They Call me Bear

4-4-02 | Me

[Movemout]

I am not a big fan of vanity posts but I buried a good friend yesterday. His name was Bear and I loved him dearly. He wasn't quite five years old. Bear was the source of much entertainment in our lives. He never offended anybody and loved females without regard to their species. A friend of mine who used to work at the Grand Ole Opry once told me that Bear always looked like he had on a tux and was waiting to meet his next girlfriend. I loved the little guy. He was a giant amongst Yorkshire Terriers. He weighed a whopping 16 pounds but he was felled by renal failure, probably brought on from the bite of a deer tick and subsequent Lyme Disease. I honor his passing with this vanity post and offer you a poem that I wrote in remembrance:

They Call me Bear

My name is Bear, I roamed the world
With my friend called Minnie Pearl
We faithfully served our humans well
And guarded them, I’m here to tell
We chased the deer and squirrels too
And raced the trails Oh how we flew!

I marked the yard and barked in glee
When the bowl was passed to me
I chased the ball and let it go
(I know Minnie just thinks I’m slow)
I pressed my nose up to the pane
To see my friends who knew my name

I would talk they’d answer back
With barks and growls and that’s a fact
The cats, the dogs, the people too
They loved me lots because they Knew

That I was the Bear.

I plowed through snow like a mighty ship
I cruised the fields and feared no whip
I loved life and it loved me
My world was of serenity

The sun shone warm upon my pelt
No lucky dog has ever felt
As free as I near mountains high
As my life went racing by
My belly full, my sister near
Life for me held no fear

I leave this world with few regrets
I’ve had my say as do most pets
So shed a tear then smile with me
As I go to wait for family
I’ll miss your hand upon my head
And all the words you ever said

I’ll just be gone for a little bit
To prepare a place for you to sit
So I might lie at your feet
In a place of warmth and smells so sweet
Meet me at the Rainbow Span
And we’ll explore another land

Just you and the Bear

[Prodigal Daughter]

I'm sorry for your loss. My Bear akita entered our life 6 years ago, just showed up at our door. He left 3 years ago, victim to cancer. I sure miss him.

Visions Beyond the Veil, children's visions of Heaven, .pdf file, playing with animals, pages 38-41

[Movemout]

Thanks for your condolences. A Japanese friend of mine has an Akita. She was married to a WWII vet who died a few years ago. The dog's name is Rambo, my daughter calls him Rainbow, and he is fiercely protective of Toshika. Toshika weighs about 90 pounds with rocks in her pockets. He is a good guardian.

[Prodigal Daughter]

They sure are good guardians. I'm imagining your Bear running like a bear. He must have been very cute. Yorkshire terriers home page

[Piquaboy]

You have my profound sympathy. I lost my Akita two days after Xmas and still miss her very much. I awoke this morning from a dream where she had returned from Rainbow Bridge to see me. Great Poem!

[CJinVA]

Sorry about your loss. Dogs are truly "mans best friend".

My best friend Maddie has been at the Vets all this week. Shes a six-year-old black Lab. We noticed at the end of last week that she was drinking a huge amount of water and not eating any food. Took her to the vets on Monday morning. The blood work indicated a problem with her pancreas (sp). They took her off food and water and just have her on an IV during the day. I drop her off in the morning and pick her up in the evenings so that she can be home with us overnight. She's doing a lot better now. Her blood levels have dropped down to almost normal. The Doc thinks her getting into a dead animal or something might have caused this. Don't really know.

Really sorry about the loss of your best friend.

[Movemout]

I see you are a neighbor. The vet down in Middleburg said that she can work with almost any injury to any organ but the kidneys. Once they go that is it. I have another dog, Minnie Pearl, who got into some bad meat a couple of years ago. She almost died but they pulled her back from the brink.

[fellowpatriot]

So sorry to hear about the loss of your beloved pet.

We lost our 8 year old brittany 'Scout' almost 2 years ago.

He died from anti freeze poisoning. I took him to the vet but there was nothing they could do for him (by the time he started showing symptoms, it was too late).

I'll never forget that day. I left him at the vet's with plans to come back later and pick him up for burial. A friend of ours offered to get him. We were sitting on the deck waiting for him to arrive. He came walking up with a large black trash bag. My husband took one look at the bag and said "That dog is too big to be Scout". They looked inside and sure enough, what we had was someone's rotwieller.

I went from crying to laughing.

[Grit]

A beautiful tribute.

You can rest easy knowing that he is in the company of many excellent four-legged freepers, including Kyrie our 12 year old dobie.

[Movemout]

Thanks. Bear spent many an hour laying at my feet while I perused FR. I would read him articles from time to time. He loved it because I would throw in his name occasionally. He especially liked the cheese threads.