RIP Bear

I am extremely sad to pass along the news that my dad's dog Bear passed unexpectedly Wednesday night.  Although Lola and Bear were not the best of friends, (they were like water and oil) they would always team up to hunt squirrels (while Otis slept on the couch).  The two of them would have squirrels trapped in trees for hours tempting them to escape.   And just has they would come down the tree, Lola and Bear would scare it right back up in the tree.  The two of them were a match made in heaven when it came to squirrel hunting.  They were both so stubborn and would never give up, unless food was being handed out. Bear will be missed, but he is running free now and will no longer have any pain he may have been experiencing.

Bear

Bear and Lola on the couch

Bear, Otis and Lola

Here is what my dad has posted about Bear.

Our dog Bear died very unexpectedly last night (4/4/12) at about 9:15 PM. Earlier in the afternoon we did our normal two mile walk, which always made Bear excited and which he seem to always enjoy. He showed no signs of distress during the walk. After the walk I went out for awhile. When we returned home at about 7:30, Otis our other dog greeted us at the door but Bear didn’t which was very unusual since they both would always be at the door. When I fed the dogs Bears didn’t eat which also was unusual since he would gobble his food down. He was lethargic and unsteady and over the next hour and a half got weaker, more lethargic and finally just quit breathing.

Bear was a rescue dog that we had only had for 18 months. In September 2010, we were at an end of summer festival in a local park on pet day. We ran across Bear who was older (probably around 8), overweight and in need of a home but we weren’t looking for a second dog. After we got home we started to worry about Bear so decided to try to adopt him. It took a week for us to locate him. When we brought him home he couldn’t walk very far but we got his weigh down and started to take him on walks and before long he could walk 2 miles with no trouble.

Unlike other dogs I have had Bear want to be in our vicinity but didn’t really snuggle up to you although he would come to get his ears and neck rubbed. Bear was his own dog - he didn’t try to please people the way many dogs do. I said he was more in touch with his “dog self” than other dogs I have had. We were hoping for more years with Bear and will miss him.