I'm baaaaack....

After the trauma of the holidays, things are finally somewhat normal and I am getting back into my routine. I’m still busy with lots of dogs staying here (thank goodness) but the real project is my looming deadline on a book I am writing. Animal Planet: Boxers is due to the publisher on February 15. Although I did lots of research before Christmas, writing came to a complete standstill over the holidays. Between pet sitting and plumbing, my plate was full (And if you remember correctly from my earlier post, I couldn’t wash that plate).

Tucker and Tyson, my two favorite Boxers

So now I am scrambling and writing 2,000 words a day to finish my 35,000-word book. I had a hard time getting started because many of the subjects are the same as my first book for Animal Planet, Labrador Retrievers. But I need to say it all in a new way. How many different ways can you describe tapeworms? I finally figured out a way to do it (by not looking at the first book at all), and am now clucking along, churning out pages. I’m a blabbermouth; I’ll have lots of editing to do.

A special treat this week, and a great motivator, was when the proofs for the Lab book arrived. I was thrilled to see it all laid out with photos. The book won’t be out until September, and I can hardly wait.

My beautiful Christmas quilt- Thank you Kalysta and Debbie!

A special Christmas gift

In the midst of all my holiday plumbing trauma, an unexpected gift arrived. This beautiful quilt (shown here) was made by my young friend Kalysta, and her grandmother, Debbie. Kalysta and her family visited last summer and we had a fun evening with the horses. Kalysta and Honey were instant friends, and the palomino pony on this quilt looks just like Honey. The cat looks like my Sterling, and the pony in the lower left looks like Ari.

Needless to say, I was moved to tears. It was the most thoughtful, beautiful thing I have received in a long time, and I was really touched that they went to all that work just for me. I had no Christmas spirit until the quilt arrived; then I was filled with gratitude and love for the wonderful people in my life. 

© 2010 Terry Albert. All Rights Reserved.

Chewed art: The art of deconstruction, by Chris Ward

Of course this would have something to do with a Lab! Who else is a die-hard chewer? Chris Ward has created a wonderful ebook that is now going to be published as a hardcover coffee table book, if he can get enough orders by December 24.

This is a unique approach to publishing, and a great subject. You'll enjoy the video above, I promise!

Click the title under the video to go to the website. Sorry a bit of the video is cut off. You can see it correctly on the Kickstarter site.

© 2010 Terry Albert. All Rights Reserved.

Things Labs eat

Like many familiar sayings, “The dog ate my homework” is probably based on a true story. And the dog was most likely a Lab. Besides food, a typical Labrador will eat everything from socks to rocks. They should all be named Mikey (flashback to famous TV commercial).

My Lab, Tank, would eat absolutely anything. A Great Pyrennes foster dog dumped his kibble on our gravel walkway and pushed it around rather than eat. Tank found it and ate the dog food and the surrounding rocks without pausing. The next morning I woke up to the sound of an urping Lab on the floor next to the bed. He heaved piles of gravel and undigested kibble.

An x-ray at the vet’s office revealed Tank had a trail of gravel from his mouth to his rectum; there was no way the doctor could remove the rocks through surgery. It took almost a week for all the rocks to pass through his system.

Another time Tank ate a tube of cortisone cream that was left on the coffee table. By the time I caught him, all that remained was the metal band around the plastic lid. I made him throw it up.

Our neighbor liked to free-feed his Norwegian Elkhounds, and since we lived out in the woods, no one had a fenced yard. Tank went over there one day and came home looking like the Goodyear blimp. The neighbor confirmed all the dog food was gone—about 8 pounds. So again I made Tank throw up (small amount of hydrogen peroxide). I had to run around cleaning up the food as it came up so he wouldn’t just re-eat it. 

To Bee or not to Bee

What brought all this to mind is a story this week here in San Diego about a Lab named Ellie who ate several hundred dead bees. Here’s the story from the Veterinary Pet Insurance web site:

http://www.vpihamboneaward.com/nominees/2010/April.html

I guess their point is that you need vet insurance for your dog. In March 2005 they posted another Labrador winner. This dog ate 23 packages of instant breakfast, complete with the packaging:

http://www.vpihamboneaward.com/news/lab-eats-23-packages-of-instant-breakfast-finds-instant-trouble.html

Labs that stay with me have devoured stuffed animals and the squeakies within, wooden branches, dog beds and rosebushes. I once had a foster dog, Neptune, who pooped navy blue blanket pieces for about a week after I took him out of the shelter.

Though not a Lab, my friend Lynn tells me of a German Shepherd that ate a light bulb. The owner fed the dog bread everyday for a week to ease the glass through the dog’s system. 
So what has your dog eaten?

