A pathology collector working at drive-through COVID-19 testing sites in Melbourne's north has been documenting the dogs who have accompanied their owners for a swab.
Tiffany White, who also works in traffic control, began posting photographs on the Instagram page "Swab dogs of Insta" in January.
Since then, Ms White and some of her colleagues have asked if they can take a photo of every dog that has come through the testing site.
All but one person has said yes and the page now features more than 280 photographs – and not just of dogs.
'Why are you looking at me?
"We will post whatever animal comes through," Ms White said.
"The weirdest would be the bird in the cage, and the cats. The cats are like, 'Why are you looking at me?'"
Ms White said working all day at a testing site could be "a pretty thankless task", so meeting people's pets was a welcome bonus.
"Particularly over January, February, March we are all under the tent in full PPE with temperatures up to 40 degrees," she said.
As queues at testing sites ramp up and Melburnians wait to see what happens with the latest outbreak, Ms White said she would continue to bring "swab dogs" to Instagram.
"At the end of the day all we want to do is spread some joy, and there is nothing more joyful than a slobbery dog sticking their head out a window."
