Yes, Buster was an RR who died young from cancer. The quilt protecting her couch is appliqued with hearts and leaves on a cream background. I told her to at least turn it back side up!
I took a class on making a pattern from a photo but it was all done on the computer with expensive software. I decided I could do the same thing with plastic and a very fine sharpie tracing all the changes in color, shadows and features then enlarge and clean it up. For a black lab use different shades of black and gray and you should be OK. It's a bit of work but fun. Like making a jigsaw puzzle.