© 2010 Terry Albert. All Rights Reserved.

Labrador Retriever painting- my latest!

I have just completed one of my favorite projects. I have painted lots of labs over the years, and I just love it. This one is of three Labradors from Adora Kennels in Ellensburg, WA. I showed you their new logo that I did for them a few weeks ago. This painting is about 16 x 20 inches will go on the wall in their wonderful wilderness home. 

I always do an underpainting in watercolor (shown at left). I found with pencil that you can always see the paper underneath  unless you burnish your drawing very hard and go over it multiple times. I just don't have the patience, and am not such a purist that I have to stick to one media. So technically this is mixed media: watercolor and colored pencil, which is what I most often use. It would not be eligible for a colored pencil show or a watercolor show. But then, I'm not entering it in a show! 

For this painting I did something I've never done before. I blew the photo up very large on the computer screen and looked at it while I painted. This gave me the chance to see lots of detail I miss when I'm looking at a printed photo, even when I use a magnifying glass. The black dog's eyes were shut, so I had to improvise. The chocolate dog's eyes were squinting, so I had to open them up a bit. 

There's a lot to think about when painting a dog portrait. If a dog hunches over while sitting, then his neck will be too thick and look awkward. If he is nervous while being photographed, his ears will go back and not look as natural as they do in this painting. If the ears aren't perky, it can ruin the pose. All three of these dogs are very alert and intense.

Getting a good photo of a black dog is difficult. This dog was photographed in the sun in the snow, so there was a lot of glare, and he was closing his eyes. The best way to get a good photo is to shoot it on an overcast day. Shadows that are too strong from the bright sun hide all the detail that is in the shadows. Sometimes I have to look at photos of another dog to see all I need to know for a painting. I loved this pose- he's a big dog, very noble, and the shadows were easy to define. 

Photoshop is a wonderful tool. I can lighten the exposure so I can see detail that seems lost. I don't always get such nice samples to work from. Then again, sometimes a lousy photo makes a great painting. It may have a dumb background, poor color and all sorts of other problems, but if the pose is good, I can change all the rest. Sometimes I can see detail (especially the dog's markings) in another photo that doesn't show up well in the one I am working from. 

It seems like I spend more time on the layout and sketching than the final painting. By the time I pick up the brush, I have worked out a lot of problems. I do have to stop and set it across the room occasionally to be sure I haven't added a tree growing out of the subject's head or other dumb mistake! And when it's all done, I put it away for day or two and I then take a fresh look. If I see something I want to change, I will sometimes photograph the painting and mess with it in Photoshop to see if the change will make it better. Then I go over and fix the original. It's nice to try something without risking ruining the painting!   

A couple of cute movie previews

For those of you that love a good laugh, here are a couple of darling dog movie trailers to watch. I loved the book Marley and Me, and I like Jennifer Anniston a lot, so I’m really looking forward to this one.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua, on the other hand, may be really cute, but it will cause a huge rush to buy Chihuahuas for Christmas, and I hate to think what that will do to the breed. We are already overrun with poorly bred dogs.

Disney did Dalmatians a disservice with their movie, 101 Dalmatians. Now with this new movie, I’m afraid the damage will be worse, because Chis are already so popular. A poorly bred one can be a little biting machine, snotty and bossy, terrorizing the whole family. People tend to spoil them because they are so small and baby-like.

Basic obedience training, just like you do with a Lab, helps ensure a well-adjusted, well-behaved family pet. People get rid of an out of control big dog, while a little ankle-biter is often tolerated. Neither is a good pet, and neither suffers a happy fate at the hands of overburdened shelters.

Labs are the number one breed in the US already, and Marley and Me will certainly contribute to their popularity. Instead of warning people off with this big goofy dog’s destructive adventures, people will laugh and think it’s fun to have a out-of-control galump of a dog crashing around an apartment. And I haven’t even seen the movie yet.

I could regale you with tales of Tank, our yellow Lab, who settled down at the age of 11 and became a normal pet. Labs have the best sense of humor in the world, and are tons of fun, but not trained, they are a freight train running off the track- right at your china cabinet. It’s not as funny when it happens in your house. Over 10 years volunteering for Lab Rescue showed me that a lot of people have no idea what they are getting into when they buy a Lab. They aren't cute little puppies for very long.

So look at Marley and Me with the perspective of “This is a warming: do not try this at home.”  Train your dog. Or don’t get one.

Enjoy the movies!

Shown above: Tank, my Lab, doing what he loved- playing with kids.