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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