A birthday isn’t complete without a game that also acts as a party favor to remind you of that special celebration. And that’s exactly what we did for Chuck Billy’s birthday! We started this tradition last year, and it was so much fun that we repeated it again. Here’s how we did it, if you’d like to give it a try.

What you’ll need: 8×10 canvas panels, nontoxic tubes of paint, gallon size resealable bags, and peanut butter.*

*Please make sure it is dog safe peanut butter, that does NOT contain the toxic ingredient Xylitol, also known as Birch Sugar, which is toxic to dogs!*

Step 1: Smear dog safe peanut butter on one side of the resealable bag.

Step 2: Take the canvas panel and put blobs of paint on it. Then carefully slide it into the bag and seal. 

Step 3: Start licking! We taped our resealable bags to big pieces of cardboard, which we also taped to the kitchen floor. It kept everything neat in case a bag opened, prevented the peanut butter side from being flipped over, and it stabilized the panels so they would slip around when being licked.

Step 4: Carefully remove from bag, and let dry. 

Step 5: Display your one of a kind work of art!

I chose the colors red, gold and green because our brother Angel Lemmy was Mr. Red in the whelping box. Chuck Billy was known as “Little Man,” and wasn’t assigned a color, so I chose gold for him. And before I became Asa, I was called Mr. Light Green. So don’t blame me if you have the line “Red, Gold, and Green” from Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon” stuck in your head the rest of the day! It is purely a coincidence…honest!

The artistic process…

Our Art Show…

Chuck Billy entitled his piece, “The Exuberance of the Whelping Box!” It captures the energy of puppies about to meet their new families.

I call my masterpiece “Christmas Morning Blur,” because red, gold, and green are also the colors of Christmas morning (another pure coincidence), and after waiting all month (or year in my case) the fun goes by too quickly.

We also did a collaborative piece.

However, despite the canvas having red, gold and green paint, it came out as mostly green! Karma perhaps, caused by Chuck Billy’s research as a ufologist, or just a coincidence? Either way, he calls this one, “Extraterrestrial Invasion.”