Pop Art Pet Unleashed

We have had some great new affiliates join our program lately! Oh wait, I guess we shouldn’t assume that everyone knows that we have an affiliate program.. The way it works is other folks in the pet biz, like doggie day cares, vets, or better yet pet rescues and charities, sign up and they get banners to put on their website linking them to our website, and even posters and fliers to put in their shop or office. Then anytime their customers become our customers the affiliate who sent them to us get’s 10% of the sale as a commission. It’s a great way for those of us who are in business for the love of pets to help each other out!
So, as I was saying, we’ve got some great new affiliates that we are really excited about. Our newest addition in fact is a great website and a terrific resource for those of us who like to spoil our dogs, in fact the name says it all - dog-spoiling-made-easy! Personally, I have always found it easy to spoil my dog but eventually it does become challenging - so if you think you’ve got the dog that’s got it all, then you need to check out this site! They provide the essentials, like premium dog food and toys, and lots of dog care information as well as product reviews. But they specialize in products and services that are above average and totally unique, from trendy apparel, to fancy jewelry, to doggie mansions.

And oh yeah custom dog portraits! You are guaranteed to find great ideas for the pampered pet in your life, so check them out today!

The Pet Market at Dash Point in Federal Way, Washington is another new affiliate. In fact, Brooke, the owner-manager is actually a customer turned affiliate, which makes us pretty proud! They specialize in helping you help your pet be as healthy as they can be with all the best all-natural foods and supplements! Woody, our very handsome former subject, is one of their in-house, professional taste-testers so if you’re ever in the neighborhood stop in and say Hi!

Finally, the Basset and Beagle Rescue of the Heartland - a beautiful bunch of people dedicated to these beloved breeds! We love working with rescues and admire so much the volunteers who give their time and their heart to help homeless pets. BBRH is devoted to rescuing and rehoming bassets and beagles in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. Their organization also puts great emphasis on educational efforts regarding these breeds and responsible pet ownership. If you’re in the area and are thinking of adopting, or fostering, please get in touch with them.

If you or someone you know has a pet-related business or website, we hope you’ll pass along information about our affiliate program. We love to work with others who love pets and their people!

Let me preface this post by addressing those of you who have children, love children, or at least like children, to assure you that we at Pop Art Pet have nothing against children! In fact we have done some great custom portraits of kids and have really enjoyed creating them as well as working with their parents. Just check out our proofs of Logan, or our custom Pop Portraits of Sophie and Sophia. I just happen to hear about a recent study that I found very interesting, and thought other people might as well, whether you have pets or kids or both.
There have been many studies over many years that have proven scientifically that having a pet enhances your life. Doctors and psychologist have utilized dogs and cats for their therapeutic value for years in children’s hospitals and nursing homes, and they even use horses to help rehabilitate prisoners. Just today I was in a waiting room reading (actually just skimming) a recent issue of “Health” magazine (it was either that or a “National Geographic” from May of 2003) when I saw an article in the “Feeling” section about how a pet makes you healthier & happier. And I quote, “Recent studies show that regular interaction with a pet may lessen depression and anxiety and increase your sense of well-being. Pet bonding has also been associated with lower blood pressure and helping the heart rebound after an attack.” It went on to report that results of a survey of pet owners indicated that the top benefits of having a pet are companionship, love, and affection. When I was reading this I giggled, not just because I found it blatantly obvious, but because I remembered a dinner conversation I had a week or so ago, when a friend told me about an article they read about a recent study which proved that people who have children (human children that is) are more likely to be depressed than those who don’t. I personally found it intriguing to compare these results, so I came home and looked it up. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, it only took about three minutes to find the article from the Washington Post earlier this year. It was titled “Bundles of.. Misery,” (which sounds a little harsh, but pretty amusing) and it presented the results of the study published by the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. They found that “parents, from those with young children to empty nesters, reported being more miserable than non-parents.” They determined this by analyzing data from a national survey of families and households that asked adults how many times in the past week, for example, they felt sad, or depressed, etc. The study’s author Robin Simon, an associate professor of sociology at Florida State said, “Parents don’t do as well as non-parents.” Then she went on to write that her study validates the choice not to have children because it might just be the healthiest one of all, and warns people considering having kids to be aware of what “they are getting into.”
So to summarize, the bottom line, in layman’s terms.. experts agree (and so do we), puppies and/or kitties are way better than babies!
But seriously, along with pets, we love creating custom portraits of kids of all ages (and species)! We even have a website just for our custom pop art portraits of people - check out Pop Art Go!

