Music for Dogs

The World Premiere of a unique concert experience on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt, for you...and your dog!

Laurie Anderson has composed a 20 minute work especially for the hearing range of dogs – who can hear frequencies far outside the human audio spectrum. Taking the idea of the apparently inaudible dog whistle to new artistic heights, our canine friends will be treated to a glorious cacophony of sound, while all we will hear is the lapping of the water on the harbour.

The morning will be an inter-species social gathering on a scale never seen before in Australia. Breakfast can be purchased onsite including freshly brewed coffee and egg & bacon rolls, while you watch dog demonstrations and be surprised by some very special guests.

This is an event that you’ll be yapping about for years to come, an absolute must for any dog and their two legged friends!

[Source: Vivid Live]

Canine Topiary - Where Creativity Wags Its Tail

SECAUCUS, N.J. — Once they finished shaving the cats, the glamour event of the dog grooming show began.

Angela Kumpe had won the “creative challenge” event the past two years at Intergroom, one of the more prestigious competitions on the calendar. First, she clipped and colored a standard poodle into an ode to Elvis Presley — Elvis on one side, a guitar on the other. Last year, she turned a dog into a peacock. She is one of the best at canine topiary.

This year, Kumpe, a 34-year-old from Little Rock, Ark., spent more than six months turning a poodle into a buffalo. It probably would have won Sunday, beating the seahorse, the Lady Gaga and the Mad Hatter.

But Kumpe, who has become the groomer-to-beat at contests like this, changed her mind after her mother died Feb. 24. “She was my biggest fan in creative grooming,” Kumpe said.

So Kumpe turned a dog into a living memorial.

Intergroom is a three-day trade show for the industry. About 150 exhibitor stalls offered everything from tools (scissors, clippers, combs, brushes), equipment (cages, tubs, dryers), products (shampoos, conditioners, colognes, gels, glitter and coloring) and apparel (mostly smocks for groomers and showier items for the dogs).

There are few limits in creative grooming. Sometimes, people make dogs look like different animals. There have been lions and ponies and camels that have forced closer examination to verify the species.

“People sometimes say, ‘Oh, poor dog,’ ” the M.C. Teri DiMarino told the audience that surrounded the show area at the Meadowlands Exposition Center. “But their perception is limited to their front feet. Really. All they know is that people are paying attention to them. They love it.”

Contestants generally spend six months or more preparing the dogs. First comes the idea. Then the dog’s coat is shaved with clippers, cut with scissors and fine-tuned occasionally. Colors are added in the weeks before the event. Up until competition day, dogs look like nature gone awry, as if they were groomed in the dark with blunt instruments and dipped into a box of melting Crayolas.

“Some people ask, ‘Was she born that way?’ ” said Sami Stanley, busy putting finishing touches on her standard poodle, the dog of choice for its thick, grooming-friendly fur and relatively large size. Stanley’s dog, Skye, had a dragon sculptured on one side and a jumping gold fish on the other. Stanley called it Zen Poodle. “If you have a better name than that, let me know,” she said with a shrug.

Diane Betelak was the judge. A frequent winner of these increasingly popular contests, Betelak said she looked for whether the clipping was concise and the color vibrant, and whether the design was original, among other things.

“Some ideas have been used over and over, like a carousel horse,” Betelak said. “So if you bring me a carousel horse, it better be spectacular.”

She awarded third place to the Mad Hatter, accompanied by three people fully decked in other Alice in Wonderland costumes. The dog “wore” a fur-coat-colored brown, had the March Hare on its left rear leg and tea cups on its right. Brynn Haynes of Whitehall, Pa., the groomer and the Red Queen, said she spent 25 hours creating it.

Second place went to a dog that, when it stood on its hind legs, was meant to look like a poodle-size seahorse. It stood before a sea-themed vinyl shower curtain, which hid a man holding a plastic toy that made bubbles to drift through the scene.

The winner came as little surprise. After scrapping plans to bring her buffalo-themed poodle — a buffoodle? — Kumpe started from scratch a week ago with a friend’s standard poodle that had not been clipped in nearly a year.

A woman’s body was sculptured onto one side of the dog, head turned away and hair tied in a bun. “It’s a grieving angel for my mom,” Kumpe said. Her mother, Linda Smead, was 66. Kumpe was dressed in white and wore white wings. Down the dog’s rear leg, and on most of its opposite side, were fragile-looking purple flowers and green leaves, part of the dog’s manicured coat and marked with exacting detail. They matched artificial flowers and greenery at the dog’s table.

