UPDATED IN THE BEST WAY! He Waited His Whole Life, Then Came The Greatest Adventure
One Dog’s Big Break: How Xube Is Winning Hearts (and Hopefully a Home)
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.
TRENTON—He is a dog of many names: Scuba Steve. Xube. Cutie Face. Sweetest Boy Ever. Almost his entire life, he’s lived in a shelter in a cage waiting for a home.
Waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
But these past few days, Xube (we’ll call him that), had the adventure of a doggy lifetime and a taste of life beyond the shelter and in the real world, surrounded by people who care for him, people who are making him a star.
Xube has spent his last year at the SPCA of Hancock County. Before that? He was in other shelters. This week, though, he went on a lobster boat and chilled on SPCA Development and Communication Coordinator Mariah Donovan’s lap, visited a lighthouse, toured around Bar Harbor, and made some great new human friends who are the people behind Dog Breath Foundation: Kaylee Greer (bestselling author, puptographer and star of National Geographic WILD's three-part television mini-series Pupparazzi) and her three-human team.
And this boy?
He’s blossomed. He’s showing who he really is: a boy with a fantastic presence, interested in the world, majestic, and easily lulled to sleep on a lobster boat. The Xube wiggling toward Greer’s team is a smiling boy that’s a far cry from the first images of him at the shelter.
“He’s been transferred from shelter to shelter,” Greer explained. But the SPCA of Hancock County is determined to find this boy the home he needs. Part of that effort? It’s showing the soul of Scuba Steve aka Xube via photos—great photos—and that matters.
Greer and her humans from Dog Breath Foundation go to a shelter, find the dog that’s been there the longest and bring them out for multiple jaunts, using their incredible skills at photography and understanding of dogs to take photos and highlight the shelter dogs in ways they’ve never been highlighted before.
There’s a lot of love that goes on in a photo shoot and a lot of patience.
For the dogs involved, it’s a mini-break with a purpose, because when it’s all done, the dog returns to the shelter and the humans cross their fingers that the fantastic photos and video and jaunts out in the world will inspire a kind human to adopt the dog and give them a home.
That’s the hope for Xube.
That’s the hope for all the dogs.
The Dog Breath Foundation’s staff also gives shelter staff a workshop on how to take outstanding dog photos themselves. That helps them stand out amidst all the dogs that need homes, highlighting the dog’s personality. Canon often donates cameras and kits to the shelters that are lucky enough to be visited.
The event is called the Greatest Adventure and Xube will be the last of this ten-episode run, which will hopefully continue if there are some benefactors.
THE GREATEST ADVENTURE
It began with a point and shoot camera at a shelter near Boston, Massachusetts, but the mission that’s driven Greer forward has expanded.
“I began my photography career as a shelter volunteer taking photos to help adoptable dogs find their forever homes. Over the past 12 years, I have built up my business, traveled around the world photographing dogs, shot for huge commercial brands and taught sold-out workshops, but after all that time my dream of helping shelter dogs through the power of photography the dream that started everything has only grown bigger,” Greer says in an introductory video on the YouTube channel.
Every dog she saves? It means something. The photos and video she and her crew create together are more than simple photos and videos; they are art. And art? Art captures spirit. It makes people feel. It makes people act. It makes people think.
Here’s the thing: there’s a little bit of magic involved when this crew works. They have to find the personality of a dog and show it—somehow—to the world.
Why?
For one big reason: because dogs like Xube need lives and adventures and love beyond the amazing kindness of shelter volunteers. They need homes.
THE TEAM
Watching Greer and her team at work is like watching friends who are also family.
On Monday afternoon, videographer Doug Young (half of YouTube’s “Adventures of Doug and Emmie”) was out on the lawn of Agamont Park, talking to people, making friends, learning things, and potentially making connections that might get Xube adopted.
They call that love of conversation and connection “Douging.”
Videographer Emily Mender (the other half of those YouTube adventures) was already setting up shots, scouting areas, calmly taking everything in. She was the first to spot a dog venturing nearby and called it out. Brilliance shined out of her and kindness, too.
Those elements—brilliance and kindness—might be the connective factor for the four, that and their massive skill and their love for dogs and hope that those dogs will find homes.
That’s what the yearlong adventure gallivanting across the country, dealing with lack of washing machines and bad WiFi signals, living in an RV and an Airstream for months is really all about.
That’s what it’s about for Sam Haddix, too, who patiently ran out to find Xube an ice cream cone. He handles any potential situation that might come up all while being a light wrangler and dog handler and portrait photographer.
