Kai joined our family in 2020!
This post is mainly a large gallery of photos I love from the first year with our dog Kai. Kai joined us August 8, 2020, at 8 weeks old. She is a blue merle Australian Shepherd.
Similar to many young children I loved animals and dreamed of being a vet when I grew up and while I went down a different path that love of animals never left. I grew up with a dog for much of my life and when he passed I had already met my now-husband who had a dog. We soon moved in together and I have continued to spend my life with dogs. Behr is now 12 years old and during 2020 we took the opportunity that my having 6 months of work from home provided to get a puppy! We welcomed Kai into our home at 8 weeks old getting to know Behr and our cat Simba. Kai is the youngest I have even had a puppy from and it has been a wonderful journey. The photos start from when we got her and grow to her at about 14 months old.
Instagram: @behr_thedog
The Animals Settle In
Moving the animals twice within a month of each other was quite confusing for them, but they've settled into our new home and are loving it.
Behr is happy to have a yard to run around in and a bigger house to explore. He's also much closer to a few trails and state parks that allow dogs. He's a happy dog so it doesn't take much to please him but I'd like to think it was more than that.
Behr was unhappy with us for a while though, he only has one bed and in Allston we moved it from room to room for him, but at our new house we left it in the bedroom. Sometimes he'd want his bed so bad he'd go upstairs without us. For a dog who follows anyone who's moving around that is saying something. After he completed a difficult and long hike this past weekend (more posts on this after I finish editing the photos!) we thought he deserved a new bed for down stairs and he can't get enough of it.
Simba was the most nervous at first. He even slept under the bed instead of on it for almost a month. Now he happily runs around the house and spends time sitting on the chairs and floors in every room and takes up all our foot space on the bed again.
Grizzy was an easy transition and a pretty good natured guy. When we take him out and let him run around in a still empty living room though he gets mad at the curious dog and cat who keep approaching him. He's gotten to play outside and go on walks with us since it's summer.
Gizmo is still adjusting, she's active at all different times of day much earlier than usual. We have lots of sun in the new house and are still trying to find the best place so she can sleep through the day.
We also found a couple outdoor cats visiting our backyard.
Kiwi
I must again apologize for the lack of posts and mention that I am between homes at the moment. I am working on getting all my thing together before I move again so I expect I won't be regular at posting until mid July.
This particular post brings sad tidings. This past weekend Kiwi, one of our two Sugar Gliders, died.
Kiwi was the more shy of our two suggies. She became more attached to Alexis and was easier to get to calm down and hang out. She also ate much slower than Gizmo, that time just kept increasing as her sickness progressed.
A bit less than a month ago we found her one day bleeding from her feet. She had chewed off the skin and a nail on both of her back feet. We took her into the vet and were given medicine to fight infection and heal her feet. After two weeks she appeared to be healing but she had bit her back feet again. We took her back to the vet and were given an anxiety medicine to try to stop her from biting her feet.
We never found out why she started biting. Since Sugar Gliders are social creatures in the wild they hide any signs of illness until it is too late and that instinct remains today. It is hard to say if their was something else wrong that we couldn't see or if the medicine was too much for her small body. Until the last few days she was just as active and more cuddly than before.
We only had her for 4 short months of her life but she will be missed.
4/17 Middlesex Fells
I know I know another one about Middlesex Fells but it's one of the best hiking spots that's close to home, I promise... next time will be somewhere new. I also apologize for not posting very often I'm also working on updating my portfolio website which I'll eventually share.
This past Sunday we hit the Rock Circuit Trail in Middlesex Fells again and this time decided to do the entire trail, 3.7 miles or so since we got turned around at some point. I went with Rachel, Alexis, and Behr.
As usual I have lots of photos with Behr and his crazy tongue hanging everywhere because he's just too cute and happy hiking. It was a beautiful warm spring day and it didn't get much better than this.
Right before we got to this break spot, about 40 minutes into our walk, we found this odd tree that had grow up straight a bit and then bent at more than a 90 degree angle down but part of the tree grew up a few feet into it, and to top it all off we called this tree, the butt tree, because the bottom part before it bent was split like butt cheeks. It was a beautiful reminder that not everything goes according to plan and there's nothing wrong with that.
Behr has the most expressive face he has so much personality so I just had to snap this happy tired lazy tongue on the rock face.
So if it wasn't clear already I highly recommend this trail!
First Photography "Portfolio"
At the end of the two week photography summer class I took at CDIA before my junior year of high school (which I mentioned in an earlier post) we put together our favorite images from the class in a portfolio and learned a bit about printing as well. My favorite photos included mostly flowers and animals, not a surprise as that is what I loved and was easy to find, some others also included favorites from vacations.
