To logo or not to logo

So I've been thinking about changing my logo. I don't have my current logo on my site now, I use it on my vehicle instead. It is a silhouette of a standing akita I drew a long time ago. I was thinking about changing it because I found a design I love that includes all dogs. It would also be nice to brand myself more to make advertising easier. Having the same logo on my cards and car makes sense. My current cards have a photo of a bulldog on them.

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Some of you might remember the post about my tattoo. The drawing of it is shown above. I found the pawprint originally on another blog called Finnegan's Pawprint and tweaked it for the tattoo. The person that created it has this website: http://www.aon-celtic.com/

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I've tried to contact her repeatedly for permission to possibly use the pawprint as my business logo. I have had no luck. So this is a public appeal to see if it helps at all. (Cari Buziak if you're out there please e-mail me! CanineHelp@aol.com ) I'm not sure what the rules are governing such things. I don't want to use it without permission but if I get no respose to my requests where does that leave me?

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I thought the pawprint might translate well onto t-shirts and the like. I've never put much into advertising before because I haven't really needed to given my area. I just really like this symbol and would love to put it to use. It's getting near time to order more business cards.

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So I am putting this out there in hopes it helps. I'm not sure of the legalities of using it without permission, but I figure a public appeal will help should there be a problem down the road. I could be wrong but since I am small potatos (no tv deals in the works just yet VBG) I figure it isn't likely to ever be a real issue.