Bear

This is my golden retriever/black lab mix named Bear. He was the biggest of his litter and when we found out he was so big, what better name than Bear? It’s hard to understand the feeling of having a dog until you have one. You get to learn their likes and dislikes, you get to witness their emotions of excitement as you walk through the door after a long day or their sadness when they have to watch you leave. Even though they may not be your entire world. You are theirs. That’s a pretty huge deal.

Anyways, Bear is one of the smartest dogs I’ve ever met in my life. Ask anyone who’s met him. He not only knows the normal tricks like sit, stay, shake, roll over, lay down, speak—but he can sing on command. He’s pretty talented, actually. We found out about his talent a few years ago when my mom was trying to wake my brother up for school (which takes a lot of effort). She would sing “BROOOODYYYYYYY!” in a high pitched tone to try to obnoxiously wake him up. Of course that didn’t work. Then, we heard Bear’s tags on his collar jingle as he came up the steps and joined in with my mom. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

Now, that’s how Brody wakes up every day. Bear will howl and Brod will know that it’s time to get up and go to school. Even though Bear hates it when we leave for school and work, he knows we have to and he trusts that we’ll be home later. Every day before I leave I’ll say “Bear, we’ll be home soon! I love you!” and he’ll cock his head to the side and then bark like he completely understands.