As reported by Petsitterbank  ,Owner Lisa Kite, 58, began teaching her nine-year-old dog, Ivy, how to paint when she was just aged two.

After noticing how quickly she picked it up, Lisa started trying her out with different types of paint, starting with watercolours before moving on to acrylics.  

 “Initially, I trained her to get a beer from the fridge to impress my adult children when they came to visit and from there, I taught her lots of different tricks.

“She’ll do the basic commands like sit, roll over and shake but she’s learned how to sort the washing, take my jacket off, wipe her feet, and put coins in the bank.

“We have a two-page spreadsheet of different tricks now.” The Australian shepherd’s paintings have a range of names; from ‘Meringue’ to ‘Jungle Cat’, and prices vary, with her most expensive work of art selling for £360. So far, she has made more than £15 000.

Lisa added: “I’ve given so many paintings away, but we sell them all over the world; I’m blown away by how many people want one of her paintings.” Despite not being an artist herself, Lisa loves seeing the art her pup creates and sets Monday as their day of the week to paint, with Ivy having five paintings on the go at once.

Lisa donates the profits from Ivy’s artwork to local charities and food banks in their area. She said: “This is fun for Ivy; she is trained using positive reinforcement and is putting good into the world. “I’m not an artist but I love art and have learned a lot from Ivy.

“She only adds one colour to each painting per week to make sure we’re not diluting the colours. “As long as she’s busy, she’s happy and we make sure to walk her five miles a day on top of that.

“We give the profits away to charity; it’s usually animal welfare charities but also food banks. “I love the idea that there is a dog working to help other dogs and pets in the world.”