This is a different kind of Entry. I'm going to let Dad make this Entry... OK? This is an Entry By Dad:

(an exact copy of the entry off his own diary, actually, so... if you read that, you already saw this)

Dad Says:

The last few days, we've experimented with Big Bertha and 'painting'...

Mind you, at this stage, she has no real choice of colors, and a very very short attention span- she pretty much just likes the feel of the brush in her mouth and flogging the 'canvas' with it. She'd EAT the paint brush (and the paint) if we let her... so you should read this disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: The following pictures were in fact, painted by a dog. The brushes (except the first one) are the small wooden handled 'foam' type, and the paint is reeves acrylic. The owner/handler prepares the brush with water and a little acrylic paint, and gives the command "hold it"... the dog (Big Bertha) then clamps down on the handle- the owner handler holds the 'canvas' (at this stage, these are actually pages from a pad of 'charcoal' paper- it is an archival textured paper she seems to like) and pretty much just tries to keep it within the dog's vision/reach, while she flails the thing with the brush. After a few strokes, she looks bored, and would rather eat the brush- brush extraction from Rottie mouwf by the Cap'n or Cabin-boy. (grin)

Further Disclaimer: I am not selling this early art- I MAY sell art if she gets the clue that this is a command/game/fun and starts picking her own colors and/or brushes, or shows more attention span- at which time I will use better paints and real mounted canvas. At this stage, it's FUN for Big Bertha, and the captions/names of the paintings are purely whimsical, based on her behavior/moodiness/attentions at the moment that painting was done.

(whew) pant pant pant.

Sowwy, but there's folks out there making BIG bucks on animals that paint, and I don't want Big Bertha to be invited on some TV show, and them to say 'hey- she's just flogging the canvas and trying to eat the brush!' ...duh. :) I make no claim that she has a clue what she is painting, unlike some elephants, chimps, or gorillas- okey?

Without further ADOooo- here are her first works of art:

This was the first painting, and she did NOT like the brushes (which were smaller, round-tipped, watercolor-type brushes) We call this one, "Dad, I do not like these brushes. Yucky."

This was the second one, with the foam brushes I first taught her with- she LOVED painting this one- she danced and got very excited. We call this one, "Rottie Exhuberance". The Cap'n points out that it looks almost like an abstract of a rottie with one paw out, trying to grab for the canvas some more. ha ha ha. :)

This one was from a series of four we did today- We call it "Dad, I remember the dog park, which was much more fun than this." (hey, I see dogs chasing each other, in this... and she took her time with it, like she wasn't too interested yet, in /painting/.)

This one was the second one done today, and she had a LOT of exhuberance for it. She would slap at the canvas with the brush, and drool, and kind of party-down like it was fun- so we call this one "I love this color, it makes me drool." (note, some of the spots ARE drool.)

This was the third one done today- The cats, curious about this new activity, kept coming up and looking- and distracting her. She took her time with this one, while watching the cats between brush-strokes. We call it "Dad, the cats are distracting me." ;)

This was the fourth and final painting we did today. She took her time with this one too- she kept looking at me every stroke like "is that what you want?" or "is it done yet?" Because of this, we jokingly call this, "Dad, what is your obsession with this painting thing? I prefer carrots. Can I have a Carrot?" :) hee hee.

We'll see if this pans out as a fun thing for her- she seems to like to do one 'warm up' set, and then two paintings... the fourth seems to be more carefully done, but I can't tell if it's because she IS bored, or because she's calming down and wants to learn what I expect of her, with this wierd new game. ;) So. For now, it's a game on paper... Lets see if she starts asking to paint- and if so, we'll set her loose on the canvas with the 'good paint' and see how she does. :)

What does everyone think? Is it art? Is it fun? It is cruelty to Rotties? (tee hee)