First off, the school we go to is great. Lots of individual attention, great problem solving, and the courses are well-paced and easy to follow with the distractions of dogs around. I’ll happily take more classes with them. I’ve learned a ton in the past few weeks, and the biggest thing is that Finnegan and I need a LOT more practice in working together as a team in the face of distractions.

I’ve created an accidental “rift” of sorts. He’s a fabulous, biddable dog when we’re at home or at other places with minimal distractions around. For instance, he listens well when he’s at my store. However, in a class environment,  especially a high-drive class enrivonment like flyball, we lose it. His brain falls out. The other dogs and what they’re doing are far more interesting to him than anything else. Example: we were all doing individual ball work tonight. Finn and I had our own ball we were bouncing around and retrieving, but once he got wind that the other dogs were also retrieving balls, our ball disappeared from his mind and he was trying to get everywhere but where we were.

Our bond falls apart in the face of distractions. As much as I keep a happy attitude for his sake, it does dishearten me. Tonight I decided that I need to stop fretting about his behaviour in class, for both our sakes (he feeds off of it) and focus on the happy, the good, and the fun.

I think our next step after this class is to see what’s available for some basic obedience/focus work classes. Maybe rally obedience or something calmer than flyball where we can focus on one another and the bond between us as opposed to DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE.

We’ll enjoy the rest of this class and take it for what it is, and then we’ll work on something different.

And that’s okay. He’s my wookie collie and he rocks regardless. We’ll get it in time.

Our lives have been very busy as of late, flyball classes aside. We’ve had this little girl hanging out with us at the store:

Her name is Lucha, and she is one of the Freedom Dogs. She is being assessed for adoption soon. She’s a Lakeland Terrier, between 7-10 years old and an absolute dolly. She is our constant shadow in the store, gets the funniest zoomies after a pee outside, loves squeaky toys and ear scratches, and would love a quiet home with a loving person to call her own.

If you know anyone who is interested, please contact me and we’ll get you in contact with the right people. I would take her home if I could, srsly.

Freya, my little ferret with adrenal disease, received a deslorelin implant in November to treat the symptoms (and possibly hopefully reduce the tumour, though that’s uncommon). So far I’ve been VERY impressed with the results – the swelling in her vulva reduced immediately. She has put a good amount of weight on. She’s naturally a bit waify, but she has meat on her bones again instead of feeling like she’s wasting away. And the best part?

WE HAVE BUM FUR AGAIN. All of her fur is slowly growing back in! Sure it’s a bit yellow and oily but WHO CARES.

Cheers to Dr. Auger and his veterinary clinic for all the effort of bringing these implants to Canada. The difference is astounding, and it’s nice not to worry about monthly injections.

I’ll leave you tonight with a photo from my 52 Weeks of Dogs series for 2012 – the theme was Best Friends.

On December 25th of this year (of course), snow finally descended upon us for good. Finnegan was elated.

Wintertime brings its own type of joy to Finnegan. it means he can flounder and bunnyhop through snowdrifts, “help” us shovel by nomming all of the snow we throw in his general direction, and it means fresh rabbit poop delicacy atop snow every day. Just for him. Gross.

But Finnegan’s single favorite winter game is in the same vein as his obsession with tennis balls: snowball catching.

I’ll grab his Chuckit, find hardened little lumps of snow and ice mix, and toss them in the air for him. Joy is achieved. Pretty straightforward way to keep a collie happy on those bitterly cold days.

Of course, my lofty goal throughout all of this is to get fun action photos of my dog looking ridiculous while catching globs of snow.

Mission accomplished.

Also, most of you have probably heard of this over on the Facebook group, but there’s a sale starting today and running until January 20th, 2012. Focusing on “toony” portraits! Check it out and contact me if interested.

I must go. My Collie needs me.

Oh, and because I’ve been asked in the past – Finnegan is wearing MuttLuks, because his pawpads freeze very easily in cold weather. I like them a lot for deep snow, the tall socks keep snowballs from forming in his leg fur. For pavement walking though, I prefer Ultra Paws Rugged Boots - we sell both at our store and they both serve different purposes, but are both stellar boots for dogs in winter.

Welcome to 2012. Things are going to be awesome this year.

Last year was pretty awesome, for the most part. Some things that happened:

• I started an awesome day job at Global Pet Foods. This has been great in many ways; it’s alleviated financial stress, continually teaches me more and more about pets and pet nutrition, has got me portrait clientele, gets me out of the house everyday and into an awesome shop with fun co-workers, great bosses and a pretty awesome customer base. I adore my job, and it ties in wonderfully to AlliePets. My bosses are hugely supportive of it.
• I did a ton of portraits and other work for a ton of awesome people, and am already starting on more work for folks in 2012. Woohoo! My last portraits for 2011 will be up in the gallery soon.
• I rehomed two pets, and lost another. The zoo dwindled a little.
• My newest ferret was diagnosed with adrenal disease, and was given a deslorelin implant to control the symptoms. With luck, she’ll still live a few more years. <3 She’s doing great on the implant.
• The rest of the pets spent their days, eating, sleeping, playing and doing their things. Everyone is healthy and happy.

