Category Archives: Dogs

Thursdays at the Shelter – Pet Parade!

26 Friday Oct 2018

Posted by in Animals in the U.S., Dogs, Uncategorized

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Halloween is just around the corner, and to celebrate, some of the folks at La Dolce Vita community in Apache Junction held a pet parade. They were nice enough to invite our Shelter to come, bring some adoptable dogs, and set up an information table, which we happily did.  We brought 5 dogs (one of whom had to go home early because he got too excited about being at a PARTY) and our usual supply of leashes, pins, info on how to adopt, and so forth. Here are our dogs:

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Can you guess which one had to go home?

 

The dog yard at Dolce Vita is divided, so our five, then four, were able to romp and play on the grass without distracting the beauty pageant entrants. Except, of course, for the puppies, who were in someone’s arms the whole time we were there – because they are adorable! It is always a terrific treat for a shelter dog to get out, roll in the grass, chase balls, and engage in other doggy behavior. (Which is why our Shelter has a “Dogs’ Day Out” program, a topic for another post.)

The larger section of the dog play area was decorated with, mysteriously, a cardboard bull, surrounded by fake bull poop. A puzzle, but the dogs seemed to like it.

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And now, in no particular order, are the entries in the Pet Parade:

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Denver Bronco’s fan.

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Yes!!! There was one cat!

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This one is confusing because she is shy – she is wearing her hat on her face.

IMG_0044SI happen to know who won the competition (at least I think I do, and I have to say, I was surprised). Which dog would you give the 1st prize to?

Thursdays at the shelter

29 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by in Animals in the U.S., Cats, Dogs, Paws and Claws, Uncategorized

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shelter-kittyI clean out cat cages. It’s what I do. It’s an ugly job, but someone has to do it.

Every Thursday morning I pry myself out of bed at what, for me, is an unnatural hour: 6 a.m. My ‘shift’ at the Paws and Claws Care Center begins at 7. By the time I arrive, typically at 7:10 or 7:15 I am but one step above Zombie. Luckily my job doesn’t require much in the way of wits, see first sentence above.

But wait – some background: Paws and Claws is the animal shelter of Apache Junction, Arizona, a town with a broad mix of inhabitants of all species. It’s not uncommon for residents to find abandoned animals in their yards, or to come across a new family of (typically) cats in the desert, result of feral hanky-panky. While ‘my’ animal shelter cannot describe itself as no-kill, it is extremely low-kill. The sad truth is some animals are simply not ever going to be adopted – they may be terminally ill, they may be vicious. Not their fault, to be sure, but no one is going to take home a biting dog or cat, nor should anyone be asked to. Having said that, P and C sends 90+% of its temporary residents on to new homes, and there is no rule for how long they can wait. Sometimes an animal is special and it will take a bit longer for the right new owner to show up. Thank goodness the Care Center is willing to give every adoptable animal the time required. If you clicked the link above to the shelter you will have already seen that they ‘market’ their guests in the most appealing way possible.

There’s a reason they call themselves a Care Center. A remarkable staff and a host of volunteers take terrific care of the animals. Sick or pregnant animals are identified, put in quarantine and given whatever is required, be it medicine or just a quiet place to give birth. Every day every cage is cleaned from top to bottom and fresh new bedding is put out. Each dog has a kennel in the air-conditioned dog area. As well, volunteers walk and play with the dogs outside (though often the spoiled brats just want to come back in to the air-conditioning. It goes without saying that the cats demand air-conditioning.)  A professional photographer volunteers her time weekly to take portraits for the web-site, and groomers volunteer beauty treatments for cats and dogs. Staff and volunteers spend a lot of time with timid animals in an effort to socialize them.

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It’s just a great place to spend a few hours even if, like this morning, some over-active little kitten dumps her box of litter on my head (I’m not kidding). As I said, 7 a.m. is not My time. And that’s why little missy below is giving me that wary look.

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More Hikin’ Dogs

26 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by in Animals in the U.S., Dogs, Hiking dogs, Uncategorized

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In a recent visit to Lost Dutchman State Park I was able to add three new subjects to the Hikin’ Dogs photo album.

