Doggie Drawings Origin Story

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updated: March 2024

In the early 2000’s I moved from Sydney to Los Angeles to design masked wrestler characters for an animated kids’ TV show that I co-created. 

As clicheed as this may sound, I adopted a blue-eyed Boston Terrier a few years later and he changed my life and the course of my career. I drew my dog Boogie obsessively. Not only did these drawings help launch Doggie Drawings as a fundraising pet portrait business, Boogie put a hole in my building manager’s leg, almost had me evicted from my home, and before long,  I was on an educational journey about dog emotions and behaviors that still hasn't ended.

At first, I misunderstood Boogie’s "aggressive" behavior, and did a lot of things wrong.  I used methods that made him more fearful and more aggressive towards unfamiliar people and dogs. When the world of dog body language and a positive reinforcement-based training approach opened up to me, the difference this knowledge made to Boogie and our relationship was something worth telling the world about.

I love working on educational illustrations. I love taking complex information and translating this into accessible graphics that can make a positive difference to everyone who lives or works with a companion animal. Over the past 15 years I have had the privilege of contributing to many animal welfare and dog bite prevention programs, working with progressive animal trainers and behaviorists. I also illustrate cats, pigs, birds, and other species, as you can see in my portfolio of commissioned infographics.

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In 2020, Boogie passed away two weeks after the publication of  my first book - Doggie Language, which has been translated to sixteen languages and won two DWAA awards in the categories of Behavior and Illustration. In 2021, still grieving Boogie and missing animal companionship, we adopted two adult cats. My second book - Kitty Language - inspired by Mambo and Shimmy and everything I was learning about cats -  was published in Summer 2023.

Doggie Drawings  is also an online shop.  My Dogs of the World designs have gone viral on the internet since 2014, which have led to exciting new products, collaborations, licensing partnerships, and will take new form as an illustrated gift book. Dogs of the World: A Gallery of Pups from Purebreds to Mutts will be published in Spring 2025, and I cannot wait for you to see it! 

I couldn’t tell you where the Doggie Drawings journey will take me. I am still always learning and creating as I go along, and I am grateful to everyone of you who is joining me on this ride. 

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