Paintings by dog sell for more than £1,000

Using the lush surroundings of his home town of Eastern Shore, Maryland as his muse, Sam's paintings are attracting a loyal art world following.

Some of his 22 paintings - done using a tailor-made paintbrush held in his mouth - have sold for up to $1700 (£1,045).

"Sam is a regular renaissance dog and his abstract paintings are all the rage with the hip New York galleries," says Mary Stadelbacher, Sam's owner.

"He loves his painting and would happily carry on for hours if I left him to it.

"He loves to work in a variety of colours and layers his paintings with darker shades first and then moves on to lighter ones later."

Mary, who runs Shore Service Dogs, in the United States took in six-year-old Sam four years ago as a rescue dog.

"He had been bounced around a couple of dog pounds, so I couldn't have that," says Mary about Sam, who is a bloodhound, sheep-dog cross.

"I took him in and intended to train him up as a fully fledged service dog."

However, soon after Mary took Sam in she was struck down by a botched operation that robbed her of the use of her right hand for a time.

"I never completed Sam's training because of my rehab," says Mary.

"So in the end I decided to keep him on to help me around the house."

Painting al-fresco in the summer and by the heat of a bright fire in the winter, Sam the painting dog is a pooch for all seasons.

"Using his specialised training as a house-help dog, combined with my amateur art background, Sam is a fully trained artist," explains Mary.

"He takes the paint-brush mouth piece and will approach the canvas and begin painting on the simple command of 'paint'.

Inspired to teach Sam to paint after seeing a spate of painting animals, Mary and Sam help to keep Shore Service Dogs centre open with the money made from the art sales.

"I saw dolphins painting and elephants painting, so I thought why not a dog?" explains Mary.

via Paintings by dog sell for more than £1,000 - Telegraph.

My dog can paint your dog painting paintings.