Pop Art Pet Unleashed

A great “Sanctuary Story” from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah recently involved one of our favorite clients, Marissa.

It seems that a woman named Macey was hiking around in southern Utah, not far from Best Friends, looking for Native American artifacts. What Macey found instead was a dog badly in need of help. Ava’s leg was caught in a coyote trap. It seemed like Ava had been there at least a day.

In fact, Ava was lucky indeed that Macey showed up at all. This particular spot was at least five miles from the closest home. Macey freed Ava from the trap and then spent a week and a half trying to track down Ava’s family. Ava wasn’t wearing a collar, and no one responded to fliers and newspaper ads. Meanwhile, the vets taking care of Ava thought she would need to lose the injured leg. Macey was not in a position to care for Ava long-term. So after it became obvious that nobody would claim Ava, the pup came to Best Friends to heal. They were of course willing to find or provide her with a forever home and they managed to save her leg! Now she melts hearts on contact!

Then the story gets even better for Ava and for our regular client Marissa, who randomly came across the article about Ava and contacted Best Friends Animal Society/Dogtown. Marissa had spent a week at Best Friends as a volunteer in February so she just contact them to ask how this beautiful golden was doing. Then according to Marissa, “They asked if I was interested in adoption – there were several applicants ahead of me, but I was welcome to fill out an application and be placed on a waiting list. I went ahead an applied; however I didn’t hold my breath.”

Sometime later she was told that the applicants before her had been eliminated as potential new homes for Ava. She was now first on the list and that she and Chloe her lovely Golden that we did a portrait of last year, had passed their home check. “I was shocked! I would need to wait 1-3 months before she could come home due to the uncertainty of her medical condition. At this point amputation was still an option and Ava was fighting a nasty infection.”

Finally Marissa received an email that Ava was released from medical hold and she was free to pick her up and take her home, they asked how soon she could make the 600 mile journey from here in Denver.

Marissa also told us, “To my amazement, I was also notified that since she arrived at Best Friends, Ava’s story was being followed by the film crew for National Geographic Channels’ program “Dogtown” – stay tuned for her episode – scheduled to air this fall.”

So Ava has had quite a reversal of fortune, from being caught in a coyote trap to being the star of a television show and soon to be the subject of a Pop Art Pet portrait of her own!

To date Marissa has comissioned us to do five different custom pet portraits as gifts for friends and family, then finally one for herself of her Chloe, and we are currently working on yet another portrait for yet another gift for another friend for Marissa! Don’t you wish she was your friend too?!

We found this great book that gives you great recipes for good dogs! “The Good Treats Cookbook for Dogs” by Barbara Burg.

“It contains more than 50 recipes for all-natural homemade treats for our canine companions. Although not everyone makes, or even buys, high-end food for their dogs, everyone loves to spoil their dogs with treats. But, The Good Treats Cookbook for Dogs contains far more than simple dog-bone shaped peanut butter treats; it provides instructions for making over-the-top human-grade baked goods such as:

* Apple Oatmeal Mutt Muffins
* Salmon and Cheese Bon-Bons
* Coconut-Coated Carob-Crunch Truffles

Unlike other pet books on the market, this book contains full-color photos of all of the treats and adorable photos of dogs doing what dogs do, thinking about food or eating food. This book is as much about the pampered-pooch lifestyle as the baking. The Good Treats Cookbook for Dogs is also the only book that goes beyond biscuits and cookies and contains brownies, bon-bons, biscotti, mini-pizzas, cupcakes, birthday cakes, and more! Also included are special occasion cakes, party tray and gift basket ideas, and tips on throwing the perfect dog party.”

Then again, if you’re short on time (or too lazy) like we are; Barbara also hosts Barbara’s Canine Catering at www.k9treat.com. You can always just order some fantastic, healthy, treats online!

For the first time ever we have a real house with a real yard which is a real pain! We are having to learn all about things like fertilizer, etc. and trying to make sure it’s all safe for Kylie. So when we saw this headline from the ASPCA’s website it caught our attention and we thought we should pass it along:

PET POISON ALERT: COCOA BEAN MULCH CAN BE TOXIC TO DOGS

If your dog likes to spend his summer grazing in your garden, his treat-seeking nose may lead him to one danger in particular: the sweet-smelling, but potentially harmful cocoa bean mulch. Made of cocoa bean shells and considered desirable for its eventual degradation into organic fertilizer, this gardener’s choice can be toxic to canines if eaten in large quantities—and some dogs have been known to eat amazing amounts!

