Oil paintings of dogs are a lot more exhilarating than oil paintings of people in my experience. The reason for that is with dogs, you want the catch all of their wild and silly expressions. In people, sometimes you have to flatter the sitter by making a certain features less prominent (especially noses and chins). When I made this painting, I wanted to make a dog that was close to the peak of his wild and silliness. He still cracks me up to the state to see the finished piece. This is a Christian Ives original oil painting.