We adopted Bear from the Sonoma County shelter when he was middle aged. He was quite a handsome dog, mostly Chow with his black tongue, and not my choice. My son Shane picked him out. But we all loved him dearly.
I wrote this piece in 2008 and never published it:
Old Dog Teaches Me New Tricks
My dog Bear is probably around 11 or 12 now. We’ll never know because we adopted him just over 4 years ago. They said that he was between 6 and 8 years old but they didn’t know for sure. He never said. But I have noticed that in the past few months he is slowing down a bit, which is very difficult when a short walk takes 15 minutes because most of the time is spent sniffing. I don’t even call it a walk sometimes, it’s just a sniff fest.
I am thankful though that Bear still has an excellent sense of smell. His hearing has gone down a bit, as has his eyesight but he’s still functioning fairly well. All you have to do is say walk or dog, and he starts to get up, sometimes very slowly. Occasionally these days, he’ll arise to be holding his right rear leg up in the air and then hop around a bit like a 3-legged dog. I think that the leg either falls asleep or is too painful to walk on. I am sure that he has arthritis but when he hears the jingle of the leash, it matters not at all whether he has 3 or 4 functional legs. He wants to go out. Bear is incredibly lucky, as he gets 3 walks every day. In fact, when the family goes away we carefully screen our dogsitters to find out who will really take him out for his regular walks.
Bear lives for walks, and I am sure that Bear’s walks are helping us live better, which brings me to the new tricks that I am learning these days. The most important one, if I had to put them in order, is the lesson of slowing down. When you walk at such an excruciatingly (to me) slow pace, you have time to pay attention to everything around you. It’s as if the world is almost standing still, pretty much because I am not moving. But I get to examine the trees and notice gardens, in both back and front yards, depending upon which walk we take. Today I noticed that the huge squash plant that I’ve seen all summer now has a giant pumpkin-like squash on it, which is probably something being grown for a Harvest Fair entry.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: Late in 2009, Bear started to decline even more than what I’d written about here. His walks got shorter but he still wanted to go. That 15 minute walk turned into 30+ minutes. I said that when he no longer wanted to go for his walks that I’d know that he was done. From November until he departed in August, we took him for acupuncture and chiropractic treatments. I made him food, and he loved it. I think that he lived for his food when he never cared before. But his hind legs and back got too bad for him to walk much at all. His paws got calloused and his nails bled. He couldn’t get up and down on his own. Near the end, he fell down a lot and I helped him walk, like a wheelbarrow race.
On the morning of his departure day, Bear woke me up early and it was the first time all summer that I saw the sun rise. After he was gone, I fittingly saw the sunset, and then the beautiful full moon rise. Since then, the sun has mostly been shining. We had a few hot and warm days. And I take comfort in knowing that Bear had a good second half of his life with us. He was mellow but stubborn and independent. He didn’t freely give kisses but he showed us that he loved us with an occasional kiss. He will reside in my heart forever. But as my father said (see the blog post here), Life is for the Living. So I shall have to walk myself these days but far more quickly, taking time to incorporate the lessons learned from Bear: patience, persistence, perseverance and faith – that there would always be one more walk.
Melissa says
Hi Jill:
I am so sorry for the loss of your dear friend, Bear. He was a very lucky dog to be in your family. Three walks a day! Wow. You gave him a great second half of life by adopting him. Kudos to you! My thoughts are with you.
Sincerely,
Melissa Olsen
Janice says
Hello Jill,
I feel your pain also. I’ve lost a dear dog friend also, my best walking buddy ever, a few years back. For months afterwards I’d cry as I walked our usual paths. Now I carry my good memories of him with me while I walk. I have another dog now, a middle aged dog we rescued from a shelter and are giving a good second half of life to also. I hope your good memories of Bear will bring back your usual sunny spirit soon, when you are ready.
Frances says
I am very sorry to hear about the loss of your dear dog. Bless you for adopting Bear, especially because he was an older dog when you did so, and for giving him such a healthy and loving home.
Frances
Jerilynn says
Jill,
My prayers our with you. It is always hard losing a pet. It is wonderful that you gave Bear a good home for the second half of his life.
Jerilynn
Ines Kallmeyer says
Hi Jill
I’m so sorry to hear about Bear. He looks like such a handsome dog. I have had two beloved cats pass on while I was an adult and it was very hard to take. The sadness and loss are so real and lasting but will eventually lessen as your joyful and funny memories take over and bring you some peace and comfort. I’m glad someone sent you the Rainbow Bridge – I saved it when someone gave it to me and now I’ve given it to several friends who have lost one whom they loved. Take care!
Ines