First we met 11-year old Lulu, who was visiting with her Mama from Wyoming. Together they have explored large areas of the Superstitions over the years:

Lulu

Next we met Cupcake, age and hometown unknown. In spite of having just finished a walk, she looked ready to go on another long hike:
 Shortcake-001Last we met the shy and beguiling Nava. She and her people had just taken a quick jaunt up to the Flatiron. They started at 11 and we met them at 2:30. That is a hike that would take me all day, even if I had a friend to help carry the load:nava-001If you haven’t visited the album, do check out the other beautiful Hikin’ Dogs I’ve met over the years. To see identification and captions you can click the down carat on the right side and select ‘slide show.’

Barnhardt

12 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by in Arizona, Dogs, Hiking in Arizona, Photographs

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The Barnhardt Trail winds about six miles through Arizona’s Mazatzal wilderness section of Tonto National Park. Starting at 4,200 feet elevation, it gains over 1,900 feet. If one were actually to complete the hike, which Hikin’ Buddy and I did not on our most recent foray, you would be higher than Denver. Which is one reason HB and I never complete this hike: the air is noticeably thinner and one of us becomes breathless rather easily.

HB and I love to tackle this trail – for us it is a bit of a challenge (well, for one of us anyway, the one who is not HB). It’s a haul to get there – about an hour and half north of where we live. But the drive up SR 87 from Mesa is gorgeous, the road undulating between rocky outcroppings and mesas. The driving distance means that Expatriate has to get up a lot earlier than her accustomed hour of rising – but it is well worth the sacrifice, for the scenery on the drive, for the company and for the hike. The greatest challenge of the day turns out to be trying to stay awake while HB nobly drives us home after our exertions.

Sections of the trail are flattish, but by and large it is up all the way.

Elly on path

Complex and colorful, manzanita grows along the trail.

manzanita root

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Red rocks rise on the southern side of the trail. Every now and then a section of cliff collapses, leaving a river of red stones… easier to cross than a river of water, but giving one an uneasy feeling of possible danger.

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Someone who looks like Frankenstein in Stone stands guard over the wilderness.

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We ate our picnic on the rocky out-cropping that is sunlit in the photo. Yes! The one that is way up there.

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On a smaller scale there is much to see underfoot, a variety of shapes, materials and colors that is endlessly interesting.

greens on red

I keep thinking I want to understand geology, and even once attempted an online course on the subject. It told me much more than ‘what is this rock’, and it turns out I am little more than a ‘what is this rock’ person. I would love to tell you what this formation is, I’m sure it has a name. HB and I have dubbed it the M Rocks (me) and/or the W Rocks (HB). Whichever, if you ever doubted the incredible forces that the earth exerts, these rocks will make you a believer.
upper M rocks-001 Upper M rocksBarnhardt is relatively remote and not heavily trafficked.  We were surprised to encounter two other hiking groups, as it’s the first time we’ve ever seen anyone else on this particular trail. And we were even more surprised that both groups were accompanied by Hikin’ Dogs. Meet Herbie:
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and Ballo:

Ballo-001 After our hike we had a second picnic in a field. Mallow is blooming early this year:

Mallow

A challenging trail, a good friend, a picnic, fine weather and a pair of Hikin’ Dogs. It doesn’t get any better.

Finding Momo in Tempe

12 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by in Animals in the U.S., Books, Dogs, Uncategorized

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How many hundreds have books been written about dogs by the people who love them? It seems like everyone who has ever had a dog has written a book, or at least a story or a poem, about him, but that turns out not to be true. Stanley Coren estimates in Psychology Today that there are at least 725 million dogs on the planet, so the percentage of people who publish accounts of their dogs is actually rather small. The percentage of dogs who allow strangers to fondle them on book tours is arguably even smaller.

One such productive human is Andrew Knapp who has made a playful hide-and-seek photography book called Find Momo about his patient dog. While Momo is not as adept at hiding as is Waldo, he is at least 100 times cuter. He’s also real, a real border collie to be exact, and he enjoys peeking out from hiding places while Andrew takes his portrait. In some of the pictures he is easy to find, in others not so easy to find.

It all began innocently enough when a man adopted a dog (hear how it changed his life in his TEDx talk here). Andrew, like anyone with a camera (or iPhone) and a dog put the two together. Noticing that when he played stick with Momo the dog preferred to hide rather than bring the stick back, he decided to take pictures of his hard-to-see pooch when he was hiding. What started as a game became an urban landscape project in Ontario and then became a voyage of discovery, actual and metaphorical (really, listen to the TEDx talk, it’s inspiring). Andrew began posting his photos of Momo on Instagram, where he now has more than 150,000 followers, and created a website for the project. Now he has made his first book, and the second is in development.

