Nothing More Southern Than a Dog

There's nothing more Southern than a dog, especially a big, wet, slobbering dog, fresh from a swim in a cool fish pond.

The folks in Pike County, down in Georgia, the ones who bring us SlowExposures every year in the fall, have fun in February by celebrating Southern doggy-dom with a show called Puppy Love, now on exhibit, through the end of February, at A Novel Experience Bookshop in Zebulon, Georgia.

This year's grand prize winner is Jenny Burke's Charlie and the Dogs (see above). First and second prizes go to my friend Mary Shannon Johnstone, for her images Jorges 8th Birthday and Landfill Dogs: Rosebud (see below).

This image is part of a portfolio of heartbreaking work called Breeding Ignorance that Shannon  is doing on the realities and tragedies that result from domestic animal overpopulation.

Third place went to Cindy Hodnette, for her image Mickey and Logan. Honorable Mentions went to P. S. Davis for Summer Morning (see below), to David Foster for On a Mission, and to Cindy Hodnette for Henry in April.

If you can't get to Zebulon before the end of the month, the winning images are here and the whole show is here.

And if you want to hear my favorite Southern story about dogs, Lewis Grizzard's story about Ole Blue, go here
.