Brutus - German Shepherd K9

(click to enlarge)

Brutus
German Shepherd K-9 Dog
Portland Oregon Police Bureau

Brutus' description & story from the Bert Combs, Retired Police Officer that handled him

Brutus is a sable colored male German Shepherd. When he started with the Portland Police Bureau he was 1 1/2 and full of puppy. Now that he's nearly 7 he's still mostly puppy however being retired that's working out just fine.

Brutus has a great nose but would only hunt when HE wanted to. Thankfully, during one very eventful week he assumed the role of a real police dog and found three armed robbers on three different calls.

During one call we were unable to get started with a track. District officers had set up a great perimeter so we began a yard by yard search on the west end of the perimeter. Working into the breeze Brutus put his nose up as we entered the first yard. With any other dog I would have assumed he was working air scent but with Brutus I was never sure. Kids toys in that yard told me they probably had a pet and was a likely source of his excitement. We cleared that yard but Brutus seemed interested in the adjacent yard.

As we walked up the driveway he immediately ran to the side of the unattached garage. Heavy brush kept him from traveling down the side. I peeked in and thought I saw something at the other end. We went around to the backside and Brutus stuck his nose around the corner and began to wag his tail. I knew he had just found a rabbit or maybe even the bad guy. Of course, it was the bad guy all curled up in a little ball. He had been out of prison for 15 days and returned to prison for another 11 years. At trial the bad guy actually praised Brutus for being "a good dog."

What a great story! Thank you both for all your work & dedication to keep us safe!

In this painting, I was trying to show Brutus' eagerness - he was actually lying down in the photo that I used for a reference. I painted this online LIVE on UStream - it was fun and it was really nice to have all you visitors to talk to! Please come back and visit again when I'm painting! I'll try to send out a notice to my email list with enough time for you to get there while I'm painting. Make sure you are signed up for my email notifications if you haven't done so already.

Equine Mural Update

I started working on the panel tonight - LIVE on UStream!! It was a lot of fun - I'm not done with it and it's completely from my imagination. I'm going to do some research to get more details for the horse. One of the drawbacks to doing things from your imagination is that you miss a lot of the small details that really add credibility to your painting.

Come by and visit the next time I'm painting live - I'd love it!