In 2007, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) handled 26 cases of cocoa bean mulch ingestion—a third originating in California. “Dogs are attracted to the fertilizer’s sweet smell,” says Dr. Steven Hansen, ASPCA Veterinary Toxicologist and APCC Director, “but like chocolate, cocoa bean mulch can be too much for our canine companions.”

Ingestion of large amounts of cocoa bean mulch, which contains residual amounts of theobromine—a methylxanthine found in chocolate and known to be toxic to dogs—may cause a variety of clinical signs. These typically start with vomiting, diarrhea and elevated heart rate, and if large amounts are consumed, they may progress to hyperactivity, muscle tremors and possibly other more serious neurological signs.

Treatment includes administering medical-grade activated charcoal, bringing tremors under control, cardiac monitoring and preventing further exposure.

“One key point to remember is that some dogs, particularly those with indiscriminate eating habits, can be attracted to any organic matter,” says Dana Farbman, APCC Senior Manager, Professional Communications. “Therefore, if you have a dog with such eating habits, it’s important that you don’t leave him unsupervised or allow him into areas where such materials are being used.”

To avoid contact, pet parents should consider a nontoxic alternative, such as shredded pine, cedar or hemlock bark. These will keep your pooch—and your garden—healthy.

We have some current clients who may love their pets nine times more than most.. They wanted to see the big, beautiful, Bonnie & Boomer, their massive Bull Mastiffs, in a very large NINE panel Pop Style portrait!

We were admittedly a little overwhelmed by the prospect of this project, but also pretty excited..

It took a while to get just the right collection of head shots of these two, fortunately these two are excellent models, and their parents are pretty good pet photographers. So finally this is the layout we began working with.

Then, it took awhile for our artist to do our magic - nearly nine times longer than usual - but we were able to put together four proofs for them to choose from. Like this one..

That’s like 36 color combinations, and the most panels we’ve ever done for one portrait. Whew, we need a nap now!

If you’re interested in a jumbo portrait of your pet or pets with 8 panels, 9 panels or maybe even 12, just contact us. We’re your source for super-sized, one of a kind, custom, Pop Style portraits created from your pet’s photos!

This is an amazing animal story.. A Bald Eagle named Beauty got a brand new beak! She was rescued three years ago from slowly starving to death in an Alaskan landfill, after a poacher’s bullet removed her beak, leaving her tongue and sinuses exposed.

She was taken to a rescue and hand fed while her caretakers waited in vain for a new beak to grow, until an engineer volunteered to try and make Beauty an artificial beak.

A gold and titanium pin was glued to the remnant of her upper beak to serve as the guide for sliding the nylon-composite, artificial beak into place. It was a success! Beauty looks beautiful again and more importantly can eat on her own!

After spending so much time around humans they’ve determined that even with her new beak in place, Beauty does not belong back in the wild. But she will be traveling around the country, participating in lectures to help teach people not to shoot wild birds.

Plans are in place to construct a more permanent version of the beak, The Boeing Co. and a maker of synthetic skin in California have already volunteered for the miraculous task.

Please read the complete story of Beauty the Eagle with an artificial beak on CBSnews.com.

Pop Art is obviously very stimulating, which is why we’ve already had a few inquiries from future clients just waiting to receive their stimulus check to order their custom pet portrait. We find this flattering!

Plus, everybody else is running some sort of “spend your stimulus check with us” special so we thought we should too. So in this Pop Promo, just place your order for any size and any style pet portrait and enter the discount coupon code “STIMULUS” in your shopping cart and you’ll get 15% off your subtotal!

That means you can have a retro Pop Style portrait, or a clever Comic Style, or a tasteful Traditional Style pet portrait created from your pet’s photos, and help stimulate the economy at the same time!

But hurry, this Pop Promo is for an unspecified period of time, so place your order today to stimulate the economy and make your pet a masterpiece!