Celebrity Photographer Mike Ruiz Presents The ‘Rescue Me 2026’ Calendar

Talent: Anton Antipov, Zienna Sonne and Phoenix
Hair and Makeup by Eddy de la Pena
Styling by Rebecca Weinberg
Assistant Ricky Salazar

This 2026 marks the 12th anniversary of Mike’s calendar which has benefitted several animal rescues throughout the years. Once again, this year the calendar benefits an incredible organization called Louie’s Legacy Animal Rescue. This year’s calendar features legends and Icons from the worlds of music, film, television, sports and fashion including Natalie Eva Marie, Morgan Fairchild, Darlene Love, Orfeh, Nicky Whelan, LIONBABE, Susanne Bartsch, Zienna Sonne, Mike O’Hearn, Josh Todd, Mitzi Martin, Sabina Kelley, Holly T, Tracy Young and Sandflower. The calendar also includes several high profile athletes such as Anton Antipov, Bartley Weaver, Lukas Lakutsin, Cleef Metellus, Ruben Demosthene, Matthew Carmona, Dmitriy Voievodchuk, Kyrylo Khudaiev and Victor Ramirez. 

This year’s calendar combines Mike’s passion for animal advocacy and his love of photography. As always, Mike’s vision is captivating and provocative, but his message is timeless…to educate and encourage the general public to adopt as opposed to buying from a breeder or pet store. 2025 saw record numbers of dogs

being discarded in shelters like trash. The calendar is an effort to make people understand that for every dog they buy from a breeder or pet store, they are letting one languish, suffer and eventually die in a shelter. 

The production of this year’s calendar was sponsored by the very kind and generous Dr. Gil Altman from Altman Aesthetic Center in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 

Mike Ruiz is a celebrity photographer whose clients include Jared Leto, Anne Hathaway, Anna Kendrick, Alan Ritchson, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Vanessa Williams, Aubrey Plaza, Michele Morrone, Queen Latifah, Justin Theroux, Jim Parsons and literally thousands of others.  

Each year, Louie's Legacy, one of the largest foster-based rescues in the nation, saves as many animals as it can, as efficiently as possible. This is made possible by hundreds of volunteer foster homes which care for the rescued animals until they are adopted. Emily Gear, President and Founder of Louie's Legacy Animal Rescue says, "We are so grateful and honored to be chosen again this year to benefit from Mike's incredible work. His calendars are a really fun and flashy way to bring attention to the sometimes dirty and grueling (but also rewarding) work we do behind the scenes each day. Ten years ago when we did this calendar for the first time, we raised some $80,000 which went straight back into saving more lives." In the subsequent years, thanks in part to this project, Louie's Legacy was able to add thousands of animals to its program, and has currently saved over 25,000 animals since its founding in 2009. “Carrying out our mission costs around a million dollars per year, give or take, so your purchase will literally go to save a life. You can't do better than that,” Gear says. 

Mike Ruiz, too, is an animal rescuer. In fact, it was his beloved Oliver, a black Pit Bull type dog, that won his heart and the hearts of thousands on social media, a legacy that is kept alive by his beloved Julia, also a pitbull type dog whom Mike Rescued in 2018. The profound connections that Mike shares with his sweet son and daughter are the catalyst for Mike’s animal advocacy which led to the creation of the annual calendar. 

100% of the sales of the calendar go directly to Louie’s Legacy. for various services benefitting the health and welfare of the dogs. “The calendar makes the perfect  gift and also brings awareness to these special animals,” says Mike Ruiz. “Every discarded, neglected and abused dog deserves to be free of suffering.” 

The calendar goes for $35.99 and is available at http://louieslegacy.org/calendar 

For more information, please follow @mikeruizone or @louieslegacy 

Mike, this year marks the 12th anniversary of your “Rescue Me” calendar. Looking back, how has the project evolved since its launch in 2014?
The calendar was pretty formulaic up until this year. It’s always been beautiful male fitness models paired with sweet rescue dogs. This year I changed it up by adding some of my female celebrity friends with the hope of giving it broader appeal.

What’s the creative process behind each calendar? From concept to execution, how long does it usually take to bring one to life?
The creative process has been simple up until now. I find the hottest guys that I can and I pair them with rescue dogs, usually from the rescue that the calendar is benefitting that year and I shoot it all in one day. This year, I wanted to elevate the aesthetic by giving it more of a fashion editorial vibe through the use of props, styling and editorial hair and makeup. Since I included some celebs, the logistics were more involved. With everyone’s busy work and travel schedules, I had to shoot them as they became available and in the city where they were at the time. I ended up doing three shoots in NYC, two in Los Angeles and one in Miami. 

Pitbulls still face a lot of stigma. As someone who’s shared your life with your beloved Oliver and now Julia, what do people get wrong about these dogs?
They get everything wrong. Pitbulls are inherently gentle and affectionate toward humans. It takes a lot of cruelty and abuse to make them aggressive.  The media is often extremely irresponsible in their portrayal of these sweet, innocent animals. Whenever there is a dog attack, I can guarantee that human failure is the culprit. Humans never take responsibility for their incompetence as dog guardians or trainers, therefore setting their dog up for failure. Also, parents need to teach their children how to act with a dog. If a child is allowed to punch or kick a dog, of course the dog will react. Much like humans, if you show love and compassion while setting up healthy boundaries for your pet, you will be met with the unconditional love that a pitbull-type dog can give. 

