Shelter to Soldier Dog Calendar Contest

Shelter to Soldier™ is a CA 501c3 nonprofit organization that adopts dogs from local shelters and trains them to become psychiatric service dogs for post-9/11 veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or Military Sexual Trauma (MST). The program also places emotional support animals (ESAs) with active duty military and veterans, and deploys the Shelter to Soldier Canine Ambassadors, a team of certified therapy dogs and their volunteer handlers, to provide no-cost visits of love and comfort to local military, veterans and their families.

Funds raised from the Photo Contest and Calendar Sales will benefit Shelter to Soldier's Food Pantry, providing nourishment, enrichment, and reward to our 30 service dogs and emotional support animals in training. Learning to become a psychiatric service dog requires hundreds of hours of training for each recruit. The Food Pantry provides them high-quality kibble, nutritional supplements, training treats, digestible chew bones, and more along their 12-18 month training journeys.

100% of proceeds from the sale of the calendar along with entry and voting fees benefit Shelter to Soldier.

Reserve a Spot in the Calendar

Want a guaranteed spot in the calendar? Reserve a spot on your month of choice, and your dog’s photo will be placed in the space before the 1st day of the month or after the last day of the month. Just choose your favorite photo and month, and pay!

Reserve Your Spot Here →

Prizes

Contest winners are determined through electronic vote tabulation supervised by GoGo Photo Contest, whose decisions are final.
The top 13 entries will receive a professional photo session with Keala Stevens Photography in June and July 2024 at predetermined locations throughout San Diego. Failure to commit to a session during these times will result in forfeiture of the prize, and the next top vote-getter will take the pet's spot in the calendar. No exceptions will be made.
The entry with the highest number of votes will win the coveted cover photo spot for the 2025 Shelter to Soldier Dog Calendar. The following 12 entries with the highest votes will be featured as dogs of the month.
Keala Stevens Photography will curate all calendar images and determine their respective featured months. The top 13 winners will receive a complimentary 5x7 photographic print of their calendar photo and can purchase products following their session if desired.
Calendars will be available for purchase starting October 2024. All proceeds from calendar sales will benefit Shelter to Soldier.
Additionally, the dog with the highest net new votes each week during the five-week contest will win a mini-contest prize from one of the participating sponsors. FOLLOW @ksp.pets for updates on weekly sponsors, prizes, and winners!

Rules

All dog breeds are welcome and encouraged to enter! Your dog does not need to be a rescue dog to participate.
The entry period into the Contest starts at 7:00:00 AM (Pacific Time) on Monday, April 22, 2024 and ends at 9:00:00 PM (Pacific Time) on Sunday, May 26, 2024.
Each entry into the Contest is a $5.00 non-refundable donation. By submitting a photo entry into the Contest, you acknowledge that your entry is your original work.
Votes are a donation of $1.00 per vote, with a minimum donation of $5.00 for five individual votes.
There is a limit of two pets per photo entry. People are not allowed in photos.
Photos should be full color, and not heavily filtered. Photos deemed offensive or obscene will be removed from the contest.
All proceeds benefit Shelter to Soldier.
For a complete list of Contest Rules visit: https://kealastevensphotography.com/pet-calendar-contest