I'm Joanne Wetzel and I love hosting this fundraiser. It not only allows me to create stunning imagery for the winner's pups, who get to be in the calendar, but it continues to raise money for Charley's K9 Rescue for months to come and supports them in their mission to rescue high-risk bully breeds from rural shelters across our state!

Charley’s K9 is doing incredible work for our often misunderstood bully breeds. Having volunteered with hundreds of bully breed type dogs at my local shelter for almost seven years, I’ve come to understand that they are some of the most loving, energetic, resilient, and silliest dogs.

I chose Charley’s K9 Rescue as our calendar contest recipient this year because they are one of the only rescues across North Carolina that focuses specifically on pulling these types of dogs. Unfortunately, due to villainization and misunderstanding of the breed, breed-restriction legislation and housing, along with many, many other factors, such as adoptions being at an all-time low nationally, Charley’s is putting a focus on pulling and rehabbing these type of dogs whose lives also matter.

Bully breeds will be forever near and dear to my heart. The fact is, North Carolina has the third highest euthanasia rate in our country. Even though bully breeds generally only account for around 35-40% of our Wake County intake at the shelter, bully breeds have a longer length of stay in the shelter due to many factors (and many more) that I mentioned above.

Often, these dogs come in not spayed or neutered, creating unwanted litters, and land in the shelter around one to three years of age after being adopted as a puppy. They generally come in lacking socialization or exhibit medical or behavioral issues, making it harder for them to be placed or adopted.

Creating awareness to support them goes a long way in educating our community that animal overpopulation and homelessness is a community issue. We can, together, help these animals to reduce overpopulation, enrich their lives before they find a forever home, help socialize them, and in the end, save lives.

One of the most memorable moments from this year’s calendar surrounds Miss July, Addy’s image. The goal was to photograph her on the lakefront, which is one of her favorite places in the world… She loves to swim, play, and splash in the water along with chasing tennis balls. It just so happened she was running towards me during a shot and a butterfly happened to fly across the scene. Addy was so distracted, she started chasing the butterfly instead. The butterfly you see in the shot is there, it’s not AI. That is one of the sweetest moments from the calendar that I will never forget. Addy also happens to be a Charley’s K9 Alum, so it is definitely a kismet image.

The cover is also incredibly special to me because I actually photographed our cover model, Pablo, several years ago when he was available for adoption. Shortly thereafter, his wonderful foster mom and Charley’s K9 volunteer, Janelle, foster failed him. At the time, he had just been pulled as a stray and was fighting a severe ear infection while showcasing a body that clearly had seen neglect. Now, Pablo lives a life of plush, comfortable luxury with his canine sibling and endless supply of tennis balls and stuffed toys.

The calendar always gives me a means to showcase bully breeds in a beautiful, captivating way. When you look at the calendar, you see happy-go-lucky dogs living their best lives, but for many of them, like Miss June, Sybil, they didn’t start there. Some of them were pulled on their very last day before potentially being euthanized just because they ended up in a less than ideal situation… it was literally through no fault of their own. In Sybil’s case, she lived on a chain the first year of her life and had a chain embedded in her neck. Now, she is loved to the moon and back by her mom and dad while being an incredible foster sister to other adoptable dogs in need.

I really hope the calendar shows people that these dogs are really good dogs. When you see them in their kennel or in a sad adoption photo online, realize that’s them on their worst day. They are deserving of so much understanding, compassion, and love. When you choose to adopt, you say yes to giving them that chance and making an impact for shelter dogs across the nation.