I feel compelled to dedicate some time writing about Bear the dog. Bear came to us here at the ranch several years ago now. He originated somewhere up in the valley with a young family that couldn't keep him. They had young children and he was still an energetic pup that apparently knocked the kids down, and as those of you that are parents know, the kids' safety comes first. Bear is a Rottweiller/Labrador cross, so he has significant mass as a male dog.
From the city, Bear was relocated with a new owner, our neighbor, about a mile or two away to act as a guard dog. From what we are told, he was already a few years old when he was relocated south of interstate 8. He lived there for several years, but soon took to wandering in search of company. He eventually found us and our neighbors, both with several female dogs. He oscillated between the two of us, perhaps indulging in his "male" status and the admiration he was given by the "girls. He still returned home at this point, but was soon driven to visit us frequently as a result of one of our female dogs....not fixed.
It became a real challenge to let our dog out, because Bear would be camped out waiting for her. We would have to try to lock Bear in a horse stall, so Star the yellow Lab could go out a couple times a day. He grew wise to this and would steer clear of us in his pursuit. We used a horse halter at one point to control him. It took at least two to let Star out. Donald decided to lock him in our laundry room while Star went out. This worked a couple of times, although Bear was extremely leary of entering the house. Donald would spend the time petting him while Star went out. Eventually, Donald thought that this was the solution and went out to do some work with Bear in the laundry room and Star outside. When Donald returned, Bear had dug his way through the drywall next to the door, ripping the insulation out and starting on the exterior siding. The door trim was splintered. Star was lying outside the door waiting to go back inside and he knew she was there.
We tried to get the owner to take Bear, but Bear would run back, escaping from whatever containment was used; a regular Houdini. Bear, eventually adopted our family after his past owner beat him, mistakenly thinking he had killed a visiting toy sized dog. As it turned out the little dog had choked on a chicken bone and Bear had carried it to the owner. They assumed he had killed the dog. Bear never returned and has stayed with us ever since.
Bear especially enjoyed running with our other Lab, Moon. She was a chocolate Lab that would go hunting for rabbits or whatever lurked in the desert with Bear and our other neighbor's dog, Dozer. The three developed some rather advanced techniques for flushing rabbits and other rodents from pipe and holes. Here's a link to see Moon and Bear in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHxRVQBt0eQ They weren't very successful in this specific attempt, maybe because a member of the team was missing.
As we were putting the fencing around our house to contain Moon and some newly acquired pups, Bear discovered the cooler temperatures under our house. He was determined to have access to the underside of the house, but still have the freedom to roam. He promptly dug under the fence and allowed all of the other dogs access to their freedom. Unfortunately, the pups were never focused enough to stay with the older dogs and would distractedly wander until they were lost. We took several late night, early morning trips into the desert searching for them. We drove stakes into the ground where Bear would dig out or in, and had to invest in an electric line that ran the base of the fence. Late one night as Bear was digging in or out, he got the one shock that put an end to the digging for good. He now lives outside the fenced in area of the house. As the pups grew to size, Bear lost his reign on the pack. For his safety, we keep him separate from the Great Pyrenese. Zeus is now the Alpha male inside the fence, Bear is Alpha male for the rest of the property.
Before Bear learned his lesson, he let Moonie out one time to many. We have since lost Moonie, she drown in an irrigation ditch. Dozer still visits early in the morning and the two old men go through the motions of hunting rabbits. But they don't leave the property, and they don't really give it their all anymore.
Bear steals turkey and duck eggs and buries them in the horse stall shavings. He buries my horse fly masks, and I have yet to find one that I had custom made. He is innocently destructive, causing all kinds of extra work for us. He will smell a rabbit or something around a bale of hay, and he will rip into it and throw hay everywhere trying to get to whatever it was he smelled. He lies in the water wells under the trees absorbing most of the water so the trees get short-changed. He crawls into the horse water troughs to cool down for a bit, muddying it for the horses.
Bear spends the night running the property, barking at whatever is out there. During the day, he mostly sleeps unless someone comes to visit. He is intimidating looking. He has a docked tail, so there is no indication that he is wagging when strangers approach. He is lithe and silent, so he sneaks up on people. Several people that have come out to do different services at the ranch, ask if he is "okay." They are obviously worried that he may attack. I have been known to tell them various threats like, "as long as you don't have a criminal record, he will be fine. I don't know what it is about him, but he can always sense that." Or, "as long as you stay 5 feet away from me, he'll be okay. Just don't break that barrier or he'll become extremely protective and violent."
Bear has been bitten by rattlesnakes at least three times that we know of. He has developed quite a calloused nose from lifting metal pipe by sticking his nose in and using it as a lever. His ear swelled up one time and we drained it, but it has a rather lumpy-cartlidge feel to it now. He used to have to be wormed regularly, as he consumed so many jackrabbits and such. In his later years, he seems to be keeping clear of that diet. Maybe because his girl Moon isn't here to catch them for him, and he doesn't have the energy to do it himself. Winters are harder on him than summers. He gets very stiff and sore in the winter. He has been given old horse blankets for bedding some winters. Donald has been known to wrap Bear up when Donald returns late from work, and the next morning Bear will still be curled up underneath.
Bear has never been house trained and won't get into a vehicle. I am not sure what would happen if he needed to be doctored. We would probably have to sedate him to get him into a truck to transport him. He was never "fixed," so he continues to be a nuisance. I know that he fathered a litter to one of the neighbor's Heelers a couple years back. We feel guilty, but Bear really doesn't belong to us. He doesn't belong to anyone. He is a survivor.
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