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| Name: |
Bear E.
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Age: |
Five years old
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| Gender: |
Male |
Breed: |
Cocker Spaniel |
| Home: |
Gold Hill, Colorado, USA |
After
losing her longtime canine companion, my mother was contacted by a
friend who works at an Animal Shelter with an alert about a big black dog
named "Daisy". We hurried down to see Daisy, but much to our dismay, Daisy
had already been adopted. We were lured to the canine holding area and
were immediately drawn to a little snicklefritz of a cocker who had been
picked up in a local park the month before. "You can't help but fall in
love with him," she said after less than a minute. He was wilder than a
March hare and the bane of our cat's existence. Nonetheless, Bear E. has
revealed three strong characteristics: he is playfully engaging,
discerning, and a team player.
A few feel he must have been a short stop in his previous career. He loves
to throw his tennis ball to people, engaging them in a robust game of
fetch. For this he has earned the nickname of "B.D", which stands for
"Ball Dropper". He is very discerning with his tennis balls, careful to
select a specific ball (out of literally dozens) to play with. If we fake
a toss and exchange the ball he has chosen with another, he refuses to
fetch it and will wildly search for "the" ball. He is also very careful to
select one or two tennis balls in which to strip down to their bare rubber
as you can see in the photo. The most surprising part about Bear E. is his
ability to work as part of a mouse catching team with Princess Mahli, our
cat who, after three years, finally decided to pretend to tolerate him.
Twice now within the past year she has cornered a mouse, then chased it to
the open where Bear E. will join the chase and capture it. The first time
he dropped the captive mouse into a waiting mouse-transfer container; the
second time he carried it outside and released it on cue! Like my mom
says, "You can't help but fall in love with him."
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