You’ve called Oliver your “sweet son.” How would you describe the emotional or even spiritual bond you’ve shared with your rescue dogs?
It’s very scientific for me. Much like human-to-human love and connection, dog-to-human connection is created by neural rewiring and brain chemistry.

Neural rewiring between dogs and humans is “supported by studies showing neural synchrony or ‘interbrain coupling’ where brain activity aligns during social interactions like mutual gazing and petting, strengthening the human-dog bond and potentially altering the human brain's neural pathways for anxiety and stress response over time.” This interbrain coupling is a form of neural "rewiring" where the brains of the human and dog become increasingly connected.

With all of that said, my four-legged children are the greatest evidence of God that there is. I love them in such a deeply profound and unencumbered way, unlike the complicated and conditional love of every human I have ever had a relationship with. 

Louie’s Legacy has been a recurring organization supported by your calendar. Why is their mission so closely aligned with your own?
I continue to support Louie’s Legacy because of their ongoing commitment to saving thousands of lives every year, their transparency in how they allocate funds to various programs benefitting the animals and their extreme professionalism. With so many scam rescues operating today, it’s super important to make sure the organization that one supports is credible. 

You’ve seen firsthand how heartbreaking the shelter crisis can be. What’s something about the rescue world that people often overlook or misunderstand?
People seem to think that shelter animals are somehow different from animals from breeders. What they fail to realize is that the vast majority of dogs in shelters were bred and sold at some point. Shelter animals are not damaged or broken. They were just failed by humans. As a matter of fact, most breeders irresponsibly breed out health qualities in favor of physical attributes that often lead to health problems and huge vet bills. Frenchies and Pugs for example, are bred to have a flat snout which often leads to severe breathing problems. I always tell people who want a very specific breed or type of dog that they can ALL be found in the shelter. 

Do you recall any specific success stories or dogs whose lives were directly impacted because of the calendar’s proceeds?
Since the money raised from the calendar goes to a variety of services such as medical, transport and training, it’s difficult to track the correlation to specific animals. 

There are many success stories from one of my other rescue efforts outside of the calendar which is called “Shelter Pawtraits by Mike Ruiz”, where I go into shelters with my celeb friends and I photograph dogs on death row and then network them on social media in hopes of getting seen and saved. There are literally hundreds of instances where we have saved dogs who would have otherwise been euthanized. 

This year’s calendar features legends from music, film, fashion, and sports. How do you go about curating the talent for each edition?
I just asked all of my animal loving friends. I’m so grateful at how enthusiastic everyone was about participating

Is there a particular shoot or celebrity from the 2026 edition that stood out as especially meaningful or memorable?
Yes, there is a bitter sweet moment that continues to bring tears to my eyes. Bambi, the rescue who appears in the month of April with supermodel Mitzi Martin and rock star Josh Todd, sadly and unexpectedly crossed the rainbow bridge shortly after the shoot. I’m so happy that I was able to celebrate her life by dedicating the calendar to her this year. 

Have any celebrities surprised you with how passionate or hands-on they were during the shoot or afterward in promoting the cause?
Oh yeah! Everyone has been so enthusiastic about promoting the calendar thus far. AND Darlene Love, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, even ended up adopting a sweet dog named Fred from Louie’s Legacy! The fact that I could witness how the calendar is a conduit for such things is so gratifying. 

For people who are drawn to breeders or pet stores when getting a dog, what would you say to help them consider adoption instead?
For every dog that a person buys from a breeder, one suffers and dies in a shelter. The same dogs, same breeds, same characteristics can be found in a shelter or rescue that can be found at a breeder. I wish that would sink into people’s minds. It all boils down to human greed and lack of compassion. Hopefully the laws will someday protect all animals but until then, I will continue to advocate for them. 

What does it mean to you to know that 100% of sales go directly to saving animal’s lives?
It’s very important to me that no one makes a penny off the calendar and that 100% of the proceeds go to saving animals. It’s so amazing that year after year, so many heroes donate their time and talent to supporting this project. We also got Dr. Gil Altman from Altman Aesthetics, as our official sponsor which means he sponsored all of the production costs for this year’s calendar. 

If someone wants to get involved but can’t foster or adopt, what are other meaningful ways that they can help?
The simplest and easiest thing that people can do is share dogs in need on social media. It takes two seconds, doesn’t cost anything, and is extremely effective at saving animals. I have two Instagram pages dedicated to saving dogs: @oliversworld1 and @juliasamazinglife. People can follow those two pages and share the posts from there. 

What advice would you give to someone who wants to use their creative talents to support a cause they care about? 
Not sure what advice I could give. I feel that people who are passionate about contributing to the greater good find ways to do it organically. 

Do you see the “Rescue Me” calendar continuing beyond 2026? Are there any new ideas or directions you're exploring for the future?
I will definitely continue to produce a yearly calendar since it combines the two things that I love the most: animal advocacy and photography. I’m sure that it will continue to change and morph into something amazing.

Talent: Lukas Lakutsin‍, ‍Zienna Sonne and Bug
Hair and Makeup by Eddy de la Pena
Styling by Rebecca Weinberg
Assistant Ricky Salazar

ADDITIONAL CREDITS:
PhotoBook Editor-In-Chief: Alison Hernon
PhotoBook Creative Director + Photographer + Producer: Mike Ruiz
Introduction by Mike Ruiz
Tearsheets by Daniel López, Art Director, PhotoBook Magazine
Interview by Brya Sheridan, Assistant to Editor-in-Chief, PhotoBook Magazine

RELATED STORIES

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