this purpose, felt very special. I was nervous that some of my statements could get their editor in trouble. Turkish journalists often find themselves imprisoned or in exile, under the ruthless Erdogan government. But the editor told me she didn’t want to refrain from telling her truth to the public. That humans are such a harmful species, we must raise awareness and speak up. It was very inspiring (though a little worrying).
The magazine came out with a cover that asked: WHO IS THE DANGEROUS RACE? Featuring Captain Kidd, a mama pit bull I photographed at Luvable Dog Rescue in Oregon.
There is a glimmer of hope for the dogs of Turkey. The Animal Rights Center of Istanbul has sued the government’s ruling. The court hasn’t decided on the outcome yet. The organization is planning a convention in June 2022 with round tables including veterinarians, lawyers and professors, to explain that the ban is not the answer. We have talked about me joining them… but that would be crazy! (wouldn’t it?!)
ARTICLE:
(Intro loosely translated using Google).
Multi-disciplinary French artist Sophie Gamand lives and works in Los Angeles. Gamand's award-winning and most known photos are “Wet Dog” and “Pit Bull Flower Power”. Since 2010, Gamand focuses on our relationship with dogs. She travels around the USA in shelters and photographs at-risk dogs. Sharing their stories on social media, she helps the dogs find a home and supports dog-related nonprofits. Through the stories of dogs, Gamand actually explores our humanity. The photo we used on the cover of this month’s issue is part of her “Pit Bull Flower Power” series, for which she photographed more than 450 shelter pit bulls in handmade flower crowns. Most of them have been adopted. Today the series is one of the most important tool in pit bull advocacy.
All reserach proves that there is no dangerous dog breed. Positive or negative behaviors are caused by humans. On New Year’s Eve in our country, after the incident involving 4-year-old Asiye, President Erdogan announced that “The place of dogs is in shelters. Municipalities should take the necessary measures.” Hundreds of dogs without collars were taken from the streets to shelter. Many pit bulls were abandoned on the street. These dogs will wait for death in shelters. We met artist Sophie Gamand, the owner of many awards, including a Sony World Photography award, online after the incident, and talked about the subject. From National Geographic to Oprah Magazine, the artist has been raising awareness of dogs with her work. Gamand says she photographs dogs to better understand people, who are actuing like God when they 'create' certain dog breeds. Satisfying their own needs and desires playing with the genetics of dogs, humans have subdued dogs, and Gamand explains she struggles with this idea. She thinks this gives people a great responsability, and our behavior towards dogs reveal a lot about ourselves.
Sophie you state that “My work explores these complex dynamics in the relationship between humans and dogs. Dogs hold up a mirror to our humanity, and I hope that by observing them, I can shed a better light on ourselves.” Can you elaborate on this?
For the past millennia, dogs have evolved in close partnership with humans. Domesticated dogs have been shaped in more ways than one, through artificial selection, breeding, training, changing the way they look or the skills they have, changing their role in society, too. Free-roaming dogs are a bit different, because they are not homed and therefore live in the margin of the human world. But homed dogs aren’t really natural animals anymore. They have been dramatically transformed by the hand of man. Everything we do to dogs, everything we do with dogs, speaks volume about our humanity. Whether we abuse them, force them to fight, or force them to learn skills that advance humans, whether we breed them for profit or to perform specific tasks, or whether we rescue them, put a collar and leash on them, a cashmere sweater, make them wear a costume for Halloween, all these things speak volume about humans. That’s what fascinates me the most. That, and the facts that dogs let us do all these things. I guess it speaks volume about them, too. Dogs are like a blank canvas for our grandiosity and megalomania to fully express itself. Dogs’ survival depends on it. It’s also, in a way, what makes them such a successful specie. Their ability to morph into whatever humans want them to be. It’s a very co-dependent relationship.
Can you tell us how did you first start focusing on dogs as the subject matter of your artistic practice?
I have always found animals – dogs in particular – to be easier than humans. Communication seems a bit more natural with them. Words don’t get in the way as much. It wasn’t until I moved to New York City from Europe, that dogs became central in my world. Now they have been my career for a decade. Dogs were my safe space growing up. And in New York, I was overwhelmed by the city and this new life. Dogs became my safe space again. I started photographing dogs, the things humans do with them. I spent a few years photographing at a vet clinic, following dog pageants and dog fashion events, and volunteering with a dog rescue. I covered the whole spectrum of dogs, from fancy chihuahuas on fashion runaways, to stray dogs who had been hurt and abused, to feral dogs who lived in the fringe of humanity. I am truly obsessed! There is so much to explore, so much art to create around dogs.
Around christmas time there was an attack by 2 pitbulls to a 4 year old girl, she was seriously injured. So Erdogan announced all strays must be put in shelters and since than its been a massacre. Pit buls are identified as dangerous species and they are now confined to life long prison. How would you comment on all these?