Here’s a recap of a few things that have happened recently in my little zoo.

First, a sad thing. About a month ago, I went to mist Ysera and take up her food dish from the night before, and I found her dead. She was perfectly fine the night previous, licking her water droplets, eating her food, and crawling about. It had happened overnight – she was deep crimson, her night colour, her pupils were dilated and she was quite rigid. In speaking to other crested folks, she very well may have slipped away in her sleep for reasons unknown.

She was only 2 and a half. It was very, very upsetting.

She was a really cool gecko. Happy to crawl on my hands and climb around my shoulder and hair. Very social, full of character. Basol’s a bit more aloof in terms of socialness (which is fine, I like her that way) but Ysera loved visiting people.

Her viv is emptied, and sits on its pedestal for now. When the time is right, I’ll get another crestie. They’re awesome pets and I would love another.

On to some happy news…

It is a new year. With new years come resolutions. Most of mine are standard – get in shape, improve at work, improve on creative hobbies, my art, etc – and one of my big ones is to finally involve Finnegan and myself more in dog sports and activities.

My friend and co-worker Tash decided she would help me with this resolution, and signed us both up for Flyball classes starting January 8th. This coming Sunday. Ohgods. I’m nervous, and excited. Mostly excited. Finn loves ball. Finn loves jumping. Finn loves speed. I think we’ll have fun. We haven’t been in a class environment for awhile, so I hope his focus will be okay. I’ll be working on focus exercises with him throughout the class just in case.

Wish us luck.  I’ll be back with updates.

Is warm. I likes.

Barrett is a fan of the cold and snow, probably due to the ridiculous amounts of winter coat and fat he managed to pack on. Now that he’s blown his spring coat and dropped a bit of chuink, he’s ready for the warm season. He knows how to choose his fashions for the seasons.

Freya is still rather new to harness exploration. I assume she never had any at her old home, because September and October took a bit of coercing to get her to relax about being in a harness. Generally I just let them explore, and they eventually equate putting a harness on to “omg it’s outside playtime”.

Freya has made that equation now. She also has a new jacket to match her siblings from Chloe’s Four-Legged Fashions. This is the Carnivale pattern.

Grass grass grass dirt grass... this is awesome.

Freya is all about exploring, but she tends to take pause like a deer in headlights at random intervals. Perhaps realizing that she’s in the great expanse of OUTSIDE and it might potentially be scary/dangerous.

WHAT IS THAT.

Porom is probably the happiest at the change in weather. All through the winter I was concerned for her, as she was extremely skinny and had a very poor coat. She got a full blood panel and checkup at the vet with no avail – she seemed healthy, acted healthy, ate like a horse. Vet suggested a diet change, so I incorporated more grain-free kibble into their diet mix.

What a change!

Look at the floof!

Fluffy and just a little bit plump. Perfect! And as usual, Porom loves patrolling the grass and dirt.

I see you thar.

With her fresh floofy coat, I like to think she looks like a little white wolverine.

She won't eat your face, though. I don't think.

I am hoping to take them on many park excursions this year, and hopefully finally get a decent outdoor playpen constructed for playdates! The ferret trio loves being outside.

Starting next week I’ll be working for Global Pet Foods in Hintonburg!

I’ll be starting part-time and possibly moving to full-time, selling pet food and educating on pet nutrition, all that good stuff.

With this announcement, I received one big question:

Will I still be doing AlliePets?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer:

It’s not often that a business owner really gets into the backend of what they do, especially when it involves any sort of complaints or negative aspects of what they do. And honestly, with AlliePets there really ISN’T much negative to say. I’ve loved doing it, I still love doing it. I’ve networked with no many amazing people and businesses, and it’s actually how I first became familiar with the store I’ll be working at. The people I’ve met, the pets I’ve gotten to know… it’s an experience I’ve enjoyed immensely, and an experience I’m not entirely giving up on.

The cold hard truth of AlliePets is: it doesn’t pay my bills.

My primary income has mostly come through freelance graphic design work, which runs me pretty ragged as a day job. It’s stressful, the clients are often difficult and I deal with very tight deadlines and pressure. I can’t show off most of my work because a lot of what I did was for the private sector. I felt like my soul was being sucked out!

That was originally why I started AlliePets: to have a little hobby business that could net me a bit of extra money while doing something I wholeheartedly enjoy. And on that front, it has delivered all that and more. I was able to work creatively with pet owners, to make a unique and fun representation of their pets. Many clients have given me fun experiments to try with their pets, and many have helped me push my creative envelope. That was what I needed, and I felt creatively whole.

As it was, I’ve only ever had about 3-4 pet portraits a month, which were easily handled with a 40-hour workweek otherwise. I am hoping to continue at that approximate pace with this new job. We’ll see how things go. I refuse to become burnt out on either one, but I doubt that will happen. I’m happiest when I’m busy, it’s not often I feel burnt out.

This job switch is going to be an amazing change for me. For one thing, I’ll be out of the house much more, and meeting lots of people. The owners are great people, my co-workers are supercool, and the store itself is an awesome boutique. I’ll be working hard, learning a lot, and I hope to thoroughly enjoy myself along the way. It’s something different, a new adventure. And I’m all about adventure.

