How a painting is made: Theo the Dogue de Bordeaux

How a painting is made: Memphis the Golden Retriever

Winter comes early

Some are ideally suited for winter and the cold.

©2002 Marion Pennell

Rescue Me

Yoshi and Jacob Yoshi is about six.  He was rescued from a kill-shelter by a woman running Refuges St-Chatques (a play on words for St-Jacques).  I found Yoshi last year on http://petfinder.com .     Jacob is about seven.  Jacob came from the Montréal SPCA Annex over three years ago – one of the last of the colony of around 90 cats from a hoarding situation in a 3-1/2 apartment in NDG.  (Montréal speak – a 3-1/2 is a one bedroom.)

Why Won’t You Brush Your Dog?

Artists and writers are known to need other employment from time to time to pay the bills.  I have been a customs broker, a traffic clerk for an independent music company, a printshop assistant, a souvenir designer, and a bartender among other things.

That one time with the pink and purple Pomeranian

My current day job is assistant at a dog grooming salon.  I do not wield any tools – no scissors, clippers, or tweezers for me.  I bathe, dry, and brush the dogs, and when required I am a canine positional facilitator. (I hold the dog for the groomer.)

People buy Bernese Mountain Dogs and Golden Retrievers – beautiful long haired breeds – and then they never brush their dog.  They could buy a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog or a yellow Labrador Retriever – basically the same dog in short hair.