In a video about Marshall, another dog featured from another shelter in another state, Haddix explained how they walked into Marshall’s room at his shelter and there is a board.
“And it has the number of days that Marshall's been available for adoption and when we walk into the room we see that it reads 1,234 days? And that's a lot of days. That's four years, so it's our mission to erase that number and I think we can do it,” he said.
It’s a mission for all the dogs and all the shelters they encounter. Their success rate is high so far. Not only do they feature a dog, the shelters they work with learn how to feature other animals there, too. The success is meant to multiply.
XUBE
Xube has been in the SPCA of Hancock County for just about a year. He was in other shelters before that.
According to the SPCA website, “Xube (pronounced Zoob) is the sweetest guy in town! Xube is a pup that is around five years old. His puppy years have come and gone while he’s been shuffling around shelters, and he’s really ready to find his forever home. It is non-negotiable that he goes to a home with no other animals. He does not like dogs. He does not like cats. He thinks small animals are great toys. People? Amazing! Xube loves any and all people and happily greets everyone he sees! We know his requests are a bit specific, but boy is he worth it. He’s the sweetest, silliest boy and doesn't have a mean bone in his body when it comes to people. Since being in our care, he has gained over 15 healthy pounds and is now at a maintainable weight… though he often tries to convince us that he could use more snackies!”
The thing with working with dogs like Xube is that it doesn’t always go the way the humans might want it to.
On Monday, Xube galloped across the green by Agamont Park with Donovan and a volunteer. The crew greeted his wiggling self happily and they all waited for Haddix and Greer to give him some ice cream. Mender and Young set up some shots.
Xube looked at the ice cream cone, took a tiny lick, rejected it and just then Emily (Emmie) called out that a dog was coming by. Xube saw it too and there was a bit of a far-away lunge followed by a succession of barks. And the ice cream tumbled to the grass.
“Did you get a shot when he did, like, one bite on it?” Greer asked.
“I think so.”
“Did anyone get at least one lick?
“I got a bite.”
“We might be able to sell it, maybe just sell this?”
Greer adopted a silly voice, addressing Xube. “Would you like to try the cone, sir? Did you know the cone was edible?”
Greer laughed. They all laughed. Half the crew stood. Half was on the ground—dog level. Cameras were everywhere. Tourists strolled by the little grove of trees the crew had found by the Bar Harbor Inn, hoping it will be more relaxing for Xube than out in the middle of Agamont Park or the Village Green.
Xube basked in the attention.
“Our little snubber,” Greer crooned.
While Xube did not like the ice cream until it was on the ground and mixed with grass, he did enthusiastically take one Cheerio from Donovan’s pocket.
“It’s been there for months.” She laughs.
Whoever adopts Xube needs to know that he’s dog reactive, which was why Mender was focused on constantly scanning the area protectively. That means if Xube is out and about and sees a dog, he’ll make a massive noise and a lunge or three.
Humans are a different story for this pup. While he was in Bar Harbor, a three-year-old ran up to him with her fake sword. He was fine, chill, and happy. Other dogs are a bit much, though.
That makes it harder for Xube to find the right home—the perfect place where his love-bug self belongs.
“Even big crowds, little kids coming up, he's fine,” Greer said. ‘Dog in that crowd? All over. Then the seagull’s scream comes out.”
THE NEED
The Hancock County SPCA has hosted over 300 animals in 2024, taking care of them all, hoping to find them safe and loving homes.
That intake number was triple 2023’s.
Just in 2020, Maine shelters took in 2,540 stray dogs, 2,271 surrendered dogs, and 6,131 dogs transferred from other areas. 97% of those were reclaimed or adopted.
For cats in the same year, shelters took in 6,813 stray cats, 6,237 surrendered cats, and 3,618 cats transferred from other areas. Of those cats, 85% were adopted and 5% were reclaimed.
The need never stops.
The need is constant and it is always there.
According to Dog Breath Foundation’s website, “Photography is an incredibly impactful and persuasive medium, with a power to give a voice to the voiceless.
For many shelter dogs, a single image is their only shot at getting noticed by potential adopters, and finding their forever homes.”
Through the images the dogs’ personalities shine through enough that they receive attention. Attention brings them one step closer to finding a home.
“Working with Kaylee, Sam, Doug, and Emmie is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. They are all so passionate about their work and their love for shelter dogs exudes into everything they do. Words don’t feel like enough to describe what it means for the SPCA-HC to see Xube, who’s been in a shelter most of his life, out having having his Greatest Adventure. He has been so full of joy every step of the way and after a year of shelter life, we are so hopeful that this journey ends with Xubey in the home he finally deserves,” Donovan said.
