Dog Photographer of the Year Winners Spectacularly Highlight Our Special Bond With Dogs

Taking a decent photograph of a dog is always a challenge, but taking a great one? That takes extra patience, skill and a little luck. That’s why these winning photographs from this year’s ‘Dog Photographer Of The Year’ competition are so inspiring.

Not only do the photographers capture beautiful pictures of “Man’s Best Friend” but they also remind us why the bond between dogs and humans is so special.

Now in its thirteenth year, the international competition ran by charity The Kennel Club UK received almost 10,000 entries from over 70 different countries around the globe. Picking the photos to recognize was no easy feat.

“Selecting only ten winning images from thousands of remarkable photographs was an incredibly hard task, said Rosemary Smart, Kennel Club Chief Executive. “All of the photographs entered portrayed dogs and their many wonderful characteristics beautifully.”

Here are the winners and runner’s up and we think you will be as impressed as the judges with these stunning photographs.

Monica van der Maden from the Netherlands has been chosen as the overall winner of the competition with an image of Noa the Great Dane seemingly alone in a forest, which placed first in the ‘Oldies’ category, the first time an image from this particular group has been picked as an overall winner.

1st place Oldies, Overall Winner. Monica van der Maden – Netherlands

Monica said: “I am very grateful to be the overall winner of the Dog Photographer of the Year competition. Photography is what I love doing the most. I always try to capture the image of a dog in a way that you can see the emotion in their eyes, when I took this picture in the forest early one morning, Noa looked at her owner and you could feel the love between them.”

Elinor Roizman from Israel won the ‘Dogs at Play’ category with a photo of Lili the Pomeranian chasing a giant bubble on the beach.

1st place dogs at play. Elinor Roizman, Israel

Carol Durrant from the UK, who won the ‘Portrait’ category with a stunning image of three Flat Coated Retrievers.

‘Glenturret Autumn Gold’. Crew, Darcie, Pagan (Glenturret) Flat Coated Retrievers

1st place portrait, Carol Durrant, UK

The winner of the ‘Assistance Dogs’ category was Dean Mortimer from Castle Combe, Wiltshire, who captured the unique bond between man and dog as German Shepherd Dog, Rocko comforted his ex-soldier owner who suffers from PTSD.

1st Place Assistance Dogs, Dean Mortimer, UK

Tracy Kidd from the UK who won the ‘Dogs at Work’ category with a group shot of spaniels and retriever dogs after a day of working hard.

1st Place Dogs at Work, Tracy Kidd, UK

‘Dolce far niente on a lovely afternoon’. Godji, Portuguese Podengo crossbreed

1st place Man’s Best Friend. Joana Matos, Portugal

‘One heart, one family’ Dogs: Dash, Royal, Harley, Ženka, Ryan, Ready, all border collies.

1st place I Love Dogs Because. Tamara Kedves, Hungary, 16 years old

Klaus Dyber from Germany, who won the ‘Puppy’ category with a beautiful image of Ceylin the 3 month-old Italian Greyhound.

1st place puppies. Klaus Dyba, Germany

Sonya Kolb from New Jersey in the United States was named as the winner of the ‘Rescue Dog’ award for her intimate portrait of a rescued Labrador and his loving new owners.