Little Bunny Foo Foo is No More

It was bound to happen sooner or later. You can’t have a dog with a high prey drive and not expect him to catch a wild animal from time to time. Even though we live in the suburbs, we still have quite a few wild animals around. There are birds, squirrels, rodents, skinks, snakes, hawks, and, yes, rabbits.

Pierson loves to watch these squirrels living in our neighbor’s house.

The rodent-like animals are prolific here. There are certain times of the year when I can’t walk the dogs without having a squirrel cross our path every half-block. And don’t get me started on the rabbits. Since the hawks can’t hunt well through the maze of structures and fences, the rabbits breed like… well, like rabbits.

Pierson is trying to decide which rabbit to chase. These rabbits live under our shed.

We have a family of rabbits living under our shed in our back yard. I see them often in the early morning and just before dark. I am careful about not letting the dogs out at those times. But every so often, a rabbit braves the full light of day and Pierson gets a little more exercise. He’s never caught one, though, until Thursday night.

This wouldn’t be the first time Pierson has killed a wild animal. When he lived as a stray in Pierson Park, I noticed a dead squirrel in his vicinity. Last year sometime, or maybe earlier this year, I saw him catch and kill a bird.

Thankfully, I didn’t see Pierson catch and kill the rabbit from the other night. All I know is that it was after dark and Pierson was reluctant to come when I called. I saw him hovering over something in the yard so I grabbed my flashlight to investigate. It was a young bunny. It wasn’t a baby bunny, but it wasn’t an adult either. A juvenile, I’d say – one that stayed out past curfew and suffered the consequences.

Very sad, but I can’t blame Pierson. It is his instinct. I just have to be careful when I take him out of the home environment. He is never to be off-leash except in his own back yard. No going to the dog park. We have to avoid certain sections of the pet store. And I can’t have any small pets.

Rabbit Treats?

Coincidentally, Pierson ate rabbit treats earlier that day. I received an unexpected package in the mail Thursday morning and was happily surprised to see two bags of treats from 2BrownDawgs! One of the bags was from Zukes and it was the Lil’ Links rabbit & apple recipe.

Zukes Lil’ Links Rabbit and Apple Recipe Dog Treats.

Do you think Pierson got a taste for rabbit from those treats? LOL! Probably not, but it is an interesting happenstance. 😀

So why did 2BrownDawgs send us treats? Remember the art work I did of their dog Thunder? I wanted no compensation for it since I solicited them and not the other way around. So getting the package of treats was a very nice surprise. ❤

Thank you 2BrownDawgs! From Maya, me (Dawn), and Pierson. 🙂

Maya & Pierson were especially thankful. When I opened the bag, they automatically started doing their synchronized spinning.

Synchronized Spinning

I made them sit and stay for a moment and Maya started drooling. Pierson kept licking his chops. Finally, when they got the treats they scarfed them down in a flash! The treats were delicious. Thanks 2BrownDawgs!!! 🙂

This is actually an older photo for other treats. But the begging looks still apply to the dog treats given by 2BrownDawgs.

Thunder Artwork in Progress

I have finally finished drawing Thunder from 2BrownDawgs.com. I started this project months ago! I could give you all kinds of reasons why it took so long, but I don’t want to bore you. So let’s just get to the good stuff. I drew Thunder twice. I did this because I did not like how the first one came out so I wanted to try again. Honestly, I’m not happy with either one. Check them both out below and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism only. Also tell me which one you like best. I am especially interested in what 2BrownDawgs thinks. Hop on over to the 2BrownDawgs.com blog post on April 11, 2013 to see the original photo I drew from.

Background for the first artwork of Thunder.

The first completed artwork of Thunder.

The second background for drawing Thunder the dog. I like the background of this one much better.

The next step was drawing the duck in his mouth. This was very difficult because it was hard to see the details in the photo I was drawing from.

I am drawing Thunder’s head. It was difficult getting the detail in since it was so small. I’ m better at portrait drawings because I can see the whole face in great detail.

Now I start drawing Thunder’s body. I start with the darker areas. And I am using colored pencils this time instead of pastels.

The second completed drawing of Thunder the Dog.

I don’t think either artwork does the photo of Thunder justice. It was a fun challenge, though. I know my weakness is full body drawings. Getting detail is much more difficult.

I recorded myself drawing Thunder. I had this great idea of drawing Thunder along with the AC/DC song, Thunderstruck. But you’re not supposed to use music in your videos unless you get permission from the record company and recording label. Giving credit to them in the video is not enough. It is still a violation of copyright laws. Does anyone know of an easy and reliable way to get permission?

Wordless Wednesday – Thunderous Pet Portraits

I currently have three pet portraits going. Two are commission works and the other is one I asked to do because the photo was so inspiring. If you follow the dog blog of a three Chesapeake Bay Retrievers named after weather terminology and a large ship, then you know 2BrownDawgs.com. Go check out their site, then you will see why I was inspired to draw the following sketches:

Preliminary sketch of Thunder, the Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

My final sketch of Thunder before attempting to draw in color. (Can you hear AC/DCs song Thunderstruck playing in the background?)

Now check out the two commission pet portraits I am working on:

This is a photo of Deuce the cat.

The photo was at an angle I wasn’t happy with so I adjusted the angle and drew Deuce the cat from a more face-to-face angle.

The final sketch of Deuce is complete. I may need more photos to get the cat stripes right when I draw this in color.

This is a photo of Mos, a rescued dog with a sweet face.

The preliminary sketch of Mos.

This is the almost final sketch of Mos. I have another photo of Mos I can use to draw the ears better.

For more great pet photos, check out the Wordless Wednesday blog hop link below.

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A Little Note about Comments

Many of you may have noticed that I don’t always reply to the comments you leave on my posts. But I want you to know that I am reading and I am enjoying your comments immensely. I just don’t always know what to say in reply to your reply. If you say that Maya and Pierson are so cute in those photos, I feel silly replying, “I know” or “Aren’t they?”. I could say “Thanks” and perhaps I should.

While I may not always reply to your comments on my blog, I do enjoy going out to your blogs and commenting on your adorable fur family members (Snoopy, Roxy, Torrey, Pixel, Litchi, Tanner, Oliver, Dougie, Dakota, Cinnamon, Clowie, Eko, Hawk, Thunder, Storm, Freighter, Leroy, Sherman, Mollie, Alfie, Oz, Patches, Flash, Petey, Maggie, Kirby… OMDog I hope I didn’t forget anyone!!!). You may not always notice my reply on your blogs because sometimes I put in this blog title in the URL section, sometimes I put in my petautosafetyblog.com URL, and sometimes I just put the petautosafety.com retail URL.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate you stopping by. And thank you so much for all the wonderful comments!!! If any of you would like me to reply to your comments, I’d be more than happy to. I know as bloggers that we are already bogged down with tons of email alerts. So some of you may not be concerned about whether I reply or not. But if you’d like me to, just let me know. You can let me know here by commenting on this post or email me at naturebydawn@aol.com so that your preference is kept private.

Thanks again! You all are PAWSOME! 🙂