Meet Van Gogh, The 1-Eared Dog Stealing Hearts With His Unique Paintings

Animal rescue workers often come up with creative ways to get their dogs noticed by potential adopters.

Happily Furever After Rescue in Connecticut is no different, but their recent idea is so cute, they’re getting much-deserved attention online.

It all started when a 7-year-old boxer-pitbull mix was discovered hiding in a drain pipe in North Carolina.

The animal was a stray who was taken off the street and used for illegal dog fighting. By the time he escaped, his left ear was so badly damaged that it needed to be amputated, earning him his new name: Van Gogh.

Van Gogh was brought to the Connecticut shelter and placed in a foster home, but sadly, no one put in any applications to adopt him. That’s when the founder of the rescue, Jaclyn Gartner, got an idea. She took out some acrylic paints and a small canvas, placed it all inside a big zip-lock bag, and smeared peanut butter on the outside of the plastic. The dog started licking off the peanut butter… and his very own abstract artwork appeared!

Once Van Gogh completed 10 masterpieces, the rescue arranged for a gallery viewing at his foster family’s house. But again, the world just wasn’t ready for this sweetheart’s work just yet!

“Van Gogh was so excited for his big art debut over the weekend… he was all decked out in his Starry Night bandana and waited patiently on the deck for his guests to arrive… but only two people showed,” the rescue wrote on facebook. “Van Gogh put many hours and a lot of love into creating such beautiful art and we worked so hard to make this a special event.”

That’s when something magical happened. The shelter shared Van Gogh’s sad story on their social media pages, and his story went viral. Soon, people were asking for commissioned work from the canine artist. Thousands of people lined up to buy his paintings, and he sold all 30 of his current artworks for about $40 each. All of the proceeds will benefit the rescue and all of the other dogs that come after him.

Most importantly, people are finally sending in adoption applications for this very special boy!

This is the most imaginative way we’ve seen a shelter get one of their dogs noticed, and we are so here for it! We hope this nice dog finds the perfect family to soothe his tired soul. He’s been through so much; he deserves all the love (and peanut butter) in the world!

Read more: Dave Bautista Adopts Horribly Abused Pit Bull Puppy Found Eating Trash In Cemetery