Howdy! We just wanted to let everybody know that it’s not all business all the time around here. I mean let’s face it we’re not exactly performing brain surgery here so we try to keep it fun. And we’d like to share some of that fun with you - and it’s totally free (see how generous we are)! Just visit our freebies page and you can spend some time goofing off playing our cute concentration game! Or if you fancy yourself a problem solver, try out our pop art puzzles - you can either play online, or select from several downloadable puzzles. Solve the super tricky Mystery Puzzle and you could win a super secret prize (and I promise its a good one)!

We also offer a bunch of free desktop wallpapers, featuring some of our favorite custom pet art, and a free screen saver for your pc.

Also, throughout the site you can find links to send e-cards look for the “send as an ecard” button under the images. It’s all adorable, and did I mention free? Enjoy & tell a friend!

Just before the holidays last year we decided we wanted to offer our clients more, to simplify the always stressful gift-giving season, and to provide our clients year round with a one-stop solution for their custom pet portrait services. So we now offer stretching of our custom canvas pet portraits at a very reasonable rate! For those who aren’t familiar with the process, stretching is a method of wrapping the canvas around wooden stretcher bars to display a frameless portrait, like in a gallery. If you choose to have us stretch your portrait, you won’t have to find framing service locally, and then wait even longer to get your portrait back, so that you can start showing it off! We have even improved our stretching services by adding the option of premium stretcher bars, which are twice as deep to provide an even more dramatic look.
And why am I telling you all this now?? Because another new feature of Pop Art Pet is our “Pop Promos” which are like pop quizzes because you don’t expect them, but they are much more pleasant. And our first promo is.. drum roll please… Free Stretching!! You can find a link to this offer on our home page.
Currently, you can order any portrait (18×18 or larger) in any of our three styles, Pop, Comic, or Traditional, and we will stretch it for you - FREE!

Did you know…
Approximately one third of the portraits Pop Art Pet is commissioned to design are memorials? These loving, lasting, tributes to our clients’ beloved, furry, family members who are no longer with us are very special to us. We are always very honored to be entrusted with this labor of love, however there is often a challenge involved. Many of our clients who wish to capture the essence of their pet who has passed, have very few photos for us to work with for their portrait, and they are typically not quality photos. Those of you who have worked with us before know how down right picky we are about the picture we start with, because the better the picture, the better the portrait and we want you to have the best portrait possible. This is why we often send our clients repeatedly back out into the backyard with their camera and our best advice to try again! Obviously, when we are doing a memorial portrait, that is not an option. This means the client may have to settle for a portrait that is less vivid and detailed than what they envisioned. Our clients in this situation always express regret that they didn’t take more pictures when they had the chance. The point is, life is short but our pets’ lives are sadly so much shorter, and it is so important to remember how they touched our lives. One of the best ways to do that - take pictures! Take pictures of your pet often, and more than just the spontaneous snapshot of your dog wearing a silly Santa hat, or your cat crashed-out on the couch; take a little time to take really nice pictures. And while we will be the first to admit that pets make lousy models, its really not that difficult to find a nice spot, make sure the lighting is good, get down on their level, and focus. You may never want us, or anyone else to design a portrait of your pet, but someday you might want a nice framed photo for the wall, or the family album. You will definitely be glad that you have a reminder of the love, warmth, and laughter they brought into your life.

Don’t wait, do it today, they’re probably looking adorable right now!!