Little Bear

I took Little Bear to the vet today for a nail clip and to get a bump checked out that I found on him when I was moving my hand down his side and found a lump. He has been wonderfully healthy and I have made a steady intention of keeping him in the utmost of good health. He is a great little kid. He does so many cute things. When he yawns, he'll make a big yawn with kind of a funny squel in it. It's so cute. He and I read each other. I swear he's telepathic. He can read our body language, vocal tones and some words. I spell it out to Greg now when I asked if Greg wants to take Bear for a walk with me. I think he's reading the body movements we made, perhaps our intentions and probably because many of the times when we spell it out, he gets to go on a walk.

After his dinner, he will stand in front of the television and gaze at Greg and I. What he wants is a walk. It is profound that he as a member of another species has figured out what to do to get his caregivers to take him for a walk (which he obviously enjoys). He is the most silky little boy ever. Born in Alaska, he went somewhere for his first home and then I saw him at the Anchorage Animal Control and he was such a cutie; plus he kissed me through his kennel and I took him out for playtime in the Animal Control's play area. He loved playing with a tennis ball and when he would pass me as he was running with the ball, he would lick me (somehow) at about the same time. He was approx 5 months old at that time. Adorable. Of course, he was a wild child in my car on the way home. The shelter had told me that they had identified him as a very large dog; he turned out to be a 70 pound black labrador. We named him Little Bear.

He has gone with us to trips to Taos, Ruidoso and other locales. He loves to ride in the car and keeps chilled out in the back seat. You can't get any better than he is. When he was about 3 or 4, we moved to New Mexico. We had been seeing a vet in Anchorage about Little Bear's back knee needing an operation. We were referred from our vet here to a specialist orthopedic surgeon in Albuquerque who put his knee back together along with some screws and moveable parts. I kept Little Bear tied to me literally for over six weeks. That was the surgeon's instructions. He healed very well. From that time onward, he has run and played with abandon.

For I would venture to guess, for 88% of the time that Little Bear has been in our lives; we have bought him the best organic food that money can buy. Having been through other foods with our dog, Sugar; and seeing that despite being labeled as the vet's special food; our dog had severe liver problems possibly cancer. The vet expertise in Alaska was lacking. I never fed that kind of food again. Somehow, I wasn't shocked when the name of the food came out on the list of foods that contained a poison in China from the base food origination point. That was the 2nd evidence against this particular specialty food. I don't look twice now, if we need to pay $2.40 a can. What price good health?