Community Corner: Meet Professor and New Mom, Jessi Rick
One of the first members of our TOC Family is Jessi Rick (along with her two dogs Huck and Hazel). Check them out on IG: @cowboyhuck. In the last few years their family had lots of exciting changes, including an international move and welcoming a new human member to their pack. We sat down with Jessi for the latest.
In the last couple of years, you and your partner and dogs relocated from Wyoming to Germany. Tell us about that experience living overseas as a pet parent.
Living overseas with our dogs was definitely an adventure! There were some things that were certainly more challenging (including living in an apartment on the fifth floor of our building without an elevator...), but there were other things we were pleasantly surprised by. One of the most fun and novel things to us was being able to take our pups on public transportation. We didn’t have a car while we lived abroad, so it was awesome to be able to hop on the bus or tram or train to go on adventures with our dogs, or just to take them across town via the tram for a walk. Having our dogs with us also forced us to learn German much quicker than we otherwise would have-- there were very few people in the town where we lived who spoke English, so we ended up having many small conversations in German with neighbors when we were out walking the dogs. People would stop us and comment that our dogs were “so süß und hübsch”or ask us “welche Hunderasse” they were, and we had to quickly learn how to respond that our dogs are a “Rauhaariger Vorstehhund” and an “Englischer setter”-- both breeds that seem to be much less common in Germany than where we had previously been living in Wyoming.
Huck and Hazel, seen above, have had a crazy few years moving from Wyoming to Germany, and then back to the United States by way of Arizona.
What’s your advice to our community if they’re considering relocating to Europe with their dog?
It’s definitely different and more of a hassle to move somewhere with your dog (and especially overseas), but we were so happy to have ours along with us. Europe generally has a different dog culture than the US, and dogs are welcome more places in public in most European countries. We also found that this means that people were more willing to ignore our dogs and leave them alone, which was nice for training our dogs to be more neutral to people and other dogs. Finding dog-friendly rental housing in Germany was actually easier than finding dog-friendly rental housing in the US, at least for where we were living in far eastern Germany. Getting the export paperwork taken care of for legally moving our dogs was something that was more of a hassle than we expected, and it tends to be difficult to figure out exactly what paperwork is needed for each country. But that being said, as long as our dogs had their rabies vaccinations, we didn’t need to quarantine the dogs upon arrival, which was a nice surprise. If you’re considering moving abroad, I’d say that the most helpful thing is to chat with someone who has done it before, and also try to find someone in the city that you’re moving to that can help you to figure out how to navigate the things that you need to do upon arrival! And know that your dog will likely be totally fine and adaptable as long as you’re there on the other end– I was very happily surprised with how our dogs did with the plane flight and the move in general.
Now you’re back in Arizona and you have a baby!! How have the dogs been adjusting to all of the changes?
Yes, we had lots of big changes in the last year! We moved to Arizona from Germany, had a baby in October, and also both went back to full time work away from home for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. All of that has been a huge adjustment for the dogs, but they've been really good about adapting to all of it. Overall the dogs have been great with the baby, and are usually happy to just ignore him (which is our whole goal). We have spent a lot of time managing dog-baby interactions, which has taken a lot of effort but definitely has made a difference in how our dogs view and deal with our baby. I was lucky to have a relatively quick recovery from giving birth and spent a lot of my maternity leave going on (short) hikes during the week, which was a great way to keep all of us happy. Now that I'm working full time again, we try to get out on one dog-centered hike per weekend, to make sure that we're meeting their needs to explore and sniff and sprint around (because they’re both hunting dogs that thrive off of doing those things). We're still learning all of the best spots for off-leash hikes, but luckily there is a lot of public land around Tucson to explore and we've been able to find a handful of places that are perfect for letting the dogs romp.
The weather in Arizona has been much hotter for the dogs, with days above 100 degrees from May to October.
How are you feeling?
Most days, I'm feeling like I'm just along for the ride and doing what I can to keep everything and everyone together, which is all I really can hope for at this point. I don't think I'll ever not feel guilty about how much less attention and stimulation the dogs get these days, and we're all still in the process of figuring out how to make it all work-- and dealing with 100+ degree days from May to October hasn't been making it any easier, but we're doing the best that we can. Now that Hank is getting older and the days are getting cooler, I'm really hoping to get back into running more with Hazel, which is something that we both thoroughly enjoy.
You and your partner both have PhDs. Are you still involved in academia? What are you up to these days?
Yes! My husband and I both have PhDs in Ecology and Evolution, and we actually moved to Arizona because we started positions as Assistant Professors at the University of Arizona. We are both teaching and doing research in the wildlife conservation and management program, and it's been fun to get to know the areas around southern Arizona through our research in addition to exploring it with our dogs.
According to his Instagram bio, Huck, who’s full name is Huckleberry, is a “big, goofy, handsome Griff[on] and Hazel is a “little, wild English Setter.”
You hike a lot with the dogs. Now that you have a baby, what’s your favorite baby gear that makes hiking safe and fun for yall?
Oooh good question. The biggest things that make hiking with a baby doable is having a good baby carrier-- when Hank was younger, we would use our Ergo Omni carrier* all the time for having him strapped to our fronts. Once he was around six months old, we started using our Osprey Poco LT backpack carrier*, which we all love. Because it's been hot this summer, the backpack carrier has been amazing for not having Hank against our bodies (so he can stay cooler), and it has its own shade canopy to keep him covered from the sun. It also has a water bladder compartment, cargo space for bringing extra things (extra diapers and wipes are always necessary, in addition to dog treats), and has adjustable shoulder straps and hip belts to make it comfortable no matter your size. We also have a lightweight water repellant picnic blanket, which we carry along and set down when we stop to take a break, so that we can give Hank a break from the carrier as well (and it also works great for mid-hike diaper changes). We also have a Coolibar sunsuit* (like a sunshirt, but a whole onesie) for Hank that we love, which he wears on most of our hikes to keep his skin protected from the sun. It has a hood and foldover cuffs to protect his hands and feet. Another thing that has been awesome for taking a baby + dogs out hiking is dog treat tubes, which make it easy to give the dogs high value treats while keeping my hands clean for dealing with the baby. While we were in Germany, we found some really great commercially-made treat tubes, but we've had a harder time finding them for a reasonable price in the US. These days, we often buy the Kong stuffing* or just Easy Cheese, which both work well. Prior to having a baby, I would make high-value treat tubes, but I just don't have the capacity for that at this point
What’s your favorite dog hiking gear?
Oh, I have a long list of gear that I love for hiking with the pups! As I mentioned above, having easy high value treats is definitely at the top of the list. With hiking in Arizona, we also always bring a comb with us (for removing cacti stuck to the dogs) and a mini dog first aid kit, which includes vet wrap and two booties for each of the dogs in case they hurt their paws. For water, I usually just bring a water bladder for myself that I share with the dogs-- I've taught both of them how to drink from the hose so that I don't have to carry separate water for them. The dogs usually hike in their Ruffwear Flagline harnesses* with a biothane traffic handle attached. I like those harnesses because they have handles that we can use to lift the dogs if they find themselves in a tricky spot, and then I keep the traffic handles attached so that we can grab those if we run into any people or cars while out hiking. For longer hikes, we also have the Ruffwear Switchbak harnesses, which have pockets where we can have the dogs carry their own poop bags, treats, first aid kit, and some water.
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