The bitch Ruby is the cover model for the “Snout to Snout” calendar 2021. Photo: Anna Gastel / „RoccoLens“
They come from Romania, Spain and Hungary, grew up behind bars or on a short chain – the dogs in the calendar of the “Snout to Snout” project have been through a lot. As models, they now help their fellows.
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12/13/2020 – 8:00 a.m.
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Burladingen – Ruby looks directly into the lens of the camera with her amber eyes. Her long legs are straight, as is the back of the black-brown-white bitch. She looks confident. It cannot be taken for granted. Because Ruby, who used to be called Mimmi, was born in a killing station near the Romanian capital Bucharest. In such facilities, also known as public shelters, everything that is caught by dog catchers on the streets of Romania can be found.
Many animals die there – because they are killed or because of the poor living conditions. Those who survive lead a miserable existence. But some are lucky too, and Ruby is one of them. The now three year old bitch landed at the age of four months on the website of the animal welfare association Tiergel-Grenzlos. Its aim is to give tortured souls from Romania a loving home forever. It worked with Ruby. She now lives with a family from Baden-Württemberg – and adorns the cover of the “Schnauze an Schnauze” calendar for the year 2021.
Project starts with Justin
Angelika Daiber from Burladingen in the Zollernalb district is the head of the project. Every year the 47-year-old publishes a calendar with the help of volunteer photographers. She donates the proceeds to the association K9 Friends, which is committed to rescuing the street dogs in Targu Jiu, Romania. But how did it come about?
It all started almost six years ago. Daiber had decided to take a foster dog through K9 Friends until it could move in with his new family. Actually, everything was in the towel, the family had already been found, the transport organized – but two days before the interested parties jumped out. The animal lover took the dog in anyway – “and what came next exceeded all my expectations,” says Daiber.
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What exactly she means by that, the woman cannot put into words correctly, she emphasizes that again and again. The dog was traumatized, made progress one day and forgot about her the next, she tried to explain. No wonder: Justin – that’s the name of the gray herding dog mix, about 65 centimeters tall and 50 kilograms, lived in the public shelter of Targu Jiu until he was adopted. The conditions there are bad, there are even pictures showing little Justin next to his dead brother, says Daiber.
Calendar appears for the sixth time
In any case, the male that is so handsome today was the reason why the calendar existed – and why the money went to this club. “I just couldn’t hear the phrase ‘I would help if I could’”, says Daiber. While running for a walk she came up with the brilliant idea: “I kept meeting people with dogs from animal welfare who had a wide variety of stories to tell,” recalls the animal lover and added: “I asked myself why not just the stories combine with pictures, design and sell a calendar and donate the proceeds? “
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The skeptics around them would have laughed Daiber for this idea. They would have guessed that they would neither find a photographer nor sell a single calendar. The Burladinger proved the opposite: at times five photographers were working at the same time, and the sixth calendar in a row has now been published for the coming year.
Models mostly come from animal welfare themselves
Next to Ruby, who adorns the cover, there is Rantanplan, named after Lucky Luke’s loyal companion. The four-year-old male was allowed in front of the camera for the month of May. When he was a puppy he moved out of a Hungarian animal shelter and temporarily moved into the Hundebunt villa in the Zollernalb district, until he found his home with a young couple from Truchtelfingen. And then there is December model Merlin from Bulgaria. As a puppy, he was kept on a very short leash outdoors until an animal rights activist rescued him. At the age of four months he came to a foster home in Murrhardt (Rems-Murr-Kreis), now the brown and white male lives with his fellow Luna and his family in a house with a garden in Meßstetten.
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Actually, the models always come from animal welfare, but this year there are few exceptions. Maylo, for example, is one of them. Fifteen years ago he was sold on the Internet as a Chihuahua-Yorkshire mongrel and turned out to be a magnificent German Shepherd-Collie mix. He never had to freeze or go hungry. But because his mistress always stood up for such dogs, Maylo, who died in January, earned his place in the calendar. Rocco is also an exception. He belongs to photographer Anna Gastel from Balingen – and because she spends so much time behind the camera for other dogs, Daiber thinks it’s “only fair” that Rocco is allowed to cover a sheet of paper too.
Win-win situation for almost everyone
How is the calendar actually financed? Daiber does the math: 100 calendars cost 390 euros in the print shop. The animal lover puts them on the masters of the 13 models. “Everyone pays 30 euros for a place in the calendar and receives professionally made pictures in return,” a win-win situation for almost everyone. “Only the photographers don’t get much of it, maybe a little advertising,” says Daiber. And the initiator of the project doesn’t put a penny into her pocket for her work either. The calendars are sold for 22 euros each including postage, and the thousands of proceeds go in full to the K9 Friends association. In 2018 that was 2555 euros.
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But why does the money always go to this one club? After all, there are umpteen aid organizations in Romania, Spain and Hungary, which in turn depend on outside help. Quite simply: Daiber wants to know that the money will actually arrive – in full. “And then I know that,” she says resolutely. Although she has never been on site, she has some acquaintances who do.
While the models for the very first calendar were still being recruited through word of mouth, “Snout to Snout” launched an appeal on Facebook the following year. “That was in the evening,” remembers Daiber. “The next day we could have filled two calendars.” The 13 pages were popular with dog owners in the years that followed. But then Corona came – and the models no longer came to the photo session. “Our project was practically dead,” says Daiber.
All models for 2022 already set
Coincidentally, she then talked to the owner of an ex-model about the calendar, who wanted to ask around in her dog training group for interested parties – with success. Eight new models and their owners were in the starting blocks overnight, and the missing recordings were made on three days. For Daiber followed three weeks in which “I sat down at the computer in the morning and only left my place at night. This was the only way we were able to finish the calendar on time, “she says, adding:” And if you want one – there are still some available. “
And how does it continue? The first winter shootings for the 2022 calendar will soon take place. Because enough models have already registered, there will be no call for the year after next. “Even for the year 2023 we will have around half of the dogs together,” says Daiber proudly.
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