Decorator’s Best Friend

There’s an art to living with dogs, an art I haven’t mastered.

To my mind, dogs in nicely furnished homes work out about as well as toddlers at Chasen’s. They may coexist, but not peacefully.

But, as with other family members, we love our dogs dearly despite their less-than-desirable behaviors, which, at least in my home, means we frequently replace screens, repaint scratched doors, invest heavily in lint brushes and vacuum bags, and try to ignore furniture and carpet stains until they start to move.

But dogs as design element?

Who would have thought?

Laurence Sheehan for one. His new book, “Living With Dogs,” is a gorgeously photographed (by William Stites) and humanly written book about canine collections, traditions and cohabitation. Sheehan and his wife, Carol, who collaborated on the book, were among several authors invited to speak at the second annual Antique & Garden Show in San Juan Capistrano.

Over the years, says Sheehan, dogs have migrated from the barnyard to the bedroom: “They’ve infiltrated our homes” (not to mention our living room sofas).

Yep, dogs have worked their way into the very fabric of our lives, sometimes--as this book illustrates--quite beautifully.

Those interested in decorating their home or garden with dogs in mind should get their paws on this book. Sheehan--who lives in Massachusetts with Addie, an Australian shepherd; Buster, an English setter; and Carol, who also is editor-in-chief of Country Homes and Country Gardens magazines-- chronicles the lifestyles of dog lovers from all walks: the affluent dog owner who can afford to commission a $10,000 portrait of Fifi, the pooch portrait artists themselves, the breeder, the sportsman and the inveterate canine collector.

The elaborate collections, which are either exquisitely housed or tastefully dispersed throughout a home, feature such obsessions as dog-head walking sticks, porcelain figurines, kitschy dog bowls and ornate antique dog collars.

The book also lists resources on where to find such memorabilia.

Extreme? Possibly. But what is a home if not a reflection of our passions?

Capistrano Beach artist Maria del Carmen Calvo understands this particular passion well. She paints her dogs, two Dalmatians, Goya (after the Spanish artist) and Alba (after Goya’s lover), because “I adore them.”

Several of their portraits--oil sketches by Calvo--grace her studio and family room. And like her dogs, she’s loyal.

“I have absolutely no interest in painting anyone else’s dogs. I paint what I’m passionate about,” she says, adding that the oil and charcoal sketches have inspired her to contemplate a series of 20 to 30 more formal paintings featuring her dogs, paintings she probably won’t part with.

“I’m not painting the series for any commercial sense,” she says.

Her paintings will reflect the dogs’ many facets. “They have so many different personalities that I want to capture.”

Besides the Sheehans, Rachel Ashwell, author of “Shabby Chic” and owner of the Shabby Chic store on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, was also scheduled to speak Friday at San Juan Capistrano’s Antique & Garden Show. (Now here’s someone who knows her slipcovers, something dog owners need in abundant supply.)

Landscape experts Martha Baker, author of “Garden Ornaments,” and Julian Dowles, award-winning British landscape designer, are scheduled to speak today on how to create a yard that would make Fido proud, and also how to put the many garden accessories available at the show into context.

Elle Decor editor Marian McEvoy, scheduled to speak today, describes the collections at the Capistrano show as “very hip and stylish, a lot of disparate things that go together.”

Like, well, houses and dogs.