Lookin' for puppy love? Canadian photographer creates 'online dating profiles' for dogs on Instagram to help them get adopted by showcasing their unique personalities

• Rachael Rodgers, 36, from Canmore, Alberta, takes dogs from shelters and foster homes and has outdoor photo shoots with them
• She posts the dogs' photos, videos, and personal bios on her Instagram account @trailsandbears in hopes of finding them loving homes 
• Over the past two years, Rachael has photographed more than 200 dogs, and the feedback from the shelters has been positive
• Rachael's Instagram account now has more than 75,000 followers  

A Canadian photographer is helping dogs get adopted by creating 'online dating profiles' for them complete with portraits on her popular Instagram account.

Rachael Rodgers, 36, from Canmore, Alberta, voluntarily takes dogs from shelters and foster homes and has outdoor photo shoots with them to show potential owners what they are like and hopefully find them the right match.  

'That’s exactly what you want to do with the dog, is show them as you would an online dating profile,' she told NBC News of the posts shared on her account @trailsandbears, which boasts more than 75,000 followers. 

'It’s a dog in their element doing what they love to do, so that you can cut out all the not-good suitors and head right for someone who loves that kind of dog.'

Rachael said she came up with the idea after she posted a photo of her dog, Denali, sitting in a canoe in December 2016.

To her surprise, the scenic post got picked up by a dog Instagram account with millions of followers, prompting 6,000 people to start following her in return.  

Wanting to make use of her newfound Instagram fame, she realized she could to some good by showing her dog-loving followers pictures of animals who need homes. 

Rachael picks up the dogs from shelters herself, though some of the animals she is working with will get dropped off by their foster owners. 

She admitted 'the behind-the-scenes is not glamorous at all,' explaining some of the shelters she works with are a three-hour drive away from her home.   

As part of her project, she documents her day with the dogs with both photos and videos. Most of her posts feature at least one shot of the pups taken at eye level. 

The footage is outdoorsy in nature, with plenty of snapshots of them frolicking in the snow or enjoying a kayak ride. 

In order to get photos that show the dogs' true nature, she pets them and talks to them the whole time to get them to warm up. 

Rachael takes hundreds of photos of each dog before narrowing them down to the ten or so she will edit and post on Instagram and Facebook.

The photos are accompanied by lengthy captions that detail their adventure and describe each pooch's personality.

'This is Zach. He’s a puppy. He doesn’t know what he wants to be yet when he grows up, but whatever it is, he wants to be the best one,' she captioned a post from April.

'Zach is a puppy rep for pups of four litters who were all born from moms who were living stray in Northern Saskatchewan. If you’re looking for a puppy, please remember that you can adopt a blank slate rather than ordering one up custom from a breeder.'

Over the past two years, Rachael has photographed more than 200 dogs, and the feedback from the shelters has been positive. 

It's unclear exactly how many of the animals have been adopted because of her Instagram account, but the interaction she has had with people who given homes to the pups she has photographed indicates it's helpful. 

'There’s just too many unwanted dogs,' she told NBC news. 'I guess my goal is to show how amazing just any random dog at a shelter is, [and] usually I take the dogs that are harder to adopt. But if those dogs are amazing, then why get a family pet from a breeder?'