Life can be hard. We’re all slaloming through it, getting tossed around and doing our best to keep hold of the reins. We make decisions; we regret them. Have you ever looked at your dog and thought they must feel the same way? In this series of photographs by German photographer Ralph Hargarten, we see that dogs have it ruff, too.
1. “I ran away from home. I had a little piece of land outside Durango and a girl who loved me. But I wanted adventure. Well, I got it. I made it to the ocean and been begging for scraps up and down the coast.”
2. “I was inside, hittin’ him with the jab. Boom boom boom. I cross my feet, stumble a bit, open right up for his right hand. Lucy’s watching the whole thing. She and him have three litters now. You don’t bounce back from that.”
3. “I don’t regret what I did. I only regret I didn’t kill the rest of the squirrel’s family.”
4. “I ate a tire.”
5. “After all the years of classes, training, and dieting … I just didn’t have the looks to be a show dog.”
6. “Feels like I’ve just been chasing my tail my whole life, you know?”
7. “I’ve been herding since I was a pup. It’s what my parents did so I did it. Didn’t have the balls to try something new. I think I could have made a great police dog.”
8. “I buried all my bones in the field behind the Washington Mutual bank. Then, in 2008 they razed the bank and dug up the lot. All that work down the drain.”
9. “If I talk about it I’m gonna tear up.”
10. “I wish I had asked about dog years sooner. I was counting human years. Whole life just flew by. ”
11. “I made promises to her I couldn’t keep. I’m a dog after all. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel bad about it.”
12. “I know if I had stood up to that bully at the dog park when I was a pup I’d have more self-confidence now.”
13. “Try a new salon, she says. You’ll love it, she says.”
14. “The one who ran away.”
15. “I didn’t know my Mrs. was so unhappy. I wish she had told me, but then again I never asked. That’s why I can’t forgive myself.”
16. “It’s like a faint whisper. The bark of the dog I used to be.”
17. “I’m fine! Everything’s fine! Great! Life is great. No regrets to speak of!”
