Puppy Love
Freckles came home with us and became a beloved member of our family. He never got over being scared and was a challenge around strangers but somehow he stole all of our hearts and we loved and protected him and he loved and protected us back.
Animals have a way of finding us and filling needs we didn’t know we had. They give us that unconditional love that only they can bring and carve out a place in our hearts forever. It is that love and joy that I strive to capture in my animal sculptures. If the sculpture is of a family pet, I get to hear stories that make me feel like I know him or her and it’s those emotions that I try to capture in my work. Pet portraits are always such special pieces to make.
What was your first pet?
When my daughter was little she desperately wanted a dog but we didn’t feel it was the right time to bring a dog into our family so we suggested she volunteer to be a dog walker at our local humane society. Since all the dogs there at the time were big they assigned her a job as a cat socializer instead. So for the next few years she and her little sister went to the shelter once a week and socialized cats.
One day we were out driving and saw a box with puppies spilling out and a poor mother dog trying to round them up by the side of the road. My girls went into dog rescue mode. We rounded up the puppies and the mom and loaded everyone into the car. They all got in fine except for the little brown and white puppy who hid under the car and bit us when we pulled him out. He was so scared and upset. We called the humane society to prepare a space for them and off we went. My husband and I talked on the phone and were resolved to the idea that we would be getting a puppy, ready or not, but my girls were so focused on the rescue that they didn’t think about keeping one. When we got home that night my husband looked at me and said, “ Where’s the dog?” For the next few weeks we went to the shelter and the puppies were my girl’s special project. One by one the puppies got adopted to new homes. Finally there was just one sweet little brown and white puppy left (guess who?) and my daughter suddenly got the idea that he was meant to be our special dog.
