Meet Dali, India’s first known K9 artist, raising funds for stray animals

Dubai: Meet Dali the two-year-old Labrador who is also a global artist.

Dali was just a just 45 days old when she was abandoned on the streets of Hyderabad, India. But luckily for her, she found her forever home very soon.

Rescued by Instagram user hope_fur_ever, she later found her forever home with an artist couple, Snehangshu Debnath and Hoi Choudhury, residents of Hyderabad. And they soon realised that Dali wasn’t just any other dog, but a very talented one.

At 7-months old, the couple discovered that Dali showed interest in painting when she picked up their paintbrushes.

In an interview with Press Trust of India (PTI) Choudhury said, “She used to just snatch the brush from my husband. My husband is an artist and when he used to paint she used to come and snatch the brush and run away. One of our friends actually said that probably it is a protest. She probably wants to participate, so let her participate and that’s how we gave her the brush.”

“We did a little bit of research and found out that there should be some dog-friendly brush which she can hold properly. And then we made it at home and carved it nicely so that it fits in her mouth,” Debnath said.

Dali, who is named after renowned Spanish artist Salvador Dali, quickly picked up her customised brush and made her first painting when she was nine months old. Currently, the two-year-old lab has made 38 paintings.

But this was just the beginning for the family. People quickly began showing interest in purchasing the paintings and that when the couple had an idea. They decided to let the buyers choose the colours and Dali would paint – but all the profits from the sale would go to help out stray dogs.

Debnath said, “We launched a calendar with Dali’s twelve best paintings – most popular paintings. We thought we would sell these paintings worldwide and the entire money would go for the rescue and treatment of stray dogs. And it happened and people appreciated it and purchased it.”