Another cool, rainy day.
The kind of day that makes you want to nap the day away.
Some people did just that.
Rainy day boys.
Bear sits for his portrait
Formal portrait…
In profile…
Bear’s favorite lookout spot is on my bed.
He has a great view of the woods. He must deal with Bob’s scent and Bob must deal with his – I’m ever hopeful they will decide that it would be more fun for all of us if they got along….
Yesterday, Sunday, I found Bear watching with his feet crossed. I told him to stay and ran for the camera…
Bear sits for his portrait.
Bear applies for Bob’s job
So…I heard Bear jump off the bed….
…and then some whining…
Bob had been looking at the other closet first thing Friday morning. I suspected that we might have a small visitor…
When I saw and heard Bear at the other bedroom closet, my suspicions were confirmed.
Bob was aware that something was happening….
I wonder what Mousie was thinking when paw of Bear made its appearance under the closet door?
I opened the closet door, moved the A/C unit which was blocking Bear’s access to Mousie…
Mousie hightailed it for the open air and Bear got him – Bear is VERY quick and VERY athletic! I thought there was going to be a swallow, but instead, it was a spit-out…a wet and nearly dead mouse which I scooped up and put out of its misery.
Bear was a bit nonplussed at the entire situation but, I think, relieved that it was over.
Bob’s reaction…”I am retired…that darn dog can have the mice…”
Heh…
Bear in the woods
A Montana woods is a pretty exciting place for a guy just off the ‘plane from ‘Jersey :)!
Silly squirrels!
Mountains and deer and turkeys.
Places to go and things to see.
Bear is doing very well. He does get very excited about deer and squirrels, but you can see here that he is on a loose lead even watching the deer. I’m working on getting him to “give me his eyes” even in the midst of something exciting going on. If we are ever to go off leash, I need for him to listen and trust me enough to obey a command.
Bear is very smart. He understands everything I’ve asked of him. He’s given me a paw to trim nails, he comes when called in the house, even when he wants to do something else, he sits, he stays, he goes down and does a down stay – all happily, not robotically. He was trained with love.
There is a lot of training to be done to live here with him as I’d like and it will take awhile, but he is a joy to work, play and just be with.
Loving Bear does ease the grief for Karl in some ways and in other ways, it makes it more intense. Sometimes a mannerism that is so like Karl brings tears. Sometimes it is just doing things with a dog that is not Karl, a dog that requires that I change how I do things. And that brought back memories of the same thing when Karl was a puppy and it required that I changed how I had done things with Zack. It is all good and all part of the process. We learn to live with loss but there is always someone, some dog, some cat missing. We ultimately feel more joy in memory than in sadness but certain things can trigger sorrow as well.
As I experience more, I’ve learned to be ok with those times of sorrow, to notice and think about them and then go on. The more I’m in the woods with Bear, the more I feel the joy of Karl and of a new way of doing things.
Bear.
Outtakes
Lookout Pass on the MT/ID border.
Found the toy box.
The chair…
…so comfy!
Squirrels!!!