The blog will still be updated as often as possible with the usual: Pet updates, art updates, life updates. It may switch to a broader scope as I go, becoming more of a personal blog. I hope you’ll stick along with me!

AlliePets isn’t going anywhere. As always, I am exceedingly grateful for all of you, my clients, my friends, my well-wishers. You’ve given me this wonderful little thing I can call my own, and I cannot begin to express the gratitude. I hope my explanations above tell you just how important AlliePets has been to me, and will continue to be.

Locals should come visit Hintonburg and check out the store! It’s pretty spiff.

This was a commission for a good friend of mine, and my first BIG foray into digital painting. It was challenging, and I had a huge roadblock in the middle where I saved over the original with a much smaller copy. Oops. Much was learned, and the end result is a new personal accomplishment.

It’s a mishmash of prehistoric Devonian sea creatures.  In case anyone is curious: The big guy is Dunkleosteus, coloured a bit like a rainbow trout. The big green one is Titanychthys, the sharks are Cladoselache, the blue fish are Coelacanth, the little brown sharks are Coccosteus and the smelled brown fish are Bothriolepis.

The More You Know!

This one was a gift for a friend of a character inspired by a Karkadann, a mythological African/Persian unicorn. Lots of fun with the colours on the neck and face!

Lastly, another play in a different style. A neon tiger named Engine. Another character design belonging to a friend that I borrowed and made as a gift. Such fun!

It’s really fun stepping out of my comfort zone sometimes and trying new styles. I hope to soon be able to offer a variety of style options for my portraits, as well.

Sierra is, at best guess, a hound/cattledog mix, and is absolutely adorable. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her and her owner in person, and her owner is a good friend. I’m pleased to finally be able to draw her!

I recently held a photo contest over on my Facebook fanpage, the first time I’d done such. The response was overwhelming, and through cross-promotion of the contest I gained almost double my followers! I remain so very thankful for my awesome fans and supporters. Y’all rock. Due to more responses than I had thought, I drew two winners randomly! Both won a simple full-body pet portrait of the pet they entered.

First was Quinn the sphynx from Toronto. She’s adorable and had just gotten surgery when her owner heard that she won, so I’m glad I could provide a bright spot! She is fine now.

Secondly, Wilson the APBT mix won! He’s a great ambassador for bully breeds, having earned his CGC and TDI. His owner is very involved with her three bully-breed dogs and Wilson was a joy to draw. Such an adorable face.

As usual, these portraits are now in the gallery for perusal. I look forward to showing the next batch! Spring has been rather busy.

For Finnegan, spring means wonderful things. Mud, unearthed tennis balls, squirrels and birds EVERYWHERE, weave pole training, and…

BUBBLES.

Spring means portraits, too. Last week was the week of Huskies.

Koda and Nala, two adorabibble huskies with very different colouring and structure. Such fun to draw!

And also gorgeous Nikita, whose owner won the Global Pet Foods Show Us Your Heart raffle!

Things are changing around here – with spring comes new beginnings, new growth, and new development. I’m going to keep being awesome and making portraits, designs, photos and other pretties – it is, after all, the best part of what I do. I’ll also be making some FUN changes to this blog, making it more enjoyable to read and share. I hope you’ll follow me on this wild ride, and as always I welcome feedback from all of my fans, followers and curious parties. You’re all awesome!

A lot of folks who meet Ysera are surprised. hey don’t really bat an eye at Basol, who’s a standard leopard gecko, one of the most common reptilian pets there is. But a crested gecko like Ysera is a bit more uncommon, mostly due to their backstory. They were only re-discovered in 1994 in New Caledonia (near Australia) after being thought extinct. Their emergence as a pet is still very new, and thus a lot is still unknown about them. That said, there’s a lot of fun facts that make them desirable pets:

• crested geckos, like many geckos, have no eyelids, and lamellae-lined footpads that stick to surfaces on a molecular level.
• they come in a ridiculous range of colours, so much that breeders often have a difficult time identifying the patterns on their own broods. They can be solid, spotted, brindle, harlequin, and all of these in a wide colour spectrum.
• they change colour. Their colour changes are still being researched, but it’s clear that the most obvious factors are time of day, activity level, and maturity. Below are two shots of Ysera taken at different times of day. The left was earlier, under low light, the right being later, in a lightbox. (Click to enlarge)
  
• their habitats are humid, room temperature and arboreal. Many people, myself included, opt to plant a natural vivarium for their geckos, which can be more pleasing to the gecko and enjoyable for me, too.
• once their habitat is correctly set up, their care is minimal. They are happy on a diet of Repashy’s CGD, a powdered diet mixed with water to form a tasty mud. They also happily eat crickets. Their daily care is a matter of feeding them and misting their habitat with a water spray bottle 2-3 times a day.

So, crested geckos are pretty cool. If you ever want to add a reptile to your household, a crested gecko is a great choice as a starter reptile. They’re also really tame, and become moreso with regular handling. Ysera is so used to me visiting her that she often just happily chills on my hand for awhile.