The design drew finger points and picture takers. When DiMarino told the audience that Kumpe’s design represented an angel for her mother, a buzz went through the room. Kumpe won the $1,500 first prize.

[Source: The New York Times]

The 101 Dalmatians Musical at The Theater at MSG

The 101 Dalmatians Musical is an experience for the entire family about what it means to be a family, canine and courageous. More than a simple story about good versus bad, the family bands together to overcome every hurdle and hardship in the most difficult times.

Find ticket information at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Bonhams New York Presents 28th Annual Dog Art Sale

For lovers of dog pictures, Valentine's Day comes two days later than normal as Bonhams presents its annual sale of dog paintings and works of art on 16 February 2010. A must for all dog enthusiasts, Bonhams has conducted this popular sale for nearly thirty years and stands alone as the market leader in this genre.

The catalogue this year will be no exception in terms of quality and variety, with many paintings of well known breeds on offer, and featuring some of the best dog and sporting artists of the 19th and early 20th century.

Leading the pack is an exceptional painting of The Bitchpack of the Meath Foxhounds by John Emms. Estimated at $500,000-700,000, the picture comes from a private American collection and could rival the world record price achieved by Bonhams in February 2006 for a similar work.

Among the other highlights is a collection of over twenty original drawings by Lucy Dawson (aka 'Mac'), a number of which are original works for some of her books. From the late 18th century, there is a work attributed to George Stubbs ARA, showing a black spaniel in a landscape estimated at $25,000-35,000 and from the early 19th century an early work by Sir Edwin Landseer RA, depicting a spaniel and described as 'a Dog of the Marlborough breed', is expected to fetch $40,000-60,000. Other artists featured will be Maud Earl, John Sargent Noble and Arthur Wardle.

Collectors in the US will not be disappointed as the sale will also include works by two of the foremost American sporting painters. Two setters working by Edmund Henry Osthaus is estimated at $10,000-15,000 and a fine quality oil painting of a pointer and a setter entitled 'On Point' by Gustav Muss-Arnoldt carries a guide price of $20,000-30,000.

[Source: Bonhams]

The Alex Gard of the Dog Run

It’s considered impolite, yet everyone slips up occasionally. How can anyone be blamed for mixing up the name of a dog with that of its owner, especially when the dog is Henry and his owner goes by Rags?

Even still, Dick Sebastian resolved he would not make that particular mistake, or any similar one, at the small-dog run in Washington Square Park he started frequenting a few years ago with his wife, Susie, and his dog, Kitty (grounds for more confusion, but that was someone else’s problem). He whipped up cartoony illustrations of all the dogs at the run who, like Kitty, arrived like clockwork for the morning shift, and turned them into a chart labeled with their names. Mr. Sebastian sometimes brought the work in progress to the dog run, and over time, even owners who were not part of the regular crew — many of them part of a downtown, arty scene — asked if their pets could be included, or agreed when approached by Mr. Sebastian.

From there, Mr. Sebastian, a retired surgeon who is now 71, started experimenting with more serious portraiture, sketching some of the dogs he had come to know better than many of his friends’ grandchildren. He started with Sidney, an aristocratic, standoffish pug belonging to Roberta Bayley, a former punk-rock photographer turned dog photographer. Everyone marveled at the images.

“I thought he really captured her weirdness,” said Ms. Bayley, sitting, as she always does, beside her sedentary, aloof pet on a bench. “She’s very into herself and quiet and serenity.”

Mr. Sebastian estimates that in less than a year, he drew and presented around 50 dog portraits to their owners, as gifts — in most cases, to great appreciation.

To read the full story, and see some of the drawings, head on over to [Source: The New York Times.]

2010 Pet Calendar Round-Up

Cat and dog calendars for 2010 are starting to roll into stores and are ready to purchase on the Internet. So much for just cute pets. Some of these calendars are hysterical with pets dressed as rock stars, outfitted in glamorous designs or doing yoga. The second dogs doing yoga calendar is ready, but worry not, these images are photo shopped.

The calendar by Dan and Alejandra Borris hosts a year full of images showing popular dog breeds positioned in classic yoga postures created using computer wizardry.

Takkoda has produced a calendar of pets made to look like rock stars and is selling it at Heliotrope.com. For Pets Rock 2010, pets were photographed in their own homes to capture their natural expressions and then "dressed up" digitally to look like stars such as Dolly Parton, Gene Simmons, Abba and Ozzy Osbourne.

Cat lovers might enjoy the United Bamboo's 2010 calendar of cat fashions, truly elegant shots in designs done by Miho Aoki.

