If you are in the LA area the Museum of Jurassic Technology is worth visiting for, among other reasons, the room dedicated to the dogs of the Soviet space program. It features paintings and bios of 5 dogs who were involved in the space program.
I'll enthusiastically second the recommendation. I won't ruin too much, but their policy of not allowing mobile phones while you are in the museum to prevent you from searching anything up really helps to preserve the atmosphere.
http://www.mjt.org/recentaddtions/creatures.html
Edit: Some info about and images of the paintings here:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-...