In photos: the dogs of Dogtown

Being just a few miles away from his LA home, Venice Beach is one of Saguy’s most visited, and treasured places to visit. The book’s name is actually taken from a nickname given to the area in the early 1970s, which at the time was a rough, run down part of town. Architecturally it was a wasteland relic of its former glory days as a seaside fairground destination.

“I cannot find a definitive reason as to why it’s called Dogtown,” Saguy explains. “There’s people who say there might have been a lot of stray dogs in the area, other people say it has nothing to do with the dogs – it’s just that it was kind of a rough atmosphere.”

Either way, in the present day, Dogtown is a fitting name for an area that is teeming with pets. From pint-sized chihuahuas to built bulldogs, dogs are everywhere on the beachfront, and Saguy’s pictures capture their diversity. “There’s a lot of bulldogs, some great danes, poodles,” he says. “The thing that’s really in fashion is pugs and bulldogs and there’s actually meets where they bring their bulldogs and they’re all decked out in Louis Vuitton, gold chains – it’s really funny.”