The very first piece... Hayden

We adopted Hayden from a rescue last year in January. Born in a puppy mill in the south, the place was closed down by animal control he, along with his brothers and sisters, were put in a kill shelter. At only a month old, things didn't look good for him... until a rescue came and rescued the puppies and brought them up north. Nearly starved, full of worms, and their future dim, they were put in a foster home and nursed back to health.

One evening, Greg and I found a picture of his brother on PetFinder and decided that we could handle another dog now that the girls are getting older. But, when we called about his brother, we were told that he had been adopted and only little Hayden was left. He was the runt of the litter, unbelievably shy, and the last one at the foster home. We did not expect to come home with a puppy that night, but when I saw him all alone and sad... well... in my coat he went and he has been my little angel ever since.

Hayden is actually a Beauceron, which is a type of french herding breed. We discovered this when digging a little deeper into the puppymill situation he came from, and found two registered parents. The problem is... those dogs have rear duclaws, and Hayden's have been removed. We asked about it, and were told that they were removed for 'his safety' and to make him 'more adoptable'. That, along with that he is half the size he is supposed to be (only 40 lbs at a year and a half)... he is for all intensive purposes considered a mutt.

Hayden has really blossomed... and he is just absolutely adorable. Have shepardy legs, when he sits on the tile they splay out a bit like an x-wing fighter. He will also tilt his head a bit to the side when you talk to him... and the overall picture is just cute. This will be my first MutzArt piece, and will be about 5" tall or so. I plan on having his tail wrap around him a bit instead of sticking straight out like it is in the pic.

The first stage after this is doing sketches and building the armature. I will be doing that this week, and will post pics as I go!