Andrew and Momo stopped at Changing Hands Bookstore in nearby Tempe recently during their book-tour and I took the opportunity to go and meet a pooch I felt I already knew from his on-line personality. Both he and Andrew turned out to be as delightful in person as they seem on the screen and the page. I arrived in time for the Q & A, and Momo was already working the crowd as Andrew met fans and signed copies of his book for them. Andrew KnappI have not been to many book-signings, and I learned a couple of things from this one. First, get there at the appointed time. If you’re 20 minutes late you’ll miss most of the content. Second, get there on time, if you’re 20 minutes late there will be no books left. Third, if you have to be 20 minutes late, go anyway because it’s a lot of fun to meet other people who like the same authors and books you do. It was great fun to watch Momo play with anyone who asked – as stars go, he is decidedly accessible: Momo, his toy, his book momo's little fan fallsmomo and fans-001Louise and Momo-006This one shows Momo doing what he likes to do best: hide! momo hidesIf you’ve enjoyed meeting Momo and visiting his sites, you might also like to know about Maddie the Coon Hound, whose human, Theron Humphrey, photographs her upon things. What a delight it was to discover that Momo and Maddie are acquainted. In this photo taken by Andrew Knapp and/or Theron Humprey you can see each dog doing what s/he does best.

There are a lot of dogs, and a lot of books about dogs. The happy news is that there’s always room for one more good one.

Hikin’ Dogs

11 Saturday Jan 2014

Posted by in Animals in the U.S., Dogs, Hiking dogs, Photographs

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Lola rescue dog-001

Meet Lola, a lovely rescue dog on her very first hike. She was a little worried about the whole thing, but seemed to be enjoying it.

Some hiking friends are with us for the weekend, and we went to the very beautiful, but very crowded, Peralta Trail that leads to Fremont Saddle. It’s not a difficult trail, so it attracts everybody – young people, old people, families. Also it’s a very dog-friendly hike (not a lot of cholla waiting to prick paw pads). My usual hiking buddy doesn’t much enjoy making this trek with me because I HAVE to stop and photograph so many dogs – just can’t resist.

Here’s a small gallery of some of the hikin’ dogs we met today:

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This is Lola’s friend, and the one dog whose name I can’t remember (and thought I would never forget because it begins with a ‘Z’). Speedy and I have decided to call him Zanzie.

Frankie and Georgie

Here are Frankie and… no, not Johnnie, Frankie and Georgie.

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“You’re speckled!” I said to Ginger, and her human companion said, “Why thank you” – clearly a woman with a good sense of humor.

Pickadilly

Pickadilly was the only long-haired dog we saw on this walk.

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Key was the last dog we encountered. At 9 weeks she is certainly the youngest hikin’ dog I’ve ever met, and is too irresistable not to include (cross between a Lab and a German Pointer). Hikin’ Dog regulations do not allow inclusion of dogs that are being carried. But though she is not technically a hikin’ dog, her companion assured me she had done some of the trail, just not the steep parts, so she slipped in under the Cute Exemption.

What is it??

13 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Dogs, Hiking dogs, Hiking in Arizona, Uncategorized

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It’s been unseasonably cold in Arizona, down around freezing at night.  Today it didn’t go above 43 F (6 C) – which is bone-chilling for these parts.  My usual hiking buddy had a hot date with her kitchen and a bucket of paint, Speedy was otherwise engaged with football play-offs, but the desert was calling on this crystalline afternoon.  Someone had to answer.  Reader, it was I.

Because I was solo I chose a well-populated place to visit, the Lost Goldmine Trail (not as busy as its sister the Hieroglyphic Trail, but on a lovely Sunday, busy enough).  The first thing that happened was I encountered three Hiking Dogs, and was able to capture them for the ever-growing Hiking Dogs album.

Eddy

Eddy

Stella

Stella

Sedona

Sedona

The second thing that happened was that I began to see things that looked quite other than what they were.  So you tell me – what does this look like to you?

I'm not really a small cairn, I'm a______________

I’m not really a small cairn, I’m a______________

I'm not really a cholla, I'm a _______________________

I’m not really a cholla, I’m a _______________________

And I'm not really another cholla, I'm a _____________

And I’m not really another cholla, I’m a _____________

I’ll tell you my fill-in-the-blanks after you tell me yours…

Dirty Dogs

07 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Animals in the U.S., Dogs, Uncategorized

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If it’s a slow day in Gold Canyon, Arizona, as frequently happens, you can just amble down the street to the local Dog Wash. You heard me, pardner, I said ‘dog wash.’

