Katie was eager to sample the food at our new Labrador Retriever dog dining table. This fabulous table is a piece of folk art, hand-crafted by artist Michael Coffman. Since each table is custom made, you can pick the breed you want, and the height of the dining table. Table heights range from 6-1/2" for the Basset (he's standing on all fours, and the table seems to come out from his side), to 12-1/2" high for the Lab.

Coffman designs and crafts each table for each customer, so he'll make minor adjustments such as adding your dog's name on the collar or adding a white blaze on a Lab. Other variations can be done for an added fee.

The tables are made from cabinet-grade wood. Coffman paints the tables with six coats of high-gloss varnish, and hand-rubs them between coats for a shiny, durably-hard coating. All of the artwork is hand-painted by Coffman, too.

The table decoration for the sitting-up Lab (see photo with Katie) is black faux marble. The Whippet table sports a gray faux marble finish, closer to Whippet color. The Airedale will hold a faux rosewood table.

The sitting-up dogs have a tail to balance them. This does cause the unit to stick out from the wall a bit. The Lab thus needs about 21" from the wall, and is almost 25" high.

Larger art nouveau dog tables come as a set with a hand-painted floorcloth featuring a classic French poster showing the Can-Can -- by dogs. The tables alone sell for $100 to $225, and as a set with the floorcloth, the price is $225. Again, prices vary based on breed. To order, call M. Coffman Design at (407) 245-7079 or mistral66@msn.com by e-mail.

By the way, our dogs and cats all enjoyed eating out of the Lab table during the photo session.