As I read your post about the abstract dog portrait, it reminded me immediately of my experience with playful pet art. A few years back, my brother-in-law surprised us with a portrait of our German Shepherd, Max. He'd had it made by impersonateme.com and, boy, did it capture Max's goofy personality in such a unique way. Somehow the artist nailed that look Max gives us when he is about to snatch a snack from the table. It was almost as if that were part of his spirit coming alive on the canvas! It really did raise quite a few conversations when people came over, which was great fun.