Inside ABANDONED: Humphrey

It is almost October, which is National Adopt-A-Dog Month!

Today, I am sharing an individual dog’s photographs and story from my forthcoming book, ABANDONED: Chronicling the Journeys of Once-Forsaken Dogs, released on October 1, 2024.

In ABANDONED, each dog’s story is emblematic of the 2.2 million dog adoptions that take place in this country each year—but they are also a reminder that due to our dog overpopulation crisis, 1 million rescues do not result in adoption annually.

Pictured immediately above on the left is Humphrey’s photograph before adoption; and pictured on the right is Humphrey’s photograph after adoption. Roughly one year separates the two above photographs.

Humphrey and his sister arrived at a Maryland rescue in 2013 riddled with mange, hair loss, and skin irritation issues. Adopted once, he was returned to the rescue for excessive barking—but I found him to be calm and easy to photograph, noting his “beautiful and soulful eyes.”

Happily, he was adopted a second time and re-named “Ricky-Bobby.” “The impact of adopting Ricky-Bobby has been nothing short of happiness and love,” his human companion reports. “No matter how tough of a day I have had, he always greets me at the door with a smile and a playful romp around the house.”

Humphrey, renamed Ricky-Bobby, is just one example from ABANDONED illustrating how dog rescue and adoption not only changes the lives of the dogs, but it simultaneously enriches the lives of the human companions as well. My sincere hope is that ABANDONED helps compel people to consider dog rescue and adoption, helping many dogs in need find permanent, loving homes, especially with our current dog overpopulation crisis in this country.

31 people endorsed ABANDONED including: Dr. Jane Goodall, Sally Mann, Susan Orlean, and John Grogan, to name a few, along with other New York Times bestselling authors, artists, and Presidents of large dog rescue and animal welfare organizations. 

And, if you have not pre-ordered your copy of ABANDONED, I hope you will consider ordering ABANDONED today, as pre-orders are vital for authors and to the book’s success! Many thanks for your support!

I am donating a portion of my royalties, earned from the sales of this book, to the SPCA International, helping dogs in need around the globe. You can read more here and here.