No hat for me.

Six years ago, I bought my house. At that time I was working in Law Enforcement, mainly nights. That left my wife at home alone with our oldest boy. Working in Law Enforcement I learned there is no alarm system or Security Company that is as good at protecting a house like a dog is. Nobody likes to mess with a dog. Therefore, I went to the local pound and found the perfect dog; a black lab, German Shepard, chow mix named Bear. He has the long hair of a chow, but the coloring of a Doberman. He was already house broken, knew basic commands like sit, and lay down. He didn’t always do them, but he knew what they meant. He was just over a year old at the time. The only problem with him was that he did not like black people. We don’t know what happened to him before we rescued him, but I do know that it took years of working with him to suppress this trait in him. However, he still occasionally displays this tendency. In general, he is a good dog.

Several years ago my wife got a cat she named Groucho, after Groucho Marx. It was a black cat with a white face and little black mustache. She said it looked like a Groucho, I however said it looked more like an Adolph. She won. Bear and Groucho were best friends. They would play together. Groucho would hide and wait for Bear to come in to a room, and then pounce on him. Bear would fall onto his back and let the cat beat on him. It was funny to watch since Bear was 5 times Groucho’s size. Unfortunately Groucho got sick, his urinary tract had a sandy build up. My wife was pregnant with Clone at the time and I couldn’t afford the $2,500 they wanted to fix the problem. Therefore, I had to have Groucho put down. Bear never was the same after that. He would wander around the house looking for his friend.

Then Clone was born, Bear started behaving strangely. He started tearing up the house. He chewed/clawed through two doors, Antique doors. He started breaking out of his room during the day and chewing up the house. We would leave him outside, but he would bark constantly. We had a couple of noise complaints filed against us due to his barking. That almost cost us a rather large fine. He also would escape from the yard. He would jump the fence if no one were home. Therefore, we tied him up using a chain. He would pull and pull on the chain until it broke. More then once he broke a chain meant to hold a dog that was 200 lbs; he’s only 50, while wearing a discipline collar. Therefore, we couldn’t leave him in the yard when we weren’t home.

Clone loves Bear, he likes to pet him and hug him. However, Bear does not like Clone. He wants nothing to do with him. I think that comes from an incident when Clone was younger and just starting to crawl. I was being a bad parent and was letting Clