Those who have taken a reactive dog into their homes know that they will face some struggles that not all dog owners will be able to relate to.
This situation is exactly what happened to local photographer, Christine Roulston.
However, instead of giving up on her furry companion, Roulston instead learned she was far from alone.
She then used her experiences, and reached out to the reactive dog community in Greater Victoria, to create an art project aimed at showing people the love that is shared between a dog owner and their reactive pet.
Roulston adopted her dog, Polly, from a rescue on Vancouver Island, but before that she had been a Saskatchewan farm pup.
She says a few incidents took place around her home which backs onto a park.
Her dog became immensely territorial in certain situations and would treat other dogs and people like they were potential threats.
“She was a puppy and she was fine around our family, but at around 1-year-old, she started doing some things,” Roulston told Victoria Buzz.
She had experience in raising and training dogs previous to adopting Polly, so instantly knew that something was different with her new animal.
“The day that really made me scared was when my daughter was loading her in the back of our van and I was getting my shoes on when she closed the back of our van,” said Roulston.
She continued, saying a neighbourhood dad was walking to the school down the street, minding his own business when Polly became agitated.
“Polly saw the man out of the corner of her eye I think as my daughter was closing the van and she just slipped out and just circled this guy for like, I don’t know, probably 10 yards,” she explained.
“All the hair on her back was standing up and she looked like a wolf from the tundra—like, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
Roulston says she tried to put herself between her dog and the man, trying to grab Polly and bring her back to the house.
Eventually, she was able to grab Polly by the scruff of her neck and remove her from the situation, but it was a scary experience for her and her family, who were left not knowing what to do.
Roulston called a veterinarian and got in touch with a trainer, but more notably, she discovered the Victoria Reactive Dog Support Group on Facebook.
There, she discovered she was very much not alone in what she was going through and found a plethora of resources to help her give Polly the love and support she needed.
Roulston found a community on this page and being that she is a professional photographer, she reached out to the support group page, asking if anyone would like to be a part of a project to photograph reactive dogs and their owners.
She says she got inundated with responses and then had to sort through them and find stories she connected with before bringing the dogs and their people into her Esquimalt studio space.
Those photos became her debut art exhibit No Bad Dogs.
No Bad Dogs is on display at Gallery Splash!, located in Esquimalt Town Square. The gallery is just inside the lobby shared by Esquimalt Roasting Company and the library.
Roulston hopes that people get two things out of her art show.
“I hope it raises awareness about reactive dogs and that people that might adopt one know that there’s hope. It might seem like hell right now but if they choose to do so, they can get through it,” she explained.
“Also, like celebrating how far these people have come with these dogs. So celebrating their bond and the fact that they chose to go, ‘okay, this dog might do terrible things, but can I work with them to give them the best life possible and keep everyone safe in the process.’ If you can do that you’ll have an amazing relationship with that dog,” Roulston concluded.
None of the photos are for sale in this exhibit, however, Roulston wants to continue to photograph these dogs and hopes more reactive dog owners will reach out to her for photo shoots.
No Bad Dogs is on display at Gallery Splash! until December 22nd.
On Saturday, December 14th, Roulston will also be setting up a photo booth at Gallery Splash! and offering complimentary photos for owners and their dogs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
See some of her photos that are on display below:
