Good Dog

He loves me. He communicates with me. He is often by my side. He is part of our family. He has a sense of humor. I could be talking about Mark here, but I'm actually referring to our dog Bear. This occurred to me early one morning as I was sipping my coffee and lamenting that I was up that early on a weekend.

Here's my train of thought: "Ugh. I can't believe I am up at 5 on a Saturday. But I'm glad that Bear was so insistent in waking me up. It's so great that he doesn't just go in the house when he needs to. It's really sweet how he nuzzles my hand and whines to let me know he needs something. I still can't believe how waited until we let him out to get sick that one time when he was a puppy. He's pretty amazing, actually. I never thought I would have a dog that brings me the newspaper. I thought that was just on TV. I should write a post about him so that I can remember this all someday..."

I started this post over a month ago, but just haven't gotten around to finishing it yet. In some ways, Bear is like our first kid; he came into our family 2 years before Karamea, and he taught us a lot about what it means to care for another life. We were there when he was born, since we were staying with my parents for three months before we bought our house. He is the last dog in the bloodline my parents started when they were showing Samoyeds, so it feels like he is family. He weighed 1 pound at birth, which is fairly large for a Samoyed pup...More on that later, though. I just realized how lengthy this post will be if I tell the whole story of Bear's life up to this point...

For now I just want to reflect on some of the things I love about Bear and also share a special video that my dad shared with me a few years ago that warmed my heart. I watched it again when I was looking it up to include in this post and it brought tears to my eyes. (Just a little disclaimer for those of you reading this at work or in public, *wink, wink*)

The lyrics and more about the song can be found at http://www.godanddog.org/ (If you don't read anything else in this post, just be sure to watch the video. I promise, it is worth the two minutes!)

Here are some of the memorable and sweet things that I love about Bear:

• He picks up the paper every morning, brings it inside, we hold it and he pulls the plastic off and he even goes and throws the plastic away!
• He plays games. When he was a pup, we trained him to gently hold things in his mouth and bring it to the other person in another room using the command, "Bring it to Mark!" (or Kendra, depending on who is giving the command) We used to play this game a lot and now when Bear wants some attention, he will bring one of us some random object (toy, sippy cup, remote).
• He has never run away. (Even though he has had the opportunity several times due to inadvertently leaving gates open.) The first time this happened, I went to the front door first thing in the morning to look for the paper and it was gone. I was surprised and then when I went to let Bear in the back door, there he was, with the paper, laying on the back deck! He had gone around the side of the house through the open gate, gotten the paper, and then come back! We were amazed and totally grateful because we lived near a fairly busy street at the time.
• He is tolerant and gentle with the girls. We knew the Samoyed breed is known for this, but seeing him with the girls and how patient he is just melts my heart. When Karamea was a baby, I posted a You Tube video of Bear and Karamea playing together. Every once and a while, I receive an e-mail that someone has commented on the video, and everyone is in consensus that Samoyeds are great with kids. He enjoys bird watching, going on walks, wading, playing in the snow, and eating with them.
• At night, he is persistent in waking me if he needs something, whether it be water or a quick trip outside. Even though it is a bummer to have my sleep interrupted by yet another creature, I am so glad that he doesn't just take care of his business inside.
• He paws his water bowl when it's empty to let us know to fill it.
• Before you start thinking that he's perfect, I'll let you know something about Bear that drives me nuts too...almost every time I let him out, Bear barks and chases his tail in circles. It sounds like it's not that big of a deal, but he's loud and it gets annoying. But I still wouldn't trade him for anything! Whenever I get home, he is always overjoyed to see me, no matter how weary and run down I am from my day. I can't think of too many others who jump up and down when they see me (besides Karamea and Kaylee...and Mark sometimes)