Dogs In Cars: the Artistic Side of Abandoning Man's Best Friend

But despite man being at the top of the food chain as well as the most intelligent carbon-based lifeform (not sure about that to be honest), some people are such bad dog owners it makes you wonder how humans managed to develop as a species since the first Homo sapiens roamed free 200,000 years ago.

I'm talking about those kind of people that "forget" their pets in the car, doors locked, windows up and all. That's not a pretty scenario for a dog on a super hot and humid day. Furthermore, some people do the same thing with their toddlers, which is saying pretty much everything about their parenting skills.

Aiming to hike awareness about this unforgivable treatment, photographer Martin Usborne's newest project - The Silence of Dogs in Cars photo book, is trying to do just that in an artistic manner.

"There is life in the darkest places inside us"

It's impossible not to be moved by the sad looks of these quadruped beings so anxious about their owners' return. Martin tells that he was "once left in a car at a young age. I don’t know when or where or for how long, possibly at the age of four, perhaps outside a supermarket, probably for fifteen minutes only. The details don’t matter. The point is that I wondered if anyone would come back. The fear I felt was strong: in a child’s mind it is possible to be alone forever."

Although Mr. Usborne's childhood was a happy one, that unhappy experience inspired him to make this project happen. "I knew the photos would be dark. In a sense, I was attempting to go back inside my car, to re-experience what I couldn’t bear as a child. What I didn’t expect was to see so many subtle reactions by the dogs: some sad, some expectant, some angry, some dejected." the artist describes his latest creation.

The entire set of photographs can be found on Martin Usborne's website.