Yogi Bear, no not that one!

We had been dogless for a few years after Sophie went away. She was a good dog, the best I had ever owned. I suppose that she knew it was time to go and she went away, just disappeared without a trace one day and no amount of searching did any good. She was gone.

For a long time I just put it all in the back of my mind about Sophie, but I always missed having a dog. One day my wife and I started discussing the possibility of another dog. Not to replace Sophie, that is impossible, just to find another dog. I believe in rescuing dogs when possible so I started the search by going to the website of the Southeast Texas Humane Society in Beaumont, Texas. The shelter is only about a thirty minute from my home and I had adopted two dogs from there in my "past." I was looking for a small dog for a good house pet, companion and all that goes with dog ownership. While going through the postings I saw a big black and brown dog with the most wonderful eyes. He was listed as a Chow-German Shepherd cross breed. His name was Yogi Bear. I read his description and passed on to other dogs.

One day my wife and I made a trip to the shelter to look at some of the dogs I had seen online. We had decided to adopt a dog and make it a gift to our granddaughter. We were looking at a small dog that was of indeterminable breed, but very cute when all of a sudden my wife cried, "Mike come look at this one." I went over to the kennel and I said, "that's Yogi Bear." He had come to the gate of his kennel and was giving my wife the look I had seen in his picture. She said, "look at his eyes." It was the same look that I had seen online. His description said that he was a big happy go lucky fellow. We asked to take him out to one of the runs and they brought him out for us. In the run we found that everything that had been written about him was true. He had a great personality. We told the workers that we would consider Yogi but we would like to bring our grand daughter over and see how the two got along. That afternoon we picked Brooke, our grand daughter up after school and drove to the shelter. When she saw Yogi she was a little surprised at his size and hung back for a moment. It did not take long for her to fall in love with him. To make along story short, he was neutered, an adoption requirement, brought home, treated for heartworms which he had. His background was that he had been brought to the shelter as a stray with a collar that was so tight it had cut into his neck. The wound was mostly healed. The workers at the shelter told us that we had adopted Yogi Bear only days away from them having to put him down. They had kept him over the time limit because he was such a good dog and they wanted to take extra time in the hope that he would be adopted. Our vet, Dr. Dunn says that Yogi is part Rottweiller,not German Shepherd. He has the stocky body of a Rottweiller and the Chow is visible also, he has two black spots on the end of his tongue. His coloring is black, bown and a touch of red. Yogi is a handsome dog. We often get comments about his looks when we have him out and the staff at Dr. Dunn's office love him for his looks and personality.

Small dogs often do not realize how small they are amd will bark and attack larger dogs. Yogi Bear does not realize how big he is. His weight is in the 70 pound range and his strength is enormous. He does not realize how strong he is, if he decides to go it is all we can do to hold him back. He is heavy and he will sit on your feet or legs and it is like a stone is on you. He sheds terribly, he has to be brushed and the carpet has to be vacuumed often. Yogi Bear was not designed to be a house dog, but he is.

Yogi Bear is love in a dog suit. He will look at you with big brown eyes and you can read "I love you, please love me" in those eyes. Yogi will come to me and stay as long as I want to pet him or keep a hand on him, he loves to be touched. He will often sit between my legs when I am in my chair and lean against me and drop his head and push it into my legs, almost like a cat. Yogi loves us and we cannot do anything except love him back. He is as smart as he wants to be too. Yogi is a conniver. He can sit like a showdog when knows there is a treat available. Other times he acts like he has never heard the command "sit." He will often lay in places that put him in our way and remain like roadkill as we try to step over his bulk. Often we do not know what to do with him and we never know what we would do without him. He can be deadpan comical and he is so clumsly when he goes after a bouncing ball that we cannot help laughing at him.

Yogi comes to life when Brooke comes home from school, he loves her with all his heart and she loves him back and it is great to see them together. They weigh about the same but Brooke can control Yogi because he loves her and lets her. When he hears Brooke's mother drive in after work, he lies at the door looking and waiting for her to open it. He loves her too. When he hears his leash rattle,he gets excited, he loves to go outside. He could be a monster except he is too full of love.

At one point in Yogi Bear's life he was a throw away, he was nearly put down, the only reason being that the shelter was out of room and he was out of time. Someone else may have come along and seen him and taken him home, but I am thankful it was us. I believe that one day when it comes time for all of us to go that we will all cross the Rainbow Bridge and be united once more. Yogi bear will be at the head of the pack.