BearShe was a gift from my family when I turned 16 years old. A bundle of fur, bright eyes, and a docked tail that caused her whole body to shake when she wagged it. She hated baths, but loved to be towel dried. The cat raised her- let her know when she was out of line, but they played uproarously. His tail didn't work, so Bear would drag him around by the tail, and as funny as that sounds, the cat loved it (didn't hurt him).
She was bright, energetic and the most intelligent dog I have ever owned. She was usually one step ahead of us. She figured out how to get into the food pantry and steal the powdered jello- she was bloated for days but not apologetic. She was always happy to greet my family and I when we came home- barking, yipping and yowling. She sang for me when I played my instrument.
She was affectionate, and always vied for attention. She grieved for weeks when the cat died, and learned to love the new bundle of energy, Ginger- a yellow lab, we brought home at a later time.
Her eyes were bright all the way up until the day she died. Her body gave up on her, and she fought the illness all the way to the end. She went out with a bang, certainly not a whimper.
She loved cookies, jelly beans, especially ice cream! She would wait patiently for her share of the ice cream.
I miss having her come and say "good morning!" every day when she'd paw at the bed and whine until I'd wake up and give her a good scratch. My mother misses sharing her toast with her, and my father was the one who shared the ice cream (and snuck tidbits from the table after dinner). My sister misses her helping to dig and plant new flowers in the garden.
On November 4, 1998, she was in too much pain from the cancer to go on, and we couldn't let her suffer-it was the hardest decision to make. Ginger has been looking for her almost a week now, she's grieving just as much.
We miss her terribly, and a void has definitely been left behind. She will always be in our hearts, and our souls. We love you Bear
Nature. We cannot capture it in paint or words. It is forever elusive and changing. We begin and end in its arms and it surrounds us for all of our Life.
Dogs energetic, frisky gobblers, hyper investigator, jolly keen, loping madly, naturally obstinate, perplexingly quick, rambunciously sneaky, truly uncanny, valiant wagger, x yipper,zany: a best companion.
(Susie B)