Most of opportunities for taking photos while in this short class came from being outside in my neighborhood and from field trips we took in class. The flower photos were all taken in my mother's many gardens (10 or more!), while the frog I found in my neighbors man-made Coy Pond. I have always loved nature and being outside so it was natural to try to capture what I saw.
I also took some photos of my neighbors new puppy, a little Shitzu they named Mickey because they love disney. I snapped this shot of the cute little bump on his nose and his overbite while he was play with my 85 lb dog, Buddy! They were an odd match but quickly became fast friends, to this day Mickey will run up to my parents house looking for Buddy though he has been gone for several years.
Later in the summer I added a few new photos from our yearly vacation to Martha's Vineyard to my portfolio. When I was younger we visited Martha's Vineyard every year for 1-2 weeks and stayed at my uncles house in Edgartown. I took many photos photos but I especially liked the photo of the sail boats in Edgartown harbor and rock balancing I found on the beach. I can't remember if this photo was taken in the sand dunes by where we went cohoging or near Chappaquiddick while driving on the dunes before the sand bar connecting it to Martha's Vineyard was destroyed. I also took many photos of the ginger bread cottages and of course the miniature horses I mentioned before.
ALL of my Pets!
I mentioned in my last post about my pets that it wasn't featuring all of my pets... this time I will introduce all of my pets. First, of course, are more photos of Behr, Simba, and Grizzy because they are too cute. We try to get the animals to all play, Grizzy seems oblivious and just wants to walk around and lick things. Behr and Simba are more confused and hate Grizzy's claws. Here Behr looks ready to say "Dad what the heck is that? Get it off me please!" Simba on the other hand wants to sniff him, because Simba has an innate need to smell everything, that is until Grizzy starts moving, then Simba wants him and his nails gone.
I could not help but take a ton of photos of Grizzy because he is still growing and his beard has become a beautiful bright orange that is so unusual and gorgeous. Therefore it had to be documented. And there's Simba, all legs and meowing at us to put him down.
Finally the rest of my pets I keep mentioning. We have two Sugar Gliders, Kiwi and Gizmo. Sugar Gliders are marsupials who sleep in pouches and are nocturnal. When woken they are very active so getting good photos is difficult! It's even harder when they jump at the camera because they love to jump and glide. Sugar Gliders bond to their owners by scent, ours are still bonding with us, as it can take a while, but they love to come out and play. Kiwi is the more shy of the two and it often takes her longer to come play and she startles more easily - she's also easier to corral so most of these photos are of her. Gizmo is more adventurous and even more energetic easily alluding us.
They wouldn't leave Alexis alone when we woke them up a little early this weekend. They kept trying to crawl up his shirt, which isn't a pleasant experience with their claws, and cuddle but at the same time would not sit still!
Introducing SOME of my Pets :)
The more I post you'll notice that I LOVE animals and that my boyfriend and I have a lot of pets! For this post I'll introduce three of our pets and there will be plenty more photos of them to come!
First is Behr, he's half lab half retriever = golden lab and seven years old. He's a goofy dog. I met him when he was two and his personality really reflects my boyfriends. They'll huff and puff at each other, they have grunt conversations, and this mostly happens when Behr's complaining. He's a happy dog who loves to greet everyone with hugs... except he wants to eat our smaller animals!
Second is Simba, he was our friends cat who we kind of adopted. He's a fluff ball of six years and 12 lbs. He's a funny cat and we affectionately call him Meow Meow. He's been living with us for 2 years and it's been fun to watch his personality change as he got used to us and our different pets and roommates. He's a very curious kitty, who doesn't like to be picked up, but he never scratches or bites but will incessantly meows at you until you put him down. If you make him mad he'll take it out on the dog by running up him and swatting him (without claws), it's funny to watch. Our smaller animals make him curious and it's entertaining.
Third is Grizzy, he is our baby Bearded Dragon we got in late 2015. These photos are from when we got him and since then he's already grown to 1 ft! He will reach 2 feet within 1.5-3 years (he's only a few months old now). He's also a friendly guy, he'll come out and play with us and run around. He will stand still and then suddenly move very quickly, when he's tired or cold he'll cuddle up to us and just sleep. It's fun to watch him chase his live food or, as in these photos, put his veggies all over his face when he didn't want to eat them. He doesn't seem to notice the other animals and isn't scared of them.
I have a few more pets... but I just got them so photos will come later!