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Animal Control Sketch

The original photograph comes from 2007 in Ocean Beach, San Diego, CA of a nice, cowering and his owner – startled by my camera. However, after detaching the dog from the remainder of the photograph I became interested in juxtaposing this scared dog with another experience I had in New York City. A neighbor of mine would force his dogs to bite on to a tire connected to a tree branch, hanging by their jaws to strengthen them for fighting. They would play very loud hip-hop to drown out the sound of the dog yelping, and each time he did, they would hit him in the ribs with a stick. The dog would stay there for 15 or 20 minutes, sometimes more. After multiple calls to animal control by our house and neighbors, they eventually stopped… but would always start back again in a few days.