Catalog Sighting: Pottery Barn

Sometimes you can spot Mugsy dogs in unusual places. For example, hiding out in the background of a home decor scene on page 83 of Pottery Barn's February 2014 catalog. There's some tasteful wrought iron candle holders, a rustic American flag wooden wall hanging....and a framed watercolor of a Boston Terrier!

Here's a slightly less distorted close up of our furry friend:

Unfortunately, the print was not for sale in the catalog and I haven't been able to locate the artist. If you happen to be familiar with the artist, please comment with his/her name and website and I will very happily give credit where credit is due.

Tattoo Sighting: Paul Dobleman

This nautical tattoo is by one of my favorite artists working in the American traditional style, Paul Anthony Dobleman, who works at Spider Murphy's Tattoo in San Rafael, CA.

Apparel Sighting: Black Market Art Company

Black Market Art Company offers a range of apparel and canvas prints highlighting work by tattoo artists. Given the seeming affinity tattooers and tattoo collectors have for BTs, it's not that surprising to find at least one in their catalog. This V neck ladies shirt features art by Thea Fear of a sailor pup smoking a pipe (don't try that at home with your Mugsy dog).

You can purchase this shirt through Black Market Art Company directly, or through the Inked Shop.

Art Sighting: Bryn Perrott

Bryn Perrott works in the venerable tradition of woodcutting, using chisels to carve out patterns in slabs of wood. She then inks the wood to reveal her cuts in sharp relief. She talks about her work in an interview at Nine Bullets. Although she tends to favor the style and subjects common to American traditional tattoos, she also is fond of illustrating (wo)man's best friend, especially the Boston Terrier.

Based in Morgantown, WV she hones her craft at Wild Zero Studios. Her work is also featured on the cover of the new LP by Lucero, entitled Texas and Tennessee. Although she doesn't seem to have an official website, you can find the majority of her work on her Tumblr blog DeerJerk, and her artwork is featured on apparel and jewelry over at Shirts and Destroy. She also has a Twitter account under DeerFaceKilla.

Commercial Sighting: Armstrong Floors

Poor little Boston Terrier. Who's afraid of the big bad wolf indeed.

Tattoo Sighting: Matt Houston

I'm currently apprenticing to be a tattoo artist. This involves not only learning lots of technical knowledge about tattoo machines, bloodborne pathogens, and the actual process of placing ink in skin properly, but (insofar as I'm able to) also an immersion into the culture of tattooing. As a result, I follow a great deal of wonderful tattoo artists and blogs for inspiration, read a lot of magazines and books, and experience conventions.

It's remarkable to me not only how many tattoo aficionados choose to adorn themselves with representations of their BT family members, but also how many tattoo artists themselves share their lives with these great dogs. There just seems to me to be a high correspondence between loving tattoos and this particular breed (Boston Terriers are pretty badass). I've been able to collect many images representing both facets of this correspondence and I hope to share them with you.

The first one I'm offering is of a pooch named Ninja, tattooed by Matt Houston. Matt originally hails from the UK, but is currently working in Vancouver, BC, Canada at the Gastown Tattoo Parlour. He works primarily in a Neo-American Traditional style, characterized by bold lines and limited color palette. You can find more of his work on both Tumblr and Instagram.

Commercial Sighting: MasterCard

Mastercard aired a three-part series about a dog named Badger who looks to be a BT mix. He loses his family while at the Redwood National Park and has an interesting journey finding his way back home.








 

Ad Sighting: Yankee Candle & Jolee's Boutique

Boston Terriers are great sales dogs. Place them in your product advertisements to add instant appeal! Here are two I discovered just this week:

This happy pup was smiling out from a co-worker's Yankee Candle fundraiser catalog. Needless to say, I had to purchase a votive collection. Its powers of cuteness were irresistible, besides it was for a good cause. I can use the delightfully scented candles to mask the odor of potent BT flatulence.

Today, I happened upon this BT while browsing a local craft store. It graces the packaging of a Jolee's Boutique Easy Image transfer product for fabrics. Use it to customize a shirt for your own Mugsy dog.

I apologize for the lack of posts. It's certainly not for the lack of sightings though! I have a large backlog of saved sightings for you to enjoy in the near future.

Movie Sighting: Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a romantic comedy featuring oodles of headlining stars all vying for the limelight in a 125 minute span. The various subplots highlight love in its many stages and permutations: the innocent crush, platonic love transformed into romantic love, parental love, love sustained and nurtured through a long relationship, etc. The stories are all intertwined and virtually all of the characters are suitably paired by the end of the film (though not always with the same partners as in the beginning). Except for one major character deserving of scorn for cheating on his wife and lying to his girlfriend, there seemed to be a "happily ever after" for all of the characters by the film's conclusion— with one notable exception*.

One teenaged couple, played by Emma Roberts (Grace) and Carter Jenkins (Alex), are on a mission to consummate their relationship during a school lunch break. They plan to meet at Grace's home while her parents are at work. When Alex walks in the door, he's greeted by the lovable family Boston Terrier named Pushkin. He brushes her aside and dashes up the stairs to Grace's room where he scatters long-stemmed roses on the floor and gets in a compromising position on the bed, using his guitar as the proverbial fig leaf. Grace's mom arrives home, discovers Alex naked in her daughter's bedroom, high jinx ensue. Pushkin and Alex engage in a brief tug of war with his boxer shorts before he runs out of the house in shame.

Everything works out well for Grace and Alex of course, but what about poor, neglected Pushkin? All she wanted was some attention and affection. On Valentine's Day of all days, was she not entitled to some puppy love too? A treat, a walk in the park, a few throws of the ball: are these things too much to ask for your dedicated canine companion? Oh, Hollywood and your anthropocentric plot lines...

Pushkin says, "I made you a Valentine. I left it in your favorite pair of shoes."

* One notable exception that I can recall anyways. The movie didn't really keep my interest so it's possible that I've forgotten some minor resolution in the plot.

Commercial Sighting: Riley & the Doritos

This adorable video was recommended to me by the wonderful programming over at YouTube:

It was actually a submission for a contest to represent Doritos during the commercial breaks of a certain high-profile football game.

Update 2014: Sadly this awesome video of Riley was set to private status and is no longer accessible :( Fear not though, for I have located two other wonderful Boston Terrier/Doritos commercials for your viewing pleasure!

At least Riley the wonder dog is back for a second video.

Ever wonder what your dog would look like as a human? Well don't, it's just creepy.