In the second half of the 19th century, with the emergence of animal welfare societies in the United States and Canada, visual culture became the vehicle for new discourses of benevolence towards animals. Illustrated periodicals (Our Dumb Animals, Humane Journal, etc.) published by these societies abounded with images of children caressing pets. More so than adults, children were ambassadors for the reforming ambitions of organisations dedicated to promoting animal welfare. The ethical precepts of this feelgood iconography percolated into photographic portraits of dogs, notably those by the Canadian William Notman. By exposing the mechanisms and limits of this visual pedagogy of solicitude, this article challenges the affective registers photography conjures up in its staging of interspecies relationships.