An experienced photographer of the civil rights movement, Hudson often avoided hostility from the police by keeping his camera hidden under his jacket, only to be brought out at the optimal moment. Hudson was in Birmingham to capture the instant when a police officer grabbed the fifteen-year-old Walter Gadsden by the collar, pulling the boy toward him to provide an easy target for the attack dog at his side. Gadsden looks on, powerless to repel the dog lunging for his abdomen. Standing but a few feet from his subject and using a short-range, wide-angle 28mm lens, Hudson produced a photograph that brings the viewer into the heart of the action with brutal immediacy.