Lost Dogs

This didn’t start out as a standalone series. I originally photographed a “lost dog” poster on the ground one night to include in my Found series, but then, as I continued to build Chile Strays, I found myself wondering where all these strays come from. They’re all so nice looking with nice coats, not bony third world mongrel dogs.

I wondered if they were pets who ran away. I see a lot of Chileans walking their dogs leash-less, and sometimes dogs get excited and run off somewhere to explore and their owners can’t catch up.

I wondered if they were formerly excess puppies that the owners left out on the streets, this happens more often than not in the Philippines, where I’m from.

As I started wondering these things, I started seeing more of these posters around in Valparaiso, Renaca, and Santiago. All my other series are selected photos, (i.e., I don’t include every stray dog photo I have into Chile Strays, or every picture shot at night into my Nights series).

This series however isn’t edited in that sense. Every poster I’ve encountered, I’ve included in this series.

These “lost” posters are very detailed. The dogs are named. Pufy, Tamagoshi, I hope you found your way home.