I have continued to use old mountain bike tires for many of the elements in my animals. This canine sits on a base fabricated from a wonderful mountain bike tire that, upon close inspection, looks like a black alligators hide. He also has some white children s bike tires attached to his body.

Growing up on an old horse farm allowed me to be surrounded by a variety of animals. My father loved having them around. Some of the critters that I lived with included a variety of dogs and cats, a squirrel monkey, a red fox, a goat, snakes,lizards, rabbits, mice, squirrels and assorted wild animals that came and went.

One of my childhood friends was what might be called an animal whisperer. He could catch just about anything we came across and he seemed to have no fear when it came to grabbing some writhing creature.