Tag: dog toy

Me? A Scientist?

Our dog Bear gleefully prepares to bite down on his alligator stuffed animal on September 6, 2025. Original: _A670161.ARW

I’ve been asked to join a citizen science group exploring the continued decline of the Sonoran alligator. I’m honored and happy to help but also confused, what can I possibly know about it?

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony-Zeiss 24mm f/1.8
🗓️: September 6, 2025

Our dog Bear joyfully prepares to bite down on his alligator stuffed animal on September 6, 2025. Original: _A670289.ARW

Our dog Bear bites down on his alligator stuffed animal on September 6, 2025. Original: _A670184.ARW

Desert Defenses

Our dog Bear lays on his back as he plays with a saguaro dog toy, which was designed for dogs who are rough with their toys, as it can lose its outer skin but still have an internal cactus for the dog to play with. Taken on June 22, 2024. Original: _Z720019.NEF

Saguaros have evolved many traits to survive the harsh desert climate. If played with too roughly, they can shed their arms and outer skin, revealing an internal cactus complete with its own second skin, right down to the mustache. The new armless saguaro is better able to withstand even the most ardent of loves.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-70 f/4
🗓️: June 22, 2024

Festive

Our dog Bear on his dog bed with one leg wrapped in red gauze and a colorful rope toy beside him. Taken on December 9, 2023. Original: _A671506.ARW

While testing Bear’s hiking shoes I ramped him up to longer and longer hikes, while he easily got the hang of them I noticed they were rubbing and creating a sore on one of his feet. My wife gave him a red wrap over a bandage to keep him from licking it and while he was waiting to be fed, with one leg tucked underneath him and his colorful rope toy out front, it looked like he had one festive leg and one FESTIVE leg. I’ve been taking him without his shoes on a mix of neighborhood walks and trails that don’t have many rocks and are wide enough that he’s less likely to step on something prickly. That has worked well and I’ll keep that up for the next month while I can still hike with him every day.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony-Zeiss 24mm f/1.8
🗓️: December 9, 2023

A Lucky Break

Our dog Ellie watches as her ball comes toward her in heavy snow in our backyard in the Irvington neighborhood of Portland, Oregon on February 7, 2014. Original: _IMG_6789.CR2

I’ll be posting more frequently the next few months and I feel I ought to explain why.

Last year after we adopted Bear I was caught off guard by how intensely homesick I suddenly felt for Portland (this is Ellie and I playing in the snow in our backyard a decade ago). It’s not that I hadn’t missed Oregon before — you can’t love a place as much as I loved the Northwest and not miss it when you leave — rather I missed it in the same way I’d miss the desert if I could snap my fingers and give us our old lives back. But I’ve never had a problem mourning the beautiful things I’ve lost as long as it doesn’t keep me from loving the beautiful things I have and have gained. And if you’ve followed me long you know how much I love the Sonoran Desert.

Something else was going on.

A big part of it was I had been having trouble sleeping, leaving me physically and mentally exhausted. Bear was more of a challenge to integrate into our lives than Ellie had been. Sam died around the same time, not that any of their death’s have been easy but I always knew his would be hard. There was pandemic fatigue, the school shooting in Uvalde, the stress of a car commute after so many years taking the train, an especially challenging project. To top it off I got sick twice and had to miss a week of work each time, burning off a huge chunk of my time off, time I usually spend letting my mind spin down. And even though I try to live in the moment and am keenly aware of how good my life is and how many people are genuinely suffering each day of their lives, I still reached a point where I couldn’t keep going and needed to find a way to retire.

Thankfully my boss offered an option to take a leave of absence instead and I took him up on it. Tomorrow I start my four month break and I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to step away and recharge. I may not get to play with Bear in the snow as I did Ellie, but he is about to start going on a lot more desert hikes. Looking forward to doing more photography and editing old pictures, my backlog goes back many years (including this one!).

Back on His Feet

Our dog Bear relaxes on the futon with his beloved cactus toy beside him on February 11, 2023. Original: _Z723591.NEF

A few weeks back Bear showed signs of pain around his neck and the vet recommended some pain killers and no playing or walks until the medicine ran out. So far the long rest seems to have done the trick, I was able to leave work a little early on Tuesday and took him on a short hike in the desert and he practically dragged me down the trails. Friday afternoon we took his first hike to the Marcus Landslide where lots of wildflowers were blooming, yesterday we took my favorite loop up at Brown’s Ranch. His rattlesnake training got pushed out a month due to his injury but thankfully we haven’t encountered any of the bitey bits of the desert yet.

Bear’s Turn

Our dog Bear chomps on a favorite ball while wearing an Elizabethan collar on October 1, 2022. Original: _Z727029.NEF

It’s a rite of passage to photograph the pets in an Elizabethan collar, now it’s Bear’s turn as he developed a small sore on his leg and kept licking it. We have both the traditional clear cone of shame and this more comfortable inflatable one, even though he can reach his leg with it he stopped licking and his sore is healing. He’s been very tolerant of it and hasn’t let it interfere with important activities like Ball Chompin’ Time!