December 5th Men of the Desert Fund Raiser

If you are planning to visit Palm Springs and are looking for an interesting and fun event then look no further than the “Men of the Desert” (MOD) fashion show and luncheon a fund raising event held annually by the Animal Samaritans. Miriam Weigel, editor of the Pet Companion Magazine,  is helping to sponsor this event through her generous donation of our French Bulldog door knocker. Animal Samaritans is a non-profit group that has for more than 40 years been dedicated to finding ways of preventing pet euthanasia. The proceeds from this Sunday’s event will help further their work with the Adoption Alliance Rescue Program and their No kill Shelter.

 If you live in Coachella Valley then please do visit Animal Samaritans website which offers a clear and in-depth guide to their work and projects including the development of a 19,000 s.f. pet adoption and education building center in Thousand Palms. Ground breaking is planned for 2023 when the mid-century modern building will begin to take shape. As mentioned in an earlier post the mid-century modern style is one that has been embraced by desert residents for decades making this center a welcome addition to this rich architectural heritage. Animal Samaritans, as a non-profit, is committed to raising funds for what will be a home for 40 dogs and 40 cats as well as a learning center for nurturing skills in pet ownership, pet safety as well as teaching pet agility. To find out how to donate or find other ways of helping.

The French bulldog door knocker is one of 4 French bulldog functional door hardware pieces in a collection of 10 dog and 4 cat themed collections.

Happy July 4th

We are celebrating the 4th with a long weekend and hope you are able to do the same. Ours will be spent comforting our older dog Iris, who like many dogs finds the noise of fireworks nerve racking. This year she is a little more fortunate as one of the advantages to her mature years is her diminished hearing and with a lot of ambient grey noise from electrical appliances we hope she will not hear the booms from city’s fireworks. For all the dog owners out there we wish you and your dogs a safe stress-free holiday.

To see other dog and cat themed door knobs visit our dog and cat pages.

New Developments Dog Door Knobs

New Developments – Dog Door Knobs

This year we will be launching an unusual collection of door knobs inspired by our dog Iris and by other canines plus a few cats.

In 2014 Martin sculpted a life size portrait of Iris, our much-loved Pitbull. The portrait took several months to complete, and it is one of the few pieces that we value as a wood sculpture and have no plans to portray Iris as a full-scale bronze. Many of our friends and neighbors are dog owners and the idea of creating a series of dog handles began to take shape.

For details on how Martin sculpted Iris

Martin began the series by sketching some of the common breeds we see on our daily Iris walks. We live in Beachwood Canyon, a neighborhood in Los Angeles that has a lot of dog lovers so finding suitable subjects was easy but deciding on which to include was not. We also have friends who are equally smitten by their cats so decided to include a few cats.

The new collection when launched will include 8 dog and 4 cat breeds. I use the word breed very loosely as the aim of the series is to represent the general head characteristics associated with each breed as artistically interpreted by Martin. The collection in deference to their numbers and good looks will also include a fluffy mutt of unknown lineage.  

The dog and cat collections will be available as functional door knob sets, door knockers, or as clothing or leash hooks and door pulls.