It was the quality of Bella’s gaze that attracted photographer Mark Menditto. It haunted him from the first moment he saw her during the New Jersey Greyhound Adoption Program (NJGAP) intake late last year, and inspired him to follow her as she settled into her foster home and learned about things our own co-pilots take for granted—stairs, toys, snow. Bella’s story had a happy ending when a family discovered her photograph on Menditto’s website and adopted her.

NJGAP, which serves New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization. People donate their time to pick up dogs from rescue trailers, bathe and groom them, and provide foster care until they find permanent homes. Over the past 16 years, NJGAP has placed more than 2,000 rescued racing Greyhounds.
 
 

Mark Menditto is a New Jersey-based freelance photographer. See more of his work here. 
 

Photographs © Mark Menditto