Say hello to my little Friend...

Taco poses on the chair in my office

This adorably cute little fella is Taco the Chihauhau. One of the sweetest little dogs I've ever met, he's getting up there in age, but he still gets around pretty good. He came to my office to pose for reference photos and was a perfect little gentleman. Too cute for words, I just finished this little guy over the weekend, an 11"x14" pencil portrait to be delivered to his owner on Friday. Thanks for the opportunity to create this portrait for you Joette!

Happy Birthday Brandy!!!

A tiny little baby Brandy

Today my little dog turns 7! I can not believe how much time flies. It seems like only yesterday, on a cool, sunny October morning in 2002, that we picked up the tiny little biting and humping bundle of energy.

I can honestly say that it was the best $350 we've ever spent, hands down. She was a challenge in the beginning, but once we found out that this little bugger loved to learn (puppy class being our first indication), things turned around, and in a heart-beat she became "the perfect" dog.

Through the years she has been my greatest teacher in regards to training dogs (or dogs training people, however you'd like to interpret that), and has been a willing, flash hating subject in all my photography and artistic adventures.

She's been everywhere with me, and is a testament to her breed. We dubbed her the "Love Dog" (with the "Love Boat" theme attached to it) because a day has never gone by without someone making a positive comment or smiling at her while we were out and about. From the old, to the thugged out youth (the term "sweet dog" has been used on occasion), they all fell in love. She is a people lover, and will go out of her way to meet and greet, which adds to her appeal.

Independent, stubborn, tenacious - yes these all describe her, she is a JRT you know, however, she is also sensitive, loving, comical and a willing worker. Surprisingly she does like to please, but on her terms, nothing like a golden retriever or a border collie though. She is awesome at agility when she wants to be, or more like when I don't throw her off, and she has quite a few titles to her name so far. And, with a little help from me, she even went and got her rally novice title, something that I never thought possible because it involves obedience - not her strong point, kind of like math is not mine.

Photo by Gabrielle Deans

Over all, she is a fantastic sport partner, a great teacher and a wonderful best friend. There will never be another Brandy - she really is one of a kind and I'm greatful for every moment that we spend together.

Happy Birthday Brandy, and here's to many, many, many more years of fun and friendship!!

Photo by Gabrielle Deans

Photo by Gabrielle Deans

An Evening Visitor

My husband answered a ringing phone last night to his brother - his brother found a Jack Russell wandering in the park, what should he do? Found a Jack Russell??! Bring it on over here of course!

So, we had an evening visitor. A little old wandering low-rider JRT who was discovered investigating the park close to my brother-in-laws house.

The cute little bugger spent the night at our house, only after we all crowded into the car to cruise the area where the girlie was found. No sign of anyone searching, so it was decided that she would spend the night (a kind of doggy sleep over) and I would take her to the humane society in the morning ... it's handy - about a 3 minute drive from where I work.


Brandy was on her best behaviour, introductions were made in the back yard and peace was accomplished almost right away. Brandy has a dominant personality, but is very respectful of other dogs, on her terms of course (if you're a pushy, in-your-face type dog, watch out - but as a complete oxymoron, she gets along quite nicely with other female JRT's), and "talks dog" extremely fluently. The bulldogge, on the other hand, is not proficient in the language, lacking some major skills so he got some flashing teeth and snapping jaws before he laid off. "Dog Speak as a 2nd Language" would be useful for this thick-skulled canine, but I'm pretty sure they're not offering that at the local community colleges.

The little girlie spent the night in one of our large plastic dog crates, making a nest out of an old towel and a comfy car blanket.

Morning came, peace was still evident ... all was well in the backyard. It was amazing to actually see a JRT smaller than Brandy.

After water, an attempt at food and a bathroom break, I loaded the cutie up into the car and set off for work.

Half way to there I balked, I just couldn't do it - I couldn't bear dropping this overly friendly, people craving, house trained, cute little senior citizen off at the humane society. A dog like this little one wouldn't fair well in a sterile cage all day. Decision made, I took her to the office with me. I think she thanked me for that. The old girl slept on one of my sweaters beside my desk for most of the day.

I called the humane society right away and left a message asking if anyone was looking for their JRT. Low-and-behold, someone was frantically looking, and I had just the dog - their dog! What a huge sigh of relief that was. This little dog was obviously well-loved, and I couldn't bear the thought of her not being re-united with her family. This is the happy ending that I was looking for.

I was put in touch with the teary-eyed owner, and agreed she would pick up Lucy, who now had a name, after work. So I had had a partner in the office today, a popular partner just like Brandy was when she joined me there. Why can't dogs be at work all the time? They make a day in the working world just a little easier to bear.


Lucy has now been re-united with her very thankful family, and I'm ecstatic that we were able to help make this happen. How could you resist this little 11 year old beauty? Thank Goodness for happy endings!