Do you think your dog is an artist? I have a fun and easy way to have your pet become the next Pup Picasso! Trust me when I say this is a very easy cleanup with little to no mess at all. 

Supplies

• Acrylic Paint
• A small canvas (8×10 or smaller) I used…
  • A stretched canvas
  • Canvas board
• Peanut butter
• A big ziploc bag
• Painters tape (optional)
• Scissors

Set Up

Take your plastic bag and spread a thin, but generous layer of peanut butter across the front of it. Make sure the side of the bag doesn’t have any writing on it. Place that to the side, while you get the canvas ready. 

I have done this multiple times with my pups and what seems to always happen is I either put too much paint in one spot, or not enough paint over the entire canvas.

What I found is the sides are always the places that are left out. So I like to start from the sides and work my way in. Once you’ve picked out your colors, start by basically creating a border with your first color. You’ll want to be pretty generous with this layer, because it will help it slide off the sides, which if you’re using a regular canvas, you’ll want tWhat I found is the sides are always the places that are left out. So I like to start from the sides and work my way in. Once you’ve picked out your colors, start by basically creating a border with your first color. You’ll want to be pretty generous with this layer, because it will help it slide off the sides, which if you’re using a stretched canvas, you’ll want that to happen.

Next, you want to fill in the middle of the canvas with your other colors, you can do whatever pattern you want. Once you have a pretty dense layer of paint, it’s time to put it in the bag. 

Have your bag opened and slide your canvas inside. This part is a little tricky so try to make sure the top of the bag inside doesn’t smear the paint as you put the canvas inside. You can even ask someone to help you with this step by holding the bag opened as you slide the canvas in the bag. 

From here, you can take a wet paper towel, and go along the seal of the bag just to make sure there’s no extra paint on it. 

Get To Painting

Now you can give your pup the bag as is, or what I like to do is tape it to the kitchen floor. This just helps keep it in one spot. Taping it can also help your dog spread the paint around, if you tape it so the top of the bag is flush with the canvas, you’ll get a better result since your dog will be hitting the canvas directly. 

If you have a smaller dog like Gizmo you can get a smaller canvas, or you can do what we did, which was put the canvas in the bag and then have her walk across it a few times. This way she was still able to paint, but with her paws instead of her tongue. 

Helpful Tips

*Have your pup lick the canvas from different angles. If the start out in one place, try to get them to turn and start licking from the other side. Rotating your pup will create different patterns on the canvas and help evenly spread the paint. 

*If the canvas doesn’t look fully covered when your dog is finished with the first layer of peanut butter, you can reapply some more, and you can focus it on the spots that are a little more sparse.

The Big Reveal!

Once your dog has finished licking up the peanut butter, you’re going to remove the canvas from the bag. One of the ways to take the canvas out of the bag is to cut along the sides and the bottom of the bag and peel the plastic to be able to slide the canvas out from the bottom.

This is one way to remove the canvas without smudging the paint and keeping your dogs masterpiece in tact. You can absolutely just slide the canvas out if you’d like, just be careful not to slide the paint off as you do so. 

Next, you’re going to want to set it somewhere to dry. You can place it on a piece of aluminum foil this way it doesn’t stick to anything. If you’re using a regular canvas that has sides to it, now is the time for touch ups. If the sides aren’t fully covered, you can take your finger and just slide it along the  to cover them. Be sure to do this once your canvas is on the foil, this way you won’t have to worry about moving it and having to touch the borders once you put paint on them.

Usually there is paint leftover on the bag to dip into if you need to. This just ensures the whole canvas is covered and you aren’t left with a white border. You’re going to want to let your canvas dry for a few hours. Since there’s a thick layer of paint on it, I usually leave mine overnight to dry. 

Once your canvas is fully dry it’s time to display it! You can hang it up, or another idea is to attach magnets to the back to hang it on the fridge! I hope your dogs have as much fun as mine did with this project. I can’t wait to see all your pups creations!! Be sure to check out our other fun enrichment ideas, and tag us using the hashtag #dogsdontwearpantsblog!