I don’t know the specific facts of the case, but banning a breed after such accident, is a common political tactic. When confronted to a community who is scared, angry and hurt, politicians will tend to make take drastic symbolic measures to appease the public and create a sense of false sense of security. Banning “dangerous dogs” is one of them. But it’s been proven again and again that breed bans are inefficient, costly for the public, and do very little to end dog bite incidents. I have seen it happen all over the world. A few years back, it was in Montreal in Canada. The public – especially pit bull families - fought really hard, and in the end, the mayor lost the election, and the ban was reversed. It is a lie to tell a community they will be safer if “dangerous dogs” are banned. It’s not how this works. And to pretend that only certain breeds of dogs are problematic, is irresponsible. Ultimately, it is the humans who are dangerous. People who are irresponsible dog owners, people who don’t neuter/spay their dogs, people who let their dogs run around. People who realize their dog is a liability, and yet do nothing to remedy the problem. Yes, some dogs can present a danger to communities. And they should be addressed in a humane way. The community should have the tools, like proper animal control, to act when a particular dog has the potential to hurt others. But the great majority of dogs live peacefully with humans, regardless of their breed, and including pit bulls. To say that one breed must be eradicated, and that will solve the problem, is a lie. It’s a little bit like saying: this red car was involved in an accident, therefore all red cars that look similar must be destroyed. Instead of addressing that one particular driver and maybe taking their driving license away.
One of the biggest problems with breed bans, is that it can be very difficult to assess whether a dog is of a certain breed or not. The word “pit bull” has become synonym with “muscular dog with a big head and a stocky body”, which is basically how most terrier mixes look like. There is a difference between a dog who is deemed inherently dangerous just because of the way they look, or their breed ancestry, and a dog who is actually dangerous because of their behavior. Only the latter should be the focus of the conversation.
I believe that a safer way to deal with problematic dogs is to educate the humans on proper dog ownership, how to care for a dog, how to interact with dogs. That, and cracking down on dog abusers. What studies have found, is that there are certain dogs and situations that present a bigger danger to communities: unneutered males, for example, can become aggressively territorial. Tethered dogs (chained dogs for example), can also be more involved in bite incidents. Statistics also show that children are more at risk because they don’t necessarily understand how to approach a dog safely, and because at that age (around 4 years old), their face will be at the same height than the face of the dog. This can lead to worse injuries if the dog grabs. Also, toddlers can be really scary for dogs, who don’t understand their body language, and can be freaked out by the unpredictability of children. It is essential to teach children not to approach a dog they don’t know, not to approach a dog who is chained, or who is eating. It is also essential to end the abuse of dogs, such as: chaining, dog fighting, and other practices, which exist only because dogs are the most loyal animals and will take all the abuse, just to satisfy their humans. It’s truly heartbreaking how these victims are now made to be the bad guys.
You have been photographing dogs since 2010. You are traveling in and around US to take photos shelter dogs and at risk dogs. Tell us please your observations about the state of dogs in the World. It seems human kind has been not so fair to this friendly creature, isn’t it?
When I hear the expression “Man’s best friend”, I cringe. What kind of best friend treat their friend like we do dogs? Or is the human-dog friendship meant to be one way only? Dogs have done everything we ask of them. Everything. But what do they truly get in return? In the best-case scenario: shelter, food, love? Even if we are not actively hurting our dogs, we still treat them like commodities: they stay home, alone, for long hours. They get to walk, eat or socialize with other dogs only when we say so. The list goes on. Living in New York, I met dogs who never got out. They would pee on pee pads inside their apartments. What kind of a life is that?
Lately, I have been feeling a sense of shame for the way we have commodified dogs. And I have been asking myself a lot about dogs and agency: do dogs have the abilities to make their own decisions? And how would that look like if they did? How can we foster a healthier, richer life for our dogs? Do dogs get to live the life they want? In that respect, I am more and more fascinated by street dogs, village dogs or community dogs who live with humans but aren’t in homes. They get to make decisions for themselves. And there is something beautiful about that. Or course they are also more at risk for getting diseases or being hurt, and I don’t want that either for them. But from a philosophical standpoint, I wonder which dog is freer: the homed dog who is safe? Or the free-ranging dog who roams the world?
Can you talk about how do you help dogs in finding a home?
As a photographer, I have been donated my time to animal shelters around the United States – and abroad. My photos are used to promote the dogs for adoption. I also post them on my social media platforms, and often connect adopters with the dogs that way. I have a particular project called Pit Bull Flower Power. I put flower crowns on pit bulls in shelters, and those portraits help them find homes. I have done about 450 portraits of pit bulls in flower crowns since I started the project in 2014. This project has been very popular and has changed the conversation around pit bulls. People are starting to see them more for the individual dogs they are, and not their breed mix.
My photos have led to countless adoptions. It’s been a very exciting way to using my skills. Last year, I help several dogs get adopted after they had been waiting for 7 years and more in shelters. I love sharing adoption updates, because I think it shows people that “normal people” adopt dogs. And even if a dog had a terrible past (like dogfighting), or has been in a cage for years, they still have a lot to offer and make great companions.
