Oil Paint My Pet

We recently ran a competition on the Oh My Dog website in association with Liz Doyle from Oil Paint My Pet and the prize was an oil painting from the winner's favourite photo of their pet. The winner was Aoife Feeney and her boxer Bailey.

When Aoife saw the oil painting that Liz had done for her here's what she said:

Liz is an amazing artist, I was absolutely blown away by the painting she'd done of our Bailey. She was on the ball straight away and we had manys the email conversation to make sure the painting was going to be 100%. Liz cares about what she does and you only have to look at her work to see this.

And here's why:

Liz has beautifully captured Bailey and changed the background so that Bailey stands out even more.

Here are a few more examples of what Liz can do:

The painting is so good its hard to tell which one is the photograph!

Here is another photograph that Liz worked from:

And here is the painting:

And its not just dogs either! How about a horse:

And the painting:

Liz Doyle is based in Killiney in Co. Dublin and the Oil Paint My Pet website is here.

When Boxers Go Nuts in Wheat Fields!

We recently stayed with our dogs Munky and Arthur in Ballaghtobin, a beautiful house on hundreds of acres in Callan, Co. Kilkenny. Ballaghtobin is dog-friendly and the dogs were allowed to stay in the room with us. This is a fantastic place to stay, with or without dogs. Seriously comfortable beds and the breakfast could not be better. Highly recommended by Munky and Arthur as well.

www.ballaghtobin.com

We took the dogs for a walk in the morning and came across some wheat fields which had tracks left from a tractor. So Munky and Arthur decided that it might be a bit of fun to take one track each and run as fast as they could. A bit like dog scaletrix.


It looked like great fun for the dogs (not necessarily for the wheat) and before we put an end to the madness by calling them back they went cross country through the wheat jumping like deer. This was 100% pure doggie excitement.

The tops of their ears were just about visible flapping in the wind as they sprinted through this wheat wonderland.
















...and then it was over. They would surely dream about this tonight.

Not for the squeamish...

THIS WILL SHOCK YOU - READ FIRST

Pack of Dogs Attacking a Crocodile in Kruger Park

At times nature can be cruel, but there is also a raw beauty, and even a certain justice manifested within that cruelty. The crocodile, one of the oldest and ultimate predators, normally considered the 'apex predator', can still fall victim to implemented 'team work' strategy, made possible due to the tight knit social structure and 'survival of the pack mentality' bred into the canines.

See the remarkable photograph below, courtesy of Nature Magazine. Note that the Alpha dog has a muzzle hold on the croc preventing it from breathing, while another dog has a hold on the tail to keep it from thrashing. The third dog attacks the soft underbelly of the croc.

Scroll down for the photo...












a little further...

The best picture of a dog you've ever seen?

William & Matthew Burrard-Lucas are brothers from the UK with a passion for wildlife photography. They have taken amazing photographs from around the world and are excellent at what they do.

They recently ran a photography competition, the theme of which was "Pet Portraits". So you had to submit a maximum of 3 pictures, which we did (of our boxers), but without success. Can't complain though - take a look at the picture that won. Brilliant!



They received 4500 photos from around the world so you would think it would have been hard to pick a winner. Apparently not....

"The moment we saw Carolyn’s photo of her dog in amongst teddy bears we instantly knew we had found our winner. It is a wonderfully original and imaginative interpretation of the theme "pet portraits". Clearly a lot of thought went into planning this shot and the execution was spot-on. We like the way a slight hint of the dog’s mischievous character shines through in his expression… very cute! Congratulations Carolyn!"

The Burrard-Lucas website is here and is well worth a look.