"Scared Puppy"

"Scared Puppy"  6" x 8"  Oil on panel  2013

Last week I started a series of paintings dealing with the sad plight of animals in need of a loving home.   There are scores of blogs and rescue group sites out here in cyberspace that could state their cases more eloquently, so I won't go into a long verbal diatribe about the thoughtless idiots who surrender their pets with lame excuses like, "My girlfriend didn't like him," or "He got too big," or "We moved and can't take her."  Don't get me started with the poor pit-bulls, which are turning up in shelters in alarming numbers because the good folks in Annapolis have deemed the breed too dangerous to own.  Landlords are forcing pit-bull owners in Maryland to give up their dogs or move because they are afraid of litigation. Not too long ago it was Dobermans, then it was German Shepherds.  My daughter had a pit-bull named Ginger and she was the sweetest dog ever.  I never lost a minute's sleep fearing for the safely of my two young granddaughters.  Indeed, I felt much safer knowing Ginger was there to protect them.  This little guy at the SPCA seemed reluctant to pose.