This American man quit his corporate job to travel the world photographing dogs

CNN

19-02-2025

A lifelong dog lover, John Fabiano, originally from Buffalo, New York, was always fascinated by the relationship between dogs and humans. But he hadn't imagined that he could actually turn this into a career.
However, after realizing that he loved photographing pooches, Fabiano, who was feeling unfulfilled while working in the corporate world, began hatching an escape plan.
In 2022, he quit his job to travel the world documenting the varying bonds between dogs and people.
Over the past two years, he's visited the likes of Greenland to photograph Greenlandic sled dogs, Germany for German Shepherds and Japan for Shiba Inus as part of his passion project Wags Around the World.
'I'm in my mid-30s, I'm traveling around photographing dogs,' Fabiano tells CNN Travel via Zoom. 'I've left the corporate world, and I couldn't be happier or having more fun.'
While Fabiano didn't own a high-quality camera until 2020, he says he was able to hone in on his photography during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he began taking lessons and saving as much money as he could in preparation for his big adventure.
When it came to deciding which countries to visit, Fabian explains that he mapped out 'different sections and different relationships that people have with dogs.'
He divided the project into four groups: wild dogs, working dogs, purebred dogs and 'the underdogs.'
'There were certain relationships that I wanted to see,' Fabiano explains. 'I mean, the way I treat my dog is much different to the way other people treat dogs around the world. So I wanted to get a glimpse of that.'
He began his trip in March 2023, heading to Germany, where he met with a woman who owned 10 German Shepherds and felt an instant bond.
'Something that I guess I didn't realize was going to be so impactful on me was the connections with humans I was going to have across the world,' he reflects.
Fabiano goes on to explain how his relationship with his dog Viola has helped him through many tough times and provided him a focus when he felt directionless.
'There were a lot of times where maybe I was in a rut, and I'd look at my dog and I'd say, 'What does she want to do?'' he says. 'And she wants to go and do something to live.
'And it got me off my couch. It got us out into nature. It got my camera in my hand. Those are some of the happiest moments for me.'
Fabiano has come to look at dogs as role models over the years, and has nothing but admiration for their 'zest for life' and 'willingness to go and live and be on the move' at any time.
'There is no blueprint for loving and respecting dogs,' he adds. 'Each relationship is unique and dogs ask so little from us.'
After Germany, his next stop was Greenland, where he took a photo during a sled ride that earned him first place in the documentary category of the Dog Photography Awards in 2024.
'That photo will always be very special to me,' he adds.
Fabiano went on to visit India to photograph some of the country's street dogs, spending time with animal activist Satish Waran in the city of Chennai.
'We sat in the sand and scratched the bellies of street dogs while the sun rose,' he recounts.
In October 2023, Fabiano, who has been chronicling his adventures on his Instagram account @WagsAroundTheWorld, traveled to South Africa to photograph painted dogs, also known as African wild dogs.
For the 'underdogs' section of the trip, he traveled to Ireland to photograph restricted dog breeds and different parts of the United States to photograph rescue dogs.
'I saw beautiful German Shepherds, beautiful Huskies, dogs that people are paying thousands of dollars for sitting in kennels and rescues,' he says of his time traveling through the US.
'So these are dogs that I sought out in other countries… These are highly intelligent, trainable working dogs.
'If you put in the time, you can get these dogs to do whatever you want. But clearly, owners picked the wrong breeds.'
One of Fabiano's most memorable trips was to Australia, where he spent 40 days driving around in a campervan with a fellow dog lover meeting various dogs and their owners.
'That was a unique one,' he says.
According to Fabiano, one of the toughest aspects of photographing dogs is the fact that he has to 'get low all the time.'
'If I don't photograph dogs for a couple weeks, and then I have a day of doing it, I feel it in my knees and in my quads the next day,' he says.
'Because I am bending the entire day… And there's a lot of running on my end. Trying to just snap on the fly.'
While he admits that dogs aren't necessarily the easiest subjects to work, noting that he has many 'horrible photos' of canines that are not sitting still or looking at the camera, Fabiano would choose photographing a dog over photographing a person any day.
'I don't like to photograph people all that much,' he says. 'I don't like telling people what to do, directing them, saying, 'Go here, go there. Do this.'
'Dogs, I just let them be dogs. I rarely try and pose them.'
More recently, Fabiano visited Costa Rica, bringing along Viola and his girlfriend Steph, to photograph the canines of Territorio de Zaguates (Land of the Strays), which is home to over 1,800 stray dogs.
He was particularly moved by his trip to the dog sanctuary founded by former teacher Lya Battle, recounting how he was constantly surrounded by dogs during his time there.
'They were everywhere,' he says. 'And personally, I've always loved rescue dogs. That's my style of dog. I'll have rescues my entire life.
'So to see someone making such a massive impact, and doing it at a level that has saved so many dogs, it really was inspiring. And I was just amazed by the work that she (Battle) has done.'
Although Fabiano has had many incredible experiences while photographing dogs, it hasn't always been an easy task.
Aside from the physical and technical issues that come into play, he's also found some aspects of his work incredibly emotional, particularly when encountering dogs in 'dire situations.'
'Dogs that were on the streets,' he reflects. 'Dogs that were tied up. There's not much I could really do… I would usually reach out to the people I was with in the areas that were helping stray dogs.
'But I was on the move, I didn't have a place to take a dog in anything like that. It was situations where dogs were probably in need and I really couldn't help.
'So those were struggles, and there were really sobering moments where I would have liked to do more.'
While he's been able to travel to 18 different countries so far, Fabiano says that Thailand is next on his list.
'There's a couple of people that I've admired for their work in Thailand and what they've done with the stray dogs there,' he says.
'Feeding them, taking care of them, giving them medical attention. And I would really like to see some of their work up close.'
He's also keen to visit border collies in the sheep farms of Scotland.
'I think that those dogs are unbelievably intelligent and trainable, and the work they do is remarkable,' he says. 'So to see them in action is really cool and special.'
However, Fabiano, who plans to write a book about his adventures, admits that he's 'close to out of money' and may have no choice but to 'rejoin the corporate world' sooner rather than later.
'The well is not empty,' he says. 'But I can see the bottom of it… I have to use those degrees that I got, and start making some money again.'
But if, or perhaps when, that happens, Fabiano say he'll continue on documenting the different relationships between dogs and humans across the globe in some capacity.
'It's something that I'm going to do for the rest of my life,' he says. 'I'm so fascinated by it.'
'I've loved dogs since I was a little kid… It makes me very happy that my younger self would be very proud of what I'm doing today.'