Typically known for their care-free attitudes, the dogs in Elke Vogelsang’s portraits are experiencing some of their more intense moments of canine anticipation, like waiting for a taste of bacon cream or finding the right time to snatch a squeaky toy. The Hildesheim, Germany-based photographer captures the canine’s fleeting expressions, shown through tilting heads, open-mouthed smiles, and wide-eyed stares. Each piece is matched with an equally playful title, like “The Dog Side of the Force” and “Bessy Muppetational.”

Vogelsang began photographing her three rescue dogs during a period of family hardship that started in 2009—she was charged with caring for her mother-in-law, who was suffering from dementia, shortly before her husband was in a coma due to a ruptured aneurysm. “I decided to start the project, despite my husband being in the hospital, or rather because of it, as I wanted to try to keep up a bit of normality and have something like a visual diary for my husband of that time,” she tells Colossal.[…]

More: Comical Portraits by Elke Vogelsang Reveal Dogs’ Fleeting Emotions