golden retriever | THE FORESTER ARTIST

Blaze impatiently waits for her driver.

Blaze rode with me for years. She loved to go to work and hated to be left at home. When I would go into my office in the morning she would find the highest point on the truck and intently watch the backdoor impatiently. She would wait for me to come out so I could take her to the woods. If she could have driven the truck herself she would have, and I would have been left behind.

She was a tremendous AKC Hunt Test competitor and loved to work. I painted this of her when she was actively running events. She would sit in the yard and stare at me refusing to come in until I would come out and train her. In this watercolor I was trying to capture her intensity and joy of the hunt.

A happy girl.

We logged a lot of miles together a chased a lot of squirrels. Well, she chased the squirrels. She was amazing companion and I miss her dearly.

Blitz & Nellie taking a break for a swim at Lake Prairie

One of great things about being a forester is taking your dogs to work. They want to go and I have an empty truck bed. It works out for all of us. It is a joy to take them along and bears run away from them. They are pretty handy to have around. When they find a yellowjacket nest they love to run to me so I can knot the bees off of them. If they find something dead or smelly they love to roll in it so they can find me and share their awesome prefume. However, we do have to watch out for rattlesnakes and Nellie could tell you a story, but we will save that one for later. Perks of the job. It seemed like a good time to bring up my traveling companions. They bring a smile to my face and with all the chaos going on around here I hope they do the same for you. More about them later.

Bo was our first Golden Retriever. He traveled with me for many years throughout the Sierra Nevada. He had visited more of the Sierras then most people will ever see.