WEDNESDAY’S CLASS
The SPCA of Hancock County hopes people will attend the shelter dog photography workshop this Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. at the Ellsworth Public Library.
“Not only will you get to learn from the INCREDIBLE Kaylee Greer, you will also get a sneak peek at Xube’s photographs! We’re so excited,” the shelter wrote on a Facebook post Tuesday morning.
“It’s been unbelievable and we've gotten to help so many new dogs, but more than that, like, when we stay behind at any given location, as you might know, we give a workshop,” Greer said.
The workshop is two hours long. It's really in depth. It’s all about how you can take really incredible and impactful photos of your shelter dogs.”
The goal is to really make the public notice. Making people notice isn’t always easy.
“Because in this day and age, you know, with these little tiny phones, and machines that we have in our pockets, the level of noise that comes through any person's life at any (time) is ridiculous. It's off the charts,” Greer said. “So, to get anybody to pay attention for, like, two seconds, to a dog that really needs a light shown on him is a really hard thing to do these days.”
She has cool tips and tricks from her last 15 years of photographing dogs, which she shares with the shelter volunteers, employees, and the public.
“There are all these amazing ways to really make impactful photos that are going to stick in somebody's memory,” she said.
Through a partnership with Canon, they also are able to donate a new camera and equipment.
“That’s something that's out of reach for your average shelter to be able to have, because it's just it's quite a steep investment. It's a hefty investment. So it's not the first thing that they're going to put their money towards,” Greer said, not when they need to take care of animals’ medical issues, keep them fed and warm and loved.
UPDATE!
On Friday, June 27, the Hancock County SPCA posted the following:
“XUBE. IS. HOME.
“After 331 days at the SPCA-HC, several years in shelters before, and coming into our care emaciated and neglected - Xube. is. home. On Xube's last day of his Greatest Adventure with the @Dog Breath Photography, his perfect humans came along, and Xube immediately decided that they weren't returning home without him.
“Not only do they have the experience and ideal situation for Xube, they have hearts of gold that saw him for the amazing, perfect, sweet baby he has always been.
“Photos from Xube's Greatest Adventure will be coming, so prepare yourselves to enjoy his INCREDIBLE photos knowing that he is living the life he's always deserved!
“We love you so much, Xubey”
There are a lot of other beautiful dogs and cats like Xubey at the SPCA and beyond.
Unless otherwise specified, photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
ADOPTABLE PETS at the SPCA of Hancock County
SPCA of Hancock County’s Facebook page is here.
DOG BREATH FOUNDATION INFORMATION:
Dog Breath’s YouTube channel is here.
You can visit The Dog Breath Foundation website to find out more about the initiative, and to support its mission.
ANIMAL WISHLISTS FOR THE SPCA OF HANCOCK COUNTY
Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/39PU8UDQX2H64...
Chewy wishlist: https://www.chewy.com/g/spca-of-hancock-county_b68283687...
MORE ABOUT KAYLEE GREER VIA THE FOUNDATION’S WEBSITE
Kaylee Greer, one of the most sought after multi-international, award-winning "dogtographers' in the world and a creative leader in her industry, has dedicated her life to telling the stories of the dogs who have been forgotten and left behind. Through her camera lens, her mission is to give a voice to the voiceless, and capture the endless spirit and whimsy of dog in a single photograph.
Kaylee's images grace books, magazines, products, packaging, calendar lines, greeting cards, and advertising campaigns throughout the commercial pet industry.
Kaylee is the star of National Geographic WILD's three-part television mini-series Pupparazzi. The highly acclaimed series special chronicles the vibrant photographer's adventures in capturing shelter dogs in need across America, as well as her projects with commercial pet brands in search of once-in-a-lifetime imagery.
Kaylee is the bestselling author behind the photography chart-topping book title 'Dogotgraphy: A-Knock-Your-Socks-Off Guide to Capturing the Best Dog Photos on Earth. Kaylee has been invited to speak on some of the largest creative conference stages in the world, and has partnered with iconic brands in the photography industry, including Canon, Adobe, B&H Photo, Westcott Lighting and Platypod Tripods.
Kaylee is known for her love of vibrant colors and her imagery's emphasis on the comedy and character of man's best friend. Her unique photographic style is instantly recognizable and is drawn directly from the inspiration she finds inside the soul of a dog. She is fueled by the joy, whimsy and unrelenting happiness that is so remarkably canine.
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