Bear
April
13, 2002 – December 23, 2006
Bear came to live with us on April 13, 2003. We
drove to Baltimore, MD to pick Bear up from the transporter. When she
opened the hatch back of her van, our only words were, “oh my”. Bear
was the most magnificent dog we had ever seen. After introductions we
loaded him up into our vehicle for our drive home. Along the way Mike
pulled off the road to stretch his legs. At that very moment Bear,
all 132 pounds of him comes jumping over the seat and was ready to
bolt out the door. I grabbed his lead and Mike shut the door all at
the same time. I guess Bear was ready for an adventure but my heart
was in my throat.
We arrived home and introduced Bear to our other
ASD, a female named Kyra. Introductions went off without a hitch and
Bear settled in. Kyra wanted to play right from the start. Bear,
however, was a much more serious minded dog. Over the years he would
play a little but never was much for acting silly. Every once in a
while I would hear a ruckus coming from the living room and I would
find Kyra with one end of a pillow in her mouth and Bear with the
other end in his mouth. When he saw me standing in the doorway he
would quickly drop his end and try to act like he would never have any
part of anything as silly as grabbing pillows.
Bear had a few bad habits - In the early weeks he
counter surfed and took my sugar canister off the counter and ate a
lot of sugar. I came home to find the sugar canister on the floor,
sugar all over and a white ring around his nose. After that incident,
we “Bear” proofed the counters and he got the nickname “Sugar Bear”.
Another time, while we were unloading groceries, Bear jumped in the
back of our truck. The truck has a camper top on it which had the
tailgate closed, but had the window open. Bear jumped up and into the
truck and managed to open a box of raspberry cheese danish and ate the
whole thing in the less than 2 minutes we were in the house. Lesson
learned we never left Bear outside while we were inside putting
groceries away. That was the only time that he did anything bad.
Bear felt that it was his job to reprimand Kyra
for me. As you might have guessed, Kyra loves to pull pillows, dog
beds, or anything that she feels is hers and then destroy it. I would
try and discipline Kyra and Bear would see this and decided he would
take control of the situation by getting in her face and bark, bark,
bark. Only after his corrections would Kyra drop the item for him. I
had been trying for years to get her to stop. It only took Mr. Bear a
matter of weeks to set her straight and cure her of that habit!
Bear also took on the responsibility to be my
personal protector. On his second day home I was kneeling down
outside gardening, and when I went to get up let out a groan. Bear
came running over to me to see what was wrong. I put my hand on his
collar and pulled myself up, using the words “help me”. I thought I
would turn something that seemed so natural to him into a command. I
used it often as Bear loved to feel he was doing his job helping me.
Even in his last weeks, when it was becoming harder for him to get
around, he never let me go outside without him. I would try and sneak
out, thinking that he was asleep by the woodstove, but he would know I
wasn’t in the room and he would get up and push the storm door open
with his head just to be outside watching over me.
For being such a big dog he had so many “cute”
ways about him, like Bear loved apples. Each spring he would walk out
into the yard and select an apple that had fallen from our tree. He
would sniff each apple on the ground before he made his selection.
Once the choice was made, he would carry the apple back to the porch
and eat all but a small core.
He also loved to be groomed. I could cut his
toenails, brush his teeth and groom him for hours. I could do
anything to him. He trusted me and that only strengthened the bond
and love I had for him. Another thing he liked to do, would be for us
to play like we were at a dog show and he loved to go “round and
round” on lead, as though he were in a show ring all the while me
telling him what a handsome boy he was. He had quite a vocabulary – he
learned all words relating to treats: like cookies, crackers, cheese
and especially pizza. Favorite thing he liked said to him was, “want
some more”? He would then politely sit until you gave him his treat.
Bear loved to give “five” with his big paws and if you were not
careful would be knocked down in the
process.
I think Bear sometimes thought he was a little
dog. He would try and sit in my lap while I watched TV. If I sat on
the floor his big ol’ head was resting in my lap. If I was on one
side of the room he would belly crawl over to me, just so that he
could be as close as possible. If I sat on the loveseat he would put
his head on the cushion, looking adoringly up at me with those ancient
and wise looking yellow/green eyes. I would then scratch his nubbies,
the name we gave his cropped ears. I love him and miss him so
much.
Bear was the closest thing to a perfect dog,
although he did have a few phobias. He hated thunderstorms. One thing
I could never figure out was sometimes if the storm was real bad he
wanted to be outside in his kennel run and in his dog house. This
past summer he finally was getting better with his fear and as long as
I had his lead in my hand he did not stress as much. He also hated
riding in the car. It was OK though if we just stayed on our
property. To try and make rides less stressful for him, I would ask
if he wanted to go for a ride. He would get all happy, wag his tail
and jump right into the truck. We then would go for a “ride” up and
down our driveway. He liked that. Just don’t take him out on the
main road. He was making progress with both these issues though.
The month of December
was getting really bad for Bear. As each week passed, he had a harder
time walking and he was losing more weight despite the special meals I
cooked for him. The day came when Bear could not get up. So, on
December 23, 2006, with Mr. Bear at home, and resting in my arms, we
sent Bear to the Rainbow Bridge. Our hearts ache for the gentle giant
that came into our lives. Words cannot express the void that Mr. Bear
has left behind. He was the best of company, a great protector, my
constant companion and the most loving dog we have ever had the
pleasure to be owned by.