To see more strange and adorable pictures, head on over to USA Today

Paintings By Dog Sell for $1,700

Sam the painting hound mix isn't just painting for kicks -- er, wags -- anymore. Now he's cashing in on his talent, with some of his two dozen paintings selling for up to $1,700, The Telegraph reports.

"Sam is a regular renaissance dog and his abstract paintings are all the rage with the hip New York galleries," says owner Mary Stadelbacher who runs Shore Service Dogs in eastern Maryland. She says:

"Using his specialized training as a house-help dog, combined with my amateur art background, Sam is a fully trained artist ... He takes the paint-brush mouth piece and will approach the canvas and begin painting on the simple command of 'paint'."

[Source: USAToday.com]

California Bridge Sculpture Goes To The Dogs

Dogs do the darndest things. They poop, they hump and they sniff in all the wrong places. And now you can see them do all of the above every time you cross the pedestrian bridge over Interstate 80 in Berkeley, Calif., thanks to the largesse of the taxpayers.

Artist Scott Donahue of Emeryville, Calif., was paid $196,000 by Berkeley's public arts program to create two large statues, which feature small, artistic medallions that show dogs doing what dogs do best. "Various things," Donahue said. "Biting each other, chasing each other. One dog is defecating, two dogs are fornicating."

But with the country in a deep recession and California on the verge of bankruptcy, some taxpayers are questioning the money Donahue got for his work. His total budget was $196,000 — 1.5 percent of the total budget for building the pedestrian bridge. And all of it came from taxpayers.

Donahue stands by his work and wonders what all the fuss is about. "The main impression that people have is that this is celebrating life's vitality," he said. "The sculpture is on the one hand serious — you've got these big sculptures — and on the other hand it's playful. It's both serious and playful simultaneously."

To read the complete story, head over to Fox News.

'Wendy and Lucy' to Open Today

In 'Wendy and Lucy,' opening today at Manhattan's Film Forum, Wendy (played by Michelle Williams), is a down-on-her-luck girl who's heading to Alaska to work in a fishing cannery and start a new life with her dog Lucy. When Wendy's car breaks down in Oregon and she gets thrown in jail for stealing dog food, Lucy - who is tied up outside - is left behind.

It's every dog lover's worst nightmare, and Wendy's desperation to find her best friend is palpable: She scours the streets, hangs flyers, checks the local animal shelter, and sleeps in the woods hoping Lucy will find her.

Lucy is the real-life pooch and constant companion of the film's director Kelly Reichardt, who lives in Astoria, Queens, and rescued the retriever mix from a Brooklyn shelter.

This film is a poignant reminder of how much we rely on our animals - and they on us.

[Source: NY Daily News]

Search for First Dog Featured in Comic Strip

Soon after President-elect Barack Obama spoke at a news conference about getting his daughters a pet from an animal shelter because “a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me,” Patrick McDonnell, creator of the comic strip “Mutts,” leapt into action. He quickly devised six strips supporting shelter adoptions.

“I normally stay away from politics, but this was a perfect fit,” Mr. McDonnell wrote in an e-mail message.

The sequence, which begins on Monday, features Mooch the cat and Earl the dog, above, discussing the next first pet. “If the Obama household adopted a mutt,” Mr. McDonnell added, “it would make a huge statement.” “Mutts,” distributed by King Features Syndicate, appears in more than 700 newspapers worldwide and online at muttscomics.com

[Source: NY Times]

Wearing the Hair of the Dog

These aren't just lovely portraits of people posing with their pets, but look a little closely and you'll see that the owners are wearing sweaters and vests that resemble the fur of their dogs. And they should because they were literally made from them. This is a series of photographs (an ongoing project) by photographer Erwan Fichou of people posing with their beautiful dogs, sporting canine couture... actual sweaters and vests made from the hair (fur?) of their own pet dogs. Here is the description of the series:

Dogwool series, 2005-2007. Eleven portraits (in progress)

The hair, especially hair known as the stuffing, once recovered after brushing, is carefully preserved until the amount necessary to achieve the knit structure. The hair is spun into balls of 50 g by a specialist before returning via mail, to its owner.

C-prints, 40 * 50 cm, Marie-Louise, glass, wooden framework.

Amazing.

[Source: If It's Hip, It's Here]

Presidental Pet Musuem Honors White House Pets

There's quite a long history of lovable, furry four-leggers in the White House, and it's great that the Obama Family will be continuing that tradition. If you're interested in learning about presidential pets past and find yourself in Annapolis, Maryland, be sure to check out The Presidental Pet Museum.