In Turkey, stray dogs are allowed tol ive in the streets – they need to spayed by the municipalities and they can only be confined to shelters for 10 days or until their treatment is done. What do you think is fairer to dogs- that has no home- living on the streets or in shelters?
I had no idea. And I love that. I think it’s beautiful. In the United States (and in a lot of the Western world) world, we have convinced ourselves that dogs cannot survive without humans. They must be rescued and homed. I work with the rescue community a lot in the United States, and I have seen stray dogs being “rescued”, who in my opinion should not have been pulled out of the streets. It felt more like capturing these dogs, and forcing them into homes they didn’t really want. And sure, some of them adapted and ended up living great happy lives with their families. Others did not. What if we let stray dogs make the decision for themselves? How would that look like? In Colombia, I spent a day photographing people in a rural town outside of Bogota. I stopped people with their dogs. And the stories they shared were amazing! All the dogs were street dogs who had just decided to hang out with that particular human. These were beautiful friendship, based on mutual trust and a natural bond. I loved that.
As long as we can keep everyone safe, fed and healthy, why not let dogs be and choose? This is a bit of a radical thought for someone who is involved in dog rescue, and I know a lot of rescuers would disagree with me. But I think it is worth asking ourselves these questions, and not being afraid to open our mind to the idea that dogs might be fine without our intervention.
A shelter is a terrifying place for a dog. I have visited all kinds of shelters in my work. Some of them were places of death. My dog comes from one of those places. The dogs were sick, terrified, dying. It was absolutely horrific. Even the best shelters I have visited, with the best enrichment programs and intentions, are still places of stress and anguish for most dogs. I think sheltering should ideally be a short-term solution only. But of course, it’s always more complicated than this...
Please Tell us what we do not know about dogs
There is so much we don’t know about dogs. I am always amazed at how little effort men have done to try and really understand dogs. They are incredible creatures, who have evolved completely intertwined with humans. Nowadays, city dogs are at the complete mercy of humans, and I find that problematic. Breeding is another big piece. We breed dogs who are so unhealthy, who suffer lifetime of problems, just because we think they look cute. Like French bulldogs or English bulldogs. These dogs have been completely deformed through breeding practices. Most of them cannot give birth naturally, and have to have C-sections performed. Many French bulldogs need airway surgery within their first year, in order to breathe normally. All these things are horrendous. These dogs spend their life suffocating, or having a ton of painful health issues and short lives, because their skulls are being bred to be small, their snouts too short, their legs bowed. And all of this suffering is inflicted upon these dogs, just because humans are obsessed with how “cute” they look. Instead of using dogs to our personal glory, creating breeds, buying dogs who were manufactured for our pleasure, why not embrace natural dogs? Why not letting these friendships form naturally? Maybe not everyone needs – or deserves – a dog. And that should be fine too.
Can you tell us some miracolous stories about dogs that you have encountered to give people some hope?
I have seen it all! I think the stories that have touched me the most, are dogs who had been rescued from dogfighting operations, and then rehabilitated and adopted with families. Some of them can live with other dogs and have completely normal lives. What I have learned in the decade I have been working with dog rescue, is that you can never really tell how a dog will turn out, when given a chance. They are so incredibly resilient, and all they need is someone to listen to them, and work with them. Every dog is an individual, and they should all be treated as such. It doesn’t matter their breed or their past. They are all unique, and they require unique care.
I think adopting from a shelter is one of the most beautiful celebration of the dog-human bond. There is nothing like meeting your best friend in that cage, looking them in the eye, and knowing, right there and then, that you two are meant together.
I know its on on going story for you and you are still discovering about humans through dogs but please do tell us what is your current conclusion about the state of human kind and dogs?
I think we have been lazy in our relationship with dogs. We have taken them for granted, and that has led to a lot of abuse or neglect. Dogs are a very successful specie. The demand for dogs is always growing. We are going to have to listen to them better and make an effort to make room for their needs, if we truly want to be their guardians. Being a dog owner comes with a huge responsibility. We are in charge of a vulnerable life. We are in control of every aspect of their life. Sharing your life with a dog should be a privilege for you. Not a due.
Can you tell us how do you photograph dogs? Do they pose for you?:) Do you think they sense of whats going on?
Most of my models are shelter dogs. They sit in a cage all day long and have very little things to do. Their world is so limited. During our shoot, they get to eat treats and get attention, they work on their skills like “sit” or “stay”. Some love it, they love pleasing their humans and showing what a good doggie they are. Others are so utterly overwhelmed by their experience at the shelter, they shut down. Every dog is different. And I try to adapt to every single one of them. I imagine it’s all very confusing to dogs. They don’t understand what’s happening to them. I feel a great sense of responsibility when I photograph them at the shelter. I am capturing a moment in their lives, when they are transitioning from what they knew, to the unknown. It’s an honor to witness their journey and, through my portraits, to give these dogs some of their dignity back.