( CNN ) Tails wagging wildly , tongues panting heavily , ears -- soft as felt -- flapping around as if they were wings propelling them against gravity . These canines are getting some much-needed freedom from their leash , running , leaping and rolling on a field at a landfill in North Carolina . But this is no normal walk in the park for these dogs , as it might be their last . Homeless and ownerless , these shelter dogs have almost maxed their shelf life in the local pound , and they could end up in the landfill buried with everything else people have discarded . This is the sad reality of a pet overpopulation problem that photographer Shannon Johnstone wishes to change through her wide lens and huge heart . As a last-ditch effort to save these dogs from euthanasia , her `` Landfill Dogs '' project has already changed the metaphorical landscape : Of the 127 dogs she has photographed on these symbolic grounds , 108 have gotten homes . But it 's more than just finding owners for the animals . She hopes to change the physical landscape as well and open the conversation about how to save these animals from a fate six feet under . `` Throwing bodies into landfill after being injected with a barbiturate is n't good for the environment , '' Johnstone said . `` My hope is that underlying that , we can figure out what to do to curb overpopulation from starting in first place . '' Johnstone knew nothing about homeless dogs until she adopted one of her own after completing graduate school . Her journey to shoot `` Landfill Dogs '' started with a forgotten crate and a neighbor nice enough to return it . The two spoke for a while about rescue animals and led Johnstone to start volunteering at the local shelter in Raleigh , North Carolina . `` I was awestruck by how many animals there were and how quick the turnover was , '' Johnstone said . The Wake County Animal Shelter houses animals as long as possible before they run out of room or resources to take care of them . `` The saddest thing is there is no alternative for animal overpopulation other than euthanasia , no other tool in their arsenal , '' Johnstone said . Her first project on the shelter in 2009 , titled `` Breeding Ignorance , '' depicted the lethal injection process . She wanted to show people what happens when the animals are not adopted , and she wanted to show how hard the animal shelters work as `` first responders '' to `` discarded property , '' she said . Years went by before she approached the subject again , but this time she took a different , more positive angle . Instead of showing the `` doom and gloom , '' she wanted to show that animals could be helped out before it was too late . The former director of the Wake County Animal Shelter asked her to come out to a landfill that he was turning into a public park . Social media . Follow @ CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography . She paused and thought , `` Why is he involved in both waste and animals ? '' The county animal shelter falls under the same management as the landfill . By law , pets are property . `` If you do n't want your property anymore , that 's what the animal shelter is for . And most of the time , they then end up in landfill , '' she said . Thus , `` Landfill Dogs '' was born to give man 's best friend the chance to be seen for their beauty -- and to be saved , like the wasteland-turned-park that they play on . Shannon Johnstone is an American photographer based in North Carolina . You can follow the `` Landfill Dogs '' project on Facebook .
Photographer Shannon Johnstone wants to help find homes for shelter dogs . She took photos of shelter dogs on a landfill that their bodies could end up in . Fortunately , of the 127 dogs she has photographed , 108 have gotten homes .