Florida dog to come to rescue of fellow four-legged painter
By Associated Press
Published May 7, 2003
LONGWOOD - A painting dog has been enlisted to help a fellow four-legged artist, a Virginia potbellied pig suffering from cancer.
Q-Boy, a Sheltie from Longwood in Central Florida who has been painting with his paws for about four months, helped create a painting that is currently on the online auction site eBay. Proceeds from the sale will help pay the medical bills of Smithfield the pig, who had surgery last month.
Smithfield lives in Midlothian, Va., near Richmond. In the five years since he first picked up a brush, Smithfield's paintings have brought home about $200,000 for a variety of charities and causes. He has had television appearances on Live with Regis and Kelly, with Oprah Winfrey and on the cable networks Animal Planet and Nickelodeon.
A few weeks ago, Smithfield was diagnosed with nasal cancer and underwent surgery at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at North Carolina State University. Now, Smithfield's owner, Fran Martin, a teacher and a single mother of two teenagers, is facing a $5,000 bill for his treatment.
Q-Boy pitched in by completing a painting started by Smithfield. Q-Boy's owner, Kathy Cochran, came up with the idea, and has been contacting Sheltie and pig groups on the Internet to alert them about the auction, which ends Saturday.
Since January, Q-Boy has completed 13 paintings and raised about $3,000 for Sheltie rescue efforts.
