I'm picking number 2, I like the frozen moment, he looks like a cute stuffed kids toy, heh.
Time for a story:
My dad used bear claw traps for "varmints" on the farm way back in the day, when parents spanked their kids, we played with Jarts, and rode in the back of pickup trucks and in back seats without seatbelts. It's amazing we survived, heh. Yeah, I know I know... but it is what it was.
Anywho, one day, a skunk got his leg into one of the traps. My older brother, big hearted kid that he was, felt awful and took it upon himself to free it. Armed with a broom stick and a small piece of plywood as his shield, he managed to free it, but Mr Skunk was NOT in a forgiving or grateful mood and sprayed my bro. We tried all the home remedies (pre-internet) tomato juice bath, beer (that was fun) etc. Turned out hydrogen peroxide and baking soda then good old-fashioned dish soap seemed to do the trick. Ahh... memories.
Nice images Rob, with that visitor I hope your dogs were in the house or that wouldn’t have ended well.. A number of years ago I had a full tri color collie and let her out at nice to go to the bathroom and had a visitor like yours. Took days to get rid of the smell.
Nice shots!! Anyone who thinks a skunk is cute has probably never had one of their dogs skunked, which happens at least once a year at our farm! These dogs just never learn!!
My next door neighbor had a mother skunk with babies three springs in a row, I tried my best to get them out of my yard and the hose worked the best. I learned that babies can squirt, however not as powerful a spray as an adult so avoided the worst . One warm day I heard my Schnauzer going crazy running down the hall, and learned that one of them had come up on my deck and into the house so he attacked it and chased it out of the house. Thank goodness it did not have any spray to let go inside our house. The third year I took some photos of them one of which was a winner in the Natures Best Magazine Best Backyards contest and was printed in the magazine. They finally hired a pest control guy who captured them and released them into the forest near my house.
Love that second shot ! Hopefully Kenzie didn't check out the visitor. The saddest look I ever saw on My Golden Retrievers face was when she got sprayed. Not Fun.
Great shots Rob! Love the second one in motion running straight into your arms.
It's funny... I've had brown bears charging straight at me like that and it didn't bother me at all.
I couldn't say the same if I were in your shoes at that moment.
We have an almost pure white one hanging around our house that I'd love to photograph but unfortunately it never shows up until the middle of the night.