Created by Australian artists Gillie and Marc Schattner – and inspired by their golden retriever Moby – Good Boy is a three-metre artwork loaded with an environmental message.

“Globally we tackle environmental issues and wrestle with corporations and countries to adopt better ideals to save our planet. Yet we can’t even pick up our own dog poo,” the artists said in a statement.

Coveted by galleries in London and New York, Good Boy has now found a home at Maitland.

And it seems the artwork is having the desired effect.

“Within half an hour of the sculpture going up we had people coming into the gallery wanting to get a closer look,” the gallery’s public program co-ordinator Kim Blunt said.

“And the grounds of the gallery are such a great space that invite more large-scale sculptures.”

As contemporary artists, the Schattners believe it is the duty of artists to push boundaries, to challenge the status quo and cause change.

In 2005 the artists created the exhibition Life Can’t Wait, which featured 12 Australian people whose lives could be saved or improved with an organ or tissue transplant.

The exhibition toured Australia raising awareness.