History of Art for Dogs
Polly always wanted a dog. As busy working parents we procrastinated, tried to substitute with easier animals like rabbits and guinea pigs, but she really really wanted a dog; she just loved them.
Shortly before her 16th birthday, we deemed her finally old enough to take full responsibility. We made the first of many trips to Dogs Trust at Roden to begin the search for the perfect friend for our daughter. We thought we wanted a cute, shaggy mongrel. Unfortunately all the cute shaggy dogs had been picked. One of the staff at Roden listened to what we wanted; a dog who would play, be loyal, be interesting, but who would also be calm at home. She said, you want Fynn, he’s the best. Fynn was a skinny, mangy Border Collie who had been a stray in Ireland; on first appearances, there was not too much going for him. But then we took him for a walk and somehow he just knew how to fit in our family. He made sure we all took turns to throw his ball, he walked between us all, wagging quite happily, and he was obviously ours.
We were so nervous taking him home; what had we let ourselves in for? We felt we didn’t really know anything at all about how to care for him. But Polly just did. She sat with him through his nerves at being in a new place and she loved him utterly. They became firm best friends. And Polly stayed true to her word (ok, sometimes we had to nag just a little!) walking him in all weathers, taking care of all his feeding, cuddling him and loving him.
Tragically, their friendship was short. Just before Polly’s 18th birthday she died. She had recently developed Epilepsy but the diagnosis came too late for her medication to be effective. On the 7th February 2010 she didn’t wake up, having suffered a fatal seizure during the night.
Through the pain and grief that began to hit us, Fynn was there. He still needed to be walked every morning, so we had to force ourselves out of bed, even when we just wished the world would go away. He needed love because he missed his best friend; we had to be there for him. The routine that he gave to our days helped us to manage the worst of all times.
Apart from Fynn, Polly’s passion was art. She had been attending an Art and Design course at college and hoped to become an illustrator (or possibly a goat farmer, but that’s another story!) We had talked about Polly doing some pet portraits as a way of earning some pocket money. When she died, Jack promised that he would do this for her, but that every single penny earned from the portraits would go to Dogs Trust, the charity Polly had supported for years.
That’s how Polly Furnival’s Art for Dogs was born. We made some leaflets, told friends, asked them to tell their friends. Jack set up his etching studio and in anticipation he placed orders for paper and ink. He produced beautiful etchings from the photos sent to us by dog owners; they in turn, made a donation to Dogs Trust. It’s a system based on trust; we have no guarantee that people will pay, or how much. When Dogs Trust featured the project in Wag! Magazine, we were inundated with requests. The morning after the magazine came out; we were amazed to find ten new requests in our in-box. The next day there were 30. And so it continued until Jack suddenly had a two year waiting list. Each portrait takes around 8 hours to complete and the work has to be fitted in around our jobs.
Something we never expected was that nearly every single portrait request would come with a story or some kind words. Sometimes it was an expression of sympathy, sometimes it was the tale of how a dog had helped someone through their own loss, often it was the story of how a special dog was found by a loving owner and a relationship had been formed. It was lovely to read about so many lives of owners and dogs together.
So Polly Furnival’s Art for Dogs continues. In the first few years people have donated thousands of pounds to Dogs Trust in return for their etchings. It’s not the quickest way to raise funds; we could probably raise more by running a marathon or jumping out of a plane. But this is Polly’s way, celebrating her two loves, dogs and art.
Thank yous and Acknowledgements
Our grateful thanks to lots of people for helping to launch Polly Furnival's Art For Dogs. Mary Parris and John Fisher for making the website www.artfordogs.co.uk and for everyday support. Sarah Morgan at Dogs Trust for monitoring the donations. Dorothy Barr for fundraising to purchase the etching equipment. To all the supporters who told us their stories and placed orders for portraits. To Fynn for reminding us to go for walks. And to our beautiful girl, always our inspiration