The Museum highlights past and current White House Pets. See a portrait of Lucky (President and Mrs. Reagan's Bouvier des Flandres) made from her own hair, and photos and exhibits of famous pets from George Washington's Horse, Nelson, the Clinton's famous Buddy and Socks to the current White House Pets!

Inflatable Poo Raises a Stink

A giant inflatable dog turd brought down a power line after being blown away from a Swiss museum.

The artwork, entitled Complex S***, was carried 200 metres on the night of 31 July, reportedly breaking a greenhouse window before it landed again. The sculpture, by American artist Paul McCarthy, was equipped with a safety system that should have deflated it. The fake faeces has been returned and will remain on display at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern until October.

McCarthy is well known for his inflatable artworks, two of which - Blockhead and Daddies Bighead - were displayed outside the Tate Modern in London in 2003. The Zentrum Paul Klee, which opened in 2005, houses a collection of about 4,000 works by the noted Swiss painter.

[Source: BBC News]

"Salvador Doggie" Paints Up a Storm

A five-year-old golden retriever will raise money next month by selling his paintings to benefit the Pacific Assistance Dogs Society which trained him. Dubbed "Salvador Doggie" by some, the painting pooch named Athens is a pawsitively proficient artist.

"I just made him learn that he has to touch the paper with his paintbrush before he gets any food," said Sherry Caves, who has used a wheelchair since the age of seven because of a spinal injury suffered in a car accident involving a drunk driver. Caves lives in a west end Vancouver apartment with her son Aidan, husband Darryl and the dog.

"He's my right-hand man, my little sidekick," added Caves. "He pulls me up the hills in my wheelchair and I don't have to rely on my husband and son." Athens can also turn on a light switch, open a door and pick up things Caves drops.

"About a year ago, I saw a video on YouTube about an assistance dog back east in the U.S. who could paint," said Caves, who got the PADS-trained dog three years ago. "These dogs are so smart - it didn't take long to train him." Athens has painted about eight pieces. One looks like a cat and another like goldfish swimming in a pond.

Caves said she's always thinking of ways to raise funds and believes people will be doggone keen to buy Athens's paintings. The talented dog will be put to work at a Mother's Day charity auction May 10 in Burnaby.

"Athens will be taking part in a silent and a live auction," said Jennifer Moir, PADS manager of fundraising and volunteer programs. "He will be at the front demonstrating how he paints. This is the first time that one of our dogs has done something like this," Moir added.

[Source: The Calgary Herald]

Dog Portraitist

Christine Merrill, 44, is the doyenne of dog portraitists. She's painted, among other trophy-laden canines, Ch. Salilyn's Condor, known familiarly as Robert, the English springer spaniel that was the big winner at the 1993 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Over an almost 25-year career, she has captured the likenesses of Oprah Winfrey's cocker spaniels, the late fashion designer Geoffrey Beene's dachshunds, CBS newsman Bob Schieffer's beagle, the late Malcolm Forbes's Norfolk terrier and bull mastiff, George and Barbara Bush's spaniel Millie, as well as the canines owned by some of Hollywood's top dogs.

Mostly, her subjects are family dogs rather than show dogs. Mostly, they're purebreds. "But I've also done mixed breeds, which I love to do because they're originals. They're like designer dogs," she said. And mostly they're in the prime of their lives -- though, admittedly, a few of them have had one paw in the grave. "Sometimes when I paint an old dog the family has already bought a new puppy," said Ms. Merrill, whose voice has a girlish, breathless cast and whose talk is often punctuated by giggles and broad gestures. "That's kind of bittersweet, but it says life goes on."

Holding a pose is out of the question with Ms. Merrill's particular clientele. Instead, she creates her oil paintings by referring to photographs and by making home visits to observe beagles, bichons and Bedlingtons in their natural surroundings. She's watched them sleep and eat, taken them for walks, even swum with them in the family pool. While she tends to be treated like visiting royalty -- clients often provide a first-class plane ticket -- every so often a subject revolts. "You have to give them some space," said Ms. Merrill, a sedulous student of self-styled Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan. "I've only been nipped once." The offender: one of a pair of Tibetan terriers. "I reached down to pet the little one too soon, and his older sister bit my hand but didn't draw blood. I took notes on that. Now, I start by talking to the owner and let the dog come up and sniff me."

"If it's gotten to the point where an owner wants a portrait, that dog must be special," she said. "I have to try to see him the way the owner sees him."

