At first glance, Marvin looks like a typical black Lab.

The Providence Journal STEVE SZYDLOWSKI

E.J. Finocchio has seen people drive up to the shelter in East Providence with all their belongings crammed into their aging car. And somewhere among the clothes and small possessions is a dog or a cat that the people can’t keep because they have nowhere to live and no money to cover the simplest animal needs.

And Finocchio has been to the homes of people, often elderly or disabled, who can’t keep their pets because they can’t afford the cost of needed veterinary care.

And that’s where Marvin comes in. Marvin paints, and the money raised from his paintings goes straight into the Marvin Fund. And from the Marvin Fund it goes to help those people with their veterinary bills. It helps them keep their animals, and sometimes their animals are their only companions.

Marvin is an 8-year-old black Lab who had been brought twice to the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter in East Providence. Finocchio, a horse veterinarian for 35 years who became administrator at RISPCA after selling his practice, found Marvin at the shelter five years ago. And he saw things others clearly didn’t.

He was watching elephants on television painting with brushes curled in their trunks when he got the idea that if elephants could paint, a black Lab could too — and probably a lot better. There was, after all, that wagging tail.

“I thought: ‘I’m going to put some paint on his tail, put some paper nearby…’ ” said Finocchio.

In Marvin’s very first painting, Finocchio thought he could see a tree.

“It was impressionistic to me.”

His wife and son suggested he sell the canine canvases. Now, $85,000 later, Marvin has his very own chunk of the art world. And hundreds of people have been able to care for and keep their animals because of it.

On Wednesday morning at the shelter, Finocchio pointed to an original Marvin hanging on the wall. It’s called “Ducks In A Row” and it had been loaned for display by its owner, who paid $2,500 for it.

I’m no artist, believe me, but I’ve seen much worse stuff done by human hands.

Wednesday was busy. There were 17 phone messages from people requesting help from the Marvin Fund. And Marvin and Finocchio were due at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, where they visit once a month and where kids with very serious illnesses forget their troubles for a while because of that nuzzling black dog with the moneymaking tail.

Marvin also visits nursing homes and schools and camps. In schools, Finocchio has worked out a demonstration called “Stranger Is Danger” to warn kids about taking anything from or going anywhere with strangers. He puts down a small dog treat and, no matter how hard they try, none of the kids can convince Marvin to gobble it up. He takes it only at Finocchio’s command.

But the best Marvin stories are all over the place. They are the stories of people who have been able to keep their animals because the Marvin Fund provided enough money to make a vital difference. There is a guy named Hank who’s had a cat named Speedy for 23 years. He found her in a box on the Wampanoag Trail. But Hank, a Vietnam veteran, has had some hard times. He can’t afford the special diet Speedy needs because of kidney disease. So the Marvin Fund pays for it.

Finocchio says he makes a judgment call with every request for help. He doesn’t ask for any proof of financial hardship. If anyone wants to cheat the fund, he or she could probably do it.

He has been working with animals for decades and it bothers him that they have become part of the discards in a disposable society.

“There is a lot of ignorance about the responsibility it takes to own an animal,” he says. “And the population crisis is out of control.”

He has the statistics — how 60 per cent of animals turned in to shelters are euthanized, although his shelter boasts an adoption rate of 83.7 percent. He points out how spaying and neutering mean less disease and longer lives. Still, unwanted animals keep showing up. And some people who do want to keep their animals and treat them right face tough choices because they have so little.

So Marvin, the twice-rejected black Lab with the bad leg, does his work. He paints, he visits, he teaches.

To learn more about him, check out his Web site at MarvinFund.org.

Or buy the book. Yes, there is a book. It’s titled Marvelous Marvin. No, Marvin didn’t write it. Finocchio did. It’s about an amazing dog.

bkerr@projo.com