A Golden by the name of Bear wrapped Tina and Richard in a bear hug of love and laughter when he entered their lives in May 2020. The paw-fect companion in the age of COVID, he not only makes them smile all day every day, but they enjoy making him smile as well.
Weaving himself seamlessly into their world, Bear proved to be the ultimate Velcro dog, shadowing Tina’s every move. When she’s doing her morning exercises, he joins her in the bedroom, napping while she works out. When she’s sitting at the computer, he settles on the floor of the office, and when she’s preparing dinner, he stretches out on the kitchen floor.
“Bear loves his routine,” she explains. “Up at 7:15 for breakfast (and meds) and a walk, followed by his first nap of the day. Mid-morning, he approaches me and places his head in my lap — his ‘time for a walk!’ signal – and off we go. Afternoons are less structured since he takes another nap and amuses himself with his peanut butter filled Kong whenever we go out. We eat dinner in tandem, then it’s time for our after-dinner-walk.”
He may be a senior, but don’t let this sweetheart know. As spirited as he is sociable, Bear simply loves to play. He and Tina play tug with his favorite rope toy and chase each other around the house. When she turns to run the other way, he stops short with his head held high as he looks for her, then gallops to catch up — winning every time. Partial as well to tennis balls (he doesn’t chase them, he just likes to carry them around), he also enjoys chew toys and squeaky toys.
“Since we spend much of the year in Massachusetts,” Tina says, “Bear has done some traveling back and forth to Florida. Surprisingly, he likes to position himself behind the front seats in the wheel-well instead of in the back of our SUV where he would have more space. But it makes it easier for us to reach back and check on him, while, for his part, he’ll occasionally place his head on the armrest between our seats to get a little loving. We stop at motels along the way and, because he’s so easygoing, he has no trouble adjusting to the one-night stays. As long as he’s with us, all’s well.”
Imagine Bear’s delight when, last fall, he discovered snow! To say he loved it would be an understatement. He reveled in rolling around in all of that cool whiteness, digging up his buried ball and even attempting to catch a snowball. What wonderful new adventures! He also enjoyed exploring the woods behind Tina and Richard’s house. So many sniffs, so little time.
While Bear does have some medical issues, they don’t keep him from doing what he loves. In fact, when Tina and Richard adopted him, they knew he had a seizure disorder that, thankfully, the medications have kept in check. During the summer, though, he was on a rabbit chase and broke off a nail on his paw. Ouch! And all that blood! Off the family went to their Massachusetts vet for treatment. And Bear being Bear, bounced back quickly. Then, more recently, they learned he had some arthritis (given his age, it wasn’t a surprise) and possible allergies.
“Overall we feel so lucky to have met Bear and to have him in our family,” Tina concludes. “He’s made such a huge difference in our lives. Many thanks to everyone at GRRMF for giving us the gift of Bear!”
