Bear's Story

Bear was given up by his owners because they didn't have enough time to spend with him. This awesome boy was already housebroken, trusted 100% in the house, great with kids, other dogs and knew his basic commands.

We brought him into our program and aside from a procedure check up, we didn't have to do anything for this sweet boy. He wiggled his way into everybody that he met's heart. We had him for a couple weeks when a couple in NY saw his face and just couldn't stop thinking about him.

After their application was approved, they began researching flights. A week or so later, Bear was on a flight home to his new family!

This all started with a co-worker telling me she was adopting a Yorkie off of Petfinder. She came into my office and we went on-line to look at the Yorkie. What link is directly above Yorkshire Terriers? Yellow Labradors. I knew I shouldn’t but I looked anyway and saw this poor yellow lab named Jake that had been starved, burned with cigarettes and then dumped on someone’s else property. I went home and told my husband about Jake. We decided to adopt him. Althea, our 11 month old yellow pup leads such a nice life. We felt it was important to take a dog that really needed a good home. We thought it would be great if we could give the life Althea was leading, to Jake. Well, Jake ended up being a foster failure. 5 more adoptive prospects later, I was on the Lab Board in the Rescue section and there he was. His name was Bear and he was 8.5 years old with the biggest brown eyes I have ever seen. I was in love. I e-mailed my DH, e-mailed Lisa at the Las Vegas Lab Rescue and the wheels were in motion.

Bear’s journey to us was not the pleasant "Gotcha Day" that we all thought it was going to be. It was traumatic, at best. It was awful and I was very upset. I was feeling very guilty for putting an older dog, who had never been crated, through a plane flight. I truly did not think of how awful this could possibly be for him. On the way home from the airport, my DH said to me "Every dog needs a home. His home is with us."

His transition in the house wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be either. Bear had really bonded with my DH and two days after Bear was home, my DH left for a week on business. Bear wasn’t real thrilled with that. It was a rather stressful time as it was pouring everyday and I was trying to take care of the house by myself with a very stressful full-time job, two dogs and a cat, none of whom were bonding real well with the other. Bear was growling at Ryan, our cat, who, in turn, starting peeing in his room and refused to come out for about a week. Something Ryan has never, ever done. Bear was requiring quite a bit of training and discipline. Thea wasn’t sure if the discipline was for her or not so she became a bit subdued. I felt awful and cried a great deal. It was a very trying time. I definitely went through the "what have I done" syndrome. But with a lot of patience, discipline, consistency and love, everyone is now doing wonderfully.

Bear LOVES to swim and has since taught Althea how to swim as well. She’s not nearly as proficient as he is. (I thought I was going to have to rescue her in 2 feet of water.) He doesn’t even need to have a ball thrown. He’ll just go out and swim around. So far, he has gotten to swim in Lake Ontario, Oneida Lake and Grafton State Park. He's met tons of people and seen lots of new places. Oh and if you have a tennis ball? You have his undivided attention. Even.Over.Treats! He will also try and sit on your lap any chance he gets. we have started him on Glucosamine to ease his hips a bit. Even after a week, I can see a huge difference in his running ability. He's way faster and more agile.

When all is said and done, Bear is probably the most gentle, affectionate dog I have ever come in contact with. Thank you to Lisa, Kim and Jill for all their help!