It is nothing if not entertaining to watch pooches in various degrees of dinginess, walk the plank and into the sink.

The dog wash provides everything you need, including shampoo, water, towels and even a blow dryer. At $5.00 a pop it is probably a lot cheaper than taking Bowser to the groomer. The sign suggests that Miss Kitty might like a bath as well, but anyone who has ever shared living quarters with a cat knows better.

It’s not nice to chuckle over some other critter’s misery, but it’s hard to keep a straight face when watching the normally bouncy Bowser put on a long-suffering and patient face. You can almost hear him thinking, can’t you? ‘Why are they doing this to me??? I thought they loved me!’ You can also see immediately that the expression ‘hangdog’ originated in the Dog Wash.

Never fear, handsome Bowser, when you are all fluffed and buffed your cheerful disposition will return. You will frolic around happily, play with your mistress, and then run out to the desert where you will find a nice big cow plop to roll in. Then you know what will happen? It’s back to the dog wash for you! And maybe this time mistress will wash the Honda, too.

PS… if you’d like to see some photos of Arizona Hiking Dogs and their people, click here.

For family and dog-lovers

24 Monday Jan 2011

Posted by in Desert, Dogs, People, Photographs, Uncategorized

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It’s been a busy few weeks here in Arizona, which accounts for the relative silence from your usually chatty scribe.  One of the reasons for our coming here is to have a chance to visit with family and friends who find it difficult to travel to Italy and we are lucky this year in having a chance to see so many who are near and dear to us.

One of my favorite activities, which I inflict on all able-bodied guests, is hiking around in the Superstition Mountains.  On these hikes I try to photograph every hiking dog we meet.  There is an album here, to which a few new mutt shots have recently been added.

Writing about cabbage the other week was extremely evocative of my paternal grandmother – so much so that I’ve written a very brief profile of her here.  Most likely it will be of interest only to other family members – unless you enjoy looking at early-mid 20th century portrait photos. But please feel free to make the acquaintance of this unusual woman.

Meanwhile, thanks for visiting, and we’ll get back to more ordinary posting one of these days.  I think.  I hope.

Bells and Dogs

30 Monday Aug 2010

Posted by in Animals in Italy, Dogs, Italian Churches, Rapallo, San Maurizio di Monti, Uncategorized

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We’re bell-proud here in San Maurizio.  The church which serves this village of 500 people has six bells in the campanile.  Day and night the bells toll the hour in the usual fashion; or almost the usual fashion.   After ringing the appropriate number of times for the hour, the whole thing is repeated again three minutes later; maybe we’re particularly inattentive up here on the hill.

In addition to the hours, the bell rings once on the half hour.  This is fine for most of the day, but it leaves us unsure in the middle of the day and the middle of the night: 12:30, 1:00 and 1:30 all sound exactly the same, both a.m. and p.m.

Twice a day there is some bonus bonging.  At 7 a.m. and again at 8 p.m. a slightly deeper bell rings  50-60 times between the two soundings of the hour.  The reasoning for this, I’ve always imagined, is to say, in the first instance, “Hey, it’s time to go outside and start your work.  Get going!”  and in the second, “Okay, quittin’ time; dinner’s ready, home you go.”  Then on Saturdays and Sundays, and sometimes on Thursday afternoons the bells play a short selection of tunes, most quite jazzy.  Of course there is also extra ringing for weddings (few and far between) and funerals.

There is something awful about this for dogs.  The normal ringing of the bells doesn’t elicit any canine response, but the sonic frequency of the extra long, low peals as well as the songs must hurt their ears.  North, south, east and west, they all start to bark, howl, squeal and moan.  Every dog in town weighs in saying, “ow, ow, ow – stoooop!”  Finally the bells stop and so do the dogs.

There’s a sound clip of one of the regular tunes our bells play here. If you listen carefully you may hear some canine dissent.  Apologies for the quality of the video – my camera isn’t really designed for it, and I’m a bit jiggly at the start.

Don’t you have an image of a monk, robes flying, racing from one bell pull to the next to play so fast?  Or perhaps several, trying not to trip over each other?   Or maybe a Quasimodo figure up amongst the bells themselves, ringing them with a big mallet, as if they were a xylophone?  Alas, those days are over.  The bell ringing is done by computer.  There’s a control box under the bell tower, and the priest can select the music he wants to play.

The dogs don’t care how it’s done.  They just don’t care for it.