Bye, Bear

Well, I am ready to talk about it. Bear had to have a new home. It made me really sad, but it was for the best. He is a really great dog, and it wasn't him...it was us. I was allergic to his beautiful yet plentiful brown coat. I also made the mistake of getting a puppy. I had read how Newfoundlands are one of the best dogs with children--and they ARE! He came from a home with two small boys and the mother in the home said he never hurt the kids and was really great with them. I am not sure how entirely true that is. He was certainly tolerant of their behavior, but being a puppy he still wanted to play and it was a little too rough for a 3 and 1 year old. His gigantic puppy playfulness scared them. I had to be on constant guard to make sure he wouldn't really hurt them. Or destroy something. In all his puppy glory he loved to chew on the kids' toys and grab food off the table. These adorable puppy behaviors combined with trying to keep up with Noah's turned wild behaviors was a little, shall we say, exhausting and stressful?? So, I had a dog that I spent a very large amount of money on (the actual total costs still make me a bit ill) was allergic to and scared the children. Great. I put an add on oodle to see what would happen. I started getting contacted by lots of people but I just didn't think they sounded like a good match for Bear. I wanted him to have the perfect family. So I started praying, and praying that God would send just the right family for him. The family he is meant to have forever. 15 minutes later I checked my email. While I was praying someone emailed me, and described her family. 4 kids (all much older than mine), they loved water sports, they have a big dog already and know whats involved in training big dogs. Stay-at-home mom so he wouldn't be by himself all day...I couldn't have designed a better match. I met them and kind of fell in love. I think Bear did, too. They took him home on Monday and I have seen his pictures on facebook (the mom in the family is so sweet, she is letting me keep in touch by facebook) and you can tell he just loves the kids in the family. I feel sad it didn't work out, but my heart is very glad that a family was made so happy by such a great dog. Maybe in another 10 years we can try again.