Page 18 - DoggieRescue E-Magazine January 2022

18 JANUARY 2022 DOGGIERESCUE.COM MAGAZINE

ADOPTING

BEAR By Luis De Florio, his Dad

We are just so happy with our decision to finally adopt Bear, we just love
him to bits. On the one hand I am not surprised that Naja and I adopted Bear
and on the other the synchronicities and eventualities of certain things are
intriguing. It almost makes me wonder; “How could we have NOT ended up
with Bear?!”. It’s as if Life tends to push in a certain direction and particular
events have a certain gravity that inevitably paints a certain picture all of its
own. The picture that I see is of a beautiful Bear that has joined our family
and adjusted with ease and grace into our daily routines. He’s a smart boy
and he has made a very easy transition to fit with our family and our life and Catching up with our January
at the same time adding his own cheeky dynamics of his own! 2020 cover boy bear.

It just happened that Naja (my partner) had cautiously bathed Bear on his
arrival at the shelter (in 2017) from the pound (as he was technically a wild
dog that had not been handled much in the past). He had lived outside as a
guard dog in his previous home with his girlfriend (Koda). He was not easy to
handle and just the simple task of putting on a lead or a harness was a scary
endeavour. But after a lot of gentle bonding and getting to know Sir Bear he
became Naja’s absolute favourite dog at the shelter!

The time that we saw him adopted to his previous home, I knew
somehow he would eventually be living with us! It was only a matter of
time. When Bear was returned to the shelter it was like he came knocking at
our door with a second chance; not often is one spared a second chance and
thus it only became clearer what we needed to do even if it took us a while to
realise it. We started by first taking Bear on outings with our dogs Drake
(small Jack Russell x Foxy) and Bundy (Foxy x Chihuahua now deceased)
so that he could have some time away from the shelter. We were able to
walk them together peacefully and thus followed many fun-filled days of
doggie outings! Although Bundy was a little old lady she had no problems
telling Bear off with a growl and nip of his heels if he got too close! Bear
would always ignore this or respectfully remove himself. Naturally this
progressed to us considering fostering Bear so we tested to see how it would
work out by taking Bear home a number of times. Once we were sure (about
what we already knew deep inside) we took the plunge and adopted Bear!
Bear with Bundy & Drake
After living with Bear for some time we have discovered zoomies in a split second! We never tire of his silly side,
not only is he regal and beautiful (we often get his calm and seriousness makes you crave his attention.
complimented on his looks by people when we are out) I am impressed at how Bear is able to ignore Drake
but his silly side has been coming out. He never angers when he has his grumpy old boy Jack Russell moments;
when I give his soft fluffy tail a good yank and his a hot temper combined with rocket fuel and a tiny stature
features go from majestic hunter to goofy tongue out that perceives itself as large as the largest of dogs!