The younger daughter of a newspaper editor and an artist, Ms. Merrill showed her form early. At the age of 5, she drew a very respectable likeness of Snoopy that hangs on a wall in her studio. "My mother was a portrait painter. I would watch her subjects come in," recalled Ms. Merrill of a group that included Tricia Nixon and the wife of then-Vice President Spiro Agnew. "Children and ladies and men with their arms folded. She taught me how to get a likeness. She said that was more important than technique. Not that technique wasn't important," she added hastily.

Indeed, when model-turned-novelist Jane Hitchcock came to Ms. Merrill's studio to pick up a portrait of her West Highland terrier, "there were three other Westie portraits there," recalled Ms. Hitchcock. "But I knew exactly which was mine, because Christine paints dogs like a great portrait painter paints faces." But some clients have asked Ms. Merrill to throttle back on the exact likeness thing and paint a dog in his glory -- a little less gray in the muzzle, perhaps, a little less sag in the belly. "Usually, though, owners love them just the way they are."

Ms. Merrill employs the compositional references and backgrounds (generally exteriors colored rich green and blue) of classic 18th- and 19th-century animal portraits. Her meticulous brushwork and keen sense of detail have frequently invited comparison to the oeuvre of British artist George Stubbs. "My style, she says, "suits people who have antique furniture and Oriental rugs and heavy curtains."

[Source: Wall Street Journal Online, Image: Christine Merrill]

Picture Perfect Dogs

Pictures are instant gratification. It’s no wonder most of us accumulate dozens of photo albums, crammed full of the things – and people – we love. And of course, our pets are always included in these collections of memories and have been for decades.

Photography expert Catherine Johnson has spent years collecting anonymous amateur vintage photographs and has compiled a book featuring old snapshots of man’s canine companion. Published by Phaidon Press, “DOGS” features poignant photographs dating from the turn of the 20th century to the early 1960s. The images capture the ways in which dogs have become a natural part of our lives and range from trips to the beach and candid backyard shots to posed family portraits.

In the book you can also find quotes about dogs from such figures as Robert Louis Stevenson, George Eliot, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. John Steinbeck remarked, “I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are mutts,” and Alexander Pope claimed that “Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.”

“DOGS” is a beautiful look at the enduring love between humans and canines, a reminder that though times may change, our best friend does not. It brings forgotten vintage photographs of people and their dogs to light.

Pet Fashion Week: Hair Raising

This past weekend I attended Pet Fashion Week (which curiously only occurs during the weekend) and saw some crazy, creative coifs. This is the equivalent of seeing an extravagant Paris Haute Couture show by Galliano and perhaps we can take some key points and trickle down to some wearable street styles. This year was skulls, next year snakes!

Extreme Makeover

Do you remember flipping through magazines and tearing out pictures of Meg Ryan or Jennifer Aniston's haircut to show your hairdresser? Well here are some hair ideas for your dog's groomer. Make sure they're sitting first. Yes, they are a bit extreme and probably only for special occasions or if your dog were to be part of an art show. This design in particular reminds me of an episode from the Girls Next Door.

Oh No, Yoko!

According to this article, British artist Mark McGowan was so perturbed by Prince Phillip's fox hunting hobby that he decided to eat a Welsh Corgi (Queen Elizabeth II's favorite breed) live on the radio. Yoko Ono was there for completely unrelated reasons, and she opted to try a bite as well.

Um? Protesting unfair treatment of animals by eating animals? Aside from being utterly nauseating and just plain wrong, it isn't even logical. Given the slew of man bites dog/dog bites man news articles lately, I propose a truce. No biting by either party, and certainly no eating. Let's give peace a chance.

Update: the Internets is out of control and everyone reported the wrong thing. Dog was eaten, but Yoko was not there and did not participate. Great way to get your name out there - ride on the name of a really, really famous person!

Dog Poop as Political Art

When you have a dog, poop is just part of the deal. Along comes PACT (Pooptagging Against Cultural Theft) which wants to make political art through doggie doo. According to their site:

The concept is simple. Corporations naturally try to privatize everything in their path, so we'll give them a hand. Whenever you see an abandoned pile of doggie doo, stick a copyright flag in it and lay your claim. One by one, we'll show the corporate world what we think of their claim to ownership of our culture.

As much as we hate "The Man" and love art, you can't leave poop lying around the streets of NYC, especially with a flag in it. 1. it's illegal 2. it's gross 3. doggie doo is the leading source of e. coli bacterial pollution 4. it's gross 5. if I come across a random pile of poo, I'm not going anywhere near it 6. did I mention it's gross? Instead, we recommend this adorable baggie carrier and make a statement against poop abandoners by yelling at people who don't pick up after their dogs.