Bear the 3 Legged Wonder Dog

On May 13th Bear took his final breath and finished his battle with lung cancer.

He played ball right up to his final morning even experiencing trouble breathing. At 2 pm he fought his way upstairs to my office to show me he couldn’t breathe and he followed me to the SUV for what became his last ride as my beloved side kick to the emergency hospital. He went into cardiac arrest when we got there and knowing the 2 tumors in his lungs had increased I had to make the decision to let him end his suffering. The saddest day of my life I lost my child, my best friend, my everything. I have had Bear since he was born Feb. 14, 2010 we did everything together and he helped many people as a service dog for 5 years. After he lost his leg he inspired and encouraged many including myself to never give up and you can do anything you want. Now the hard part of my life starts going on without him to look up at me everyday with his big beautiful brown eyes saying how much he loves me. ok mom lets go!!! Miss you Bear!! May you RIP and still stay by my side in spirit because I know I need you.

Well Bear had an very eventful year and inspired many. He made it through the year cancer free and became a big inspiration to many and even a celebrity dog world wide thanks to our local TV interview new story they did on him that went global. http://globalnews.ca/news/2343091/bear-the-3-legged-wonder-dog-helps-calgarians-battling-health-problems/

Bear was recognized in October and made the poster child for ACTSS 2016 calendar for their calendar cover as well as the month of October and made guest appearances at all their fundraising events as well was invited to many events here in Calgary for Special needs and Special Olympic events. He has continued with much enthusiasm to work with his autistic children and his dementia patients he has been working with as a therapy dog for the last 5 years as well.

We have also been visiting with Cancer patients and lifting their spirits, with them saying they feel better for weeks after his visits.

December 3, 2015 we marked his 1 year Ampuversary and presented The Care Centre with a plaque with his picture , story and bells attached called Bear’s Bells and they are meant for all pets who finish their chemo treatment to ring the bells to symbolize the end of their chemo treatments. So far pet owners have been celebrating with these bells.

February 2 while we were getting Bear’s vaccinations done we noticed a new lump on his front paw, the vet did an aspiration and on the 7th it was confirmed the cancer has returned. We returned back to his oncologist and we have decided we will book him in for surgery and have the tumor removed before it get to big and if needed will once again follow up with chemo if needed. This boy has too much life in him and many more people to inspire and many watching over him and depending on him. We know he is a fighter and just not ready to put down his orange ball and let go of his time here on earth. So the ride begins again!!

Bear amazes me everyday with his progress and seems like his 4th leg was just a spare. He runs and jumps and plays ball just as fast if not faster than any other dogs at the dog parks. He is going to doggie daycare now once a month to socialize with dogs because he is getting too attached to me lol. Here is a video we did with hooking a go pro camera to a harness on his back at the daycare to give you an idea what it looks like being a Tripawd.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIrCzgXRh0M&feature=youtu.be

and one at the dog park  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb90OKvWoe0&feature=youtu.be

He has continued doing his therapy work and has been even more attentive with his patients he works with.

Bear was born on February 14, 2010 in a litter of 8 puppies. He was a twin to a sister and also in his litter consisted of 2 other sets of twins.  I was a breeder or American Chocolate labs and Bear’s litter was the second litter his mom Marley and Duke had. All puppies were very healthy and very active. At about 6 weeks they were one day exploring in the back yard and managed to find a citronella candle in the back yard behind the BBQ. Bear of course was the lead man and may have consumed more than the others. The next 2 days were 8 poopy explosions. All seemed to recover and at 8 weeks started going to their new homes. When I was down to 3 puppies Bear went into a seizure one day. I took him to the vet and explained the seizure as well remembered the citronella candle episode and wondered if perhaps because he ate more he may have had the seizure from the toxic chemical. (Hence why I mention the above story). The vet did blood work and found no toxic chemicals in his blood and kept him for the night to do some neurological tests. At 3 am he had his second seizure.  The tests didn’t confirm anything and I took him home the next day and was told if it happens again we could try putting him on epilepsy meds, as there are no tests to confirm if he has epilepsy. I decided that day I could not sell Bear or give Bear away as I didn’t want him to end up in a shelter or put down because the owner couldn’t afford his vet bills. Bear became our 3rd lab that day. A few months later sure enough he had another seizure and we returned to the vet and he started on phenobarbital medicine and every month had blood work done to see what levels were in his blood as he grew to adjust the dosage. After a year his levels were so low and he hadn’t had a seizure and the vet figured he had puppy epilepsy and may have just outgrown it and we weened him off the drugs and no seizures. We went away on a vacation and had 2 dogs at one friends and Bear at another and sure enough he had another seizure. My son took his meds we still had out to our friends and he was back on them until we returned a few weeks later and back to the vet. He stated we should try until he is 2 as at that time his brain is fully developed. That we did and at 2 we once again we weened him off and he had been off them since and no seizures. Yeah!!!  1st battle won!

Bear was a very patient and good mannered dog and was never a typical hyper lab and followed behind me everywhere I went. I decided to look into service work with him and we joined PALS Calgary and became a therapy dog. He was great with kids and adults and we started visits with patients with dementia and one day had a special visit with a daycare where there was an autistic child there. Bear seemed to watch this one autistic boy and we were about 45 minutes into the visit when the autistic boy came up and grabbed his leash and walked him to the other side and back and gave me the leash back and said dog.  The daycare staff awwed and I said what and they told me it was his 3rd word in the last 3 years he had been at their centre. I was asked to come back the following week and we did. The boy was informed Bear would be back and that day when he got there at 630 am he waited at the window until 10 am when Bear and I showed up. He took Bear as soon as we came thru the doors and walked him around the centre talking to him about all the play centres and what the rules of each centre were. All the staff was in shock at what he could say and made a video to show the parents when they returned to get him for the day. We started working with this boy and his family and accompanied the boy to doctor and dentist appointments and with him to places he was afraid to go to in the past.  He is now in a regular school and doing great. We continued with a few other families with autistic kids as well as a few other schools and care facilities. I found Bear picked the kids he would work with and soon god changes happened with these kids. We visited a home for autistic kids and after 3 visits he just didn’t seem to levitate to any of the kids so we decided to give other dogs a chance and we continued on with other places.

In July of 2014 Bear developed a lump on his front leg and we went to a vet and they decided to remove the lump. No tests were done as vet didn’t feel it was anything serious. November I noticed the lump was growing again and at a fast pace I returned to the same vet and he said ok lets book another surgery. I didn’t feel right and decided to get a second opinion and upon that visit the vet right away felt he knew what it was and felt we need to send for a biopsy asap. A few days later the worst news of my life the vet called and said he was right it was an aggressive form of Mast Cell Tumor Cancer and referred me to an oncologist. December 1st we met with the oncologist and she stated his best chance was to have the leg amputated and followed up with chemo. December 3 (next worst day of my life) Bear had his leg amputated. The next 3 days were so emotional because he cried all day in pain and I cried right beside him. He stayed in ICU for 2 nights and on the 3rd day a good friend that did Reike  came in with me and they brought Bear in on a stretcher and placed him down on a blanket on the floor and he cried and my friend went right to work with an energy healing session with him. In 30 minutes he was crying less and in 45 minutes he was sitting up and in 60 minutes up and walking and no more crying. He came home that night and I set up a mattress on the living room floor and that is where I slept beside him for the next 5 days. My friend returned each day to do a healing session and on that 5 th day Bear made it up the stairs and settled into his new bed location at the side of my bed.

One month has now passed since his amputation and he is running and jumping and playing ball like he was when he had 4 legs. We have made 1 visit to the dementia centre he visits and he got right back into his work mode and visited with a few patients.  He has become a bit more clingy to me but seems to be doing well. He had his 1st chemo treatment with no side effects. Vet is confident that Bear will be with us for a long time still.

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