Pets

[July 25th, 2007]

Best Pet-o-grapher

When Troy Klebey first met Tucker, it was love at first sight. No, call it puppy love. Even though Tucker, a yellow Labrador, was only 10 weeks old at the time, Portland photographer extraordinaire Klebey (troyklebeyphotography.com) recognized his muse. Nearly two years and more than 10,000 photos later, Tucker is more than Klebey's most photographed subject: "He is truly my best friend, definitely my favorite photo subject and, I don't mind adding, Portland's most handsome, expressive and well-mannered yellow Labrador," Klebey says. Tucker even has his own website (dogster.com/dogs/429541). Could the next step be Tucker blogging about his love of yellow tennis balls?

Best WiEner Wagon

When Rick Woodford's dog, Jackson, got cancer, Woodford tried feeding him different foods to help him heal. Woodford had long hankered to work on hunger relief, and with Dog Stew (dogstew.net, 283-7892), the former Adidas project manager has made the trade—only he's relieving canine hunger with the aim of improving doggie health. Dog Stew is an exhaustively solo operation. Every day, Woodford cooks over 200 pounds of meat, vegetables and grain in his commercial kitchen off Southeast Powell Boulevard. He has spent countless hours studying dog nutrition, and he customizes each canine client's plan through research and an extensive questionnaire. Prices start at $70 for a monthly supply, all delivered to your door. Does it work? Well, Jackson is going strong and chasing the household's new puppy . Can you say the same of your dog?

Best Heavy-Metal Mascot

The demographics of Portland are changing, but one of the city's more recent transplants breaks all the molds: A five-foot-tall, 2,000-plus-pound gorilla with cast-bronze skin . The $6,500 sculpture acts as a gleaming mascot stationed outside the roll-up doors of CastAway (1900 NW 18th Ave., 227-5321, castawaybronze.com). Native Portlander Monica Murry sold real estate for a quarter-century before turning her love of travel into an import business that focuses on cast-iron and bronze sculptures and water features. In February 2007, she opened CastAway in an eye-popping-blue former custom sportswear factory near the west end of the Fremont Bridge. Although other local businesses sell outdoor art, Murry has transformed her airy, open-beamed space into a secret garden of marble balls spinning atop bubbling fountains, stately bronze lions, wind-resistant metal trees with fabric leaves and wanton naked ladies sprawled on lawn chairs —all scattered across a gleaming lawn of polished concrete. The frozen, bucolic scene has taken some muscle to make happen. The largest of Murry's balls (beauts measuring 80 centimeters in diameter) weigh 2 1/2 tons each. She rents a crane to move 'em around the showroom floor—"Nobody is gonna steal those unless they are Hercules," she chuckles. At $10,000 each, they make only a slightly less Titanic dent in your pocketbook than they do in your lawn. Not that the price is stopping local builders, developers and well-heeled homeowners from buying up her finds: She has sold two of those behemoth balls since February. But lucky you: The gorilla's still there. Visit CastAway from 10 am-2 pm Tuesday-Friday and snag him for your own private jungle.

Best Way to Keep Your Pussycat Warm

You've just scored divine new digs: Now you have to wheedle Mean Ol' Mr. Landlord into letting Fluffy stay, because Fluffy is so quiet, so well-behaved, so.... Look, forget it. That's the wrong way to rent. The right way? Go to the Oregon Humane Society's website (oregonhumane.org) and search its pet-friendly rental properties. Listings, separated by city and region, have exact addresses and contact digits (top that, Craigslist!), number of rooms on offer, rent and fees and allowable types and numbers of pets. While you're there, you might as well stock up on more pets—as far as this site goes, the more pussy the better.

Best Axis of Cuteness

The West Hills are alive with the sound of sleeper cells. Our very own Oregon Zoo (4001 SW Canyon Road, 226-1561, oregonzoo.org) continues to bait Homeland Security with its fostering of endangered species. Its new California condor chick , one of only three to successfully hatch this season, struggled to emerge from its oblong prison in late May. But the future bird of prey couldn't be trusted to survive with its parents, and had to be reared by hand—a hand wearing a puppet . Fooled by this devious ruse, the month-and-a-half-old now enters the tutelage of Pismo, an experienced mentor condor recently arrived from California to train the next generation of airborne killing machines. Meanwhile, the zoo is also helping its Washington pygmy rabbits to breed like, well, rabbits . No puppets or boot camp for these furballs—they're born with the devastating cuteness defense, too unnaturally adorable to look at for extended periods of time. With 23 born this season so far, humanity has little hope.