Reuben Ward Binks was born into an agricultural family in the English town of Bolton, Lancashire and from a very early age he showed a great aptitude in the visual arts. At the age of ten, for instance, he won the Raphael Tuck Competition for his four paneled painting of flowers, and he soon went on to pursue his formal artistic education under George Perkins.

While little is known about the early development of his work, he came to specialize in animals and in particular, dogs. As he has said, "I was always a natural dog lover, and so I leaned toward and graduated into dogs. And here I've been ever since."

His love of dogs, combined with his artistic abilities, brought him in contact with many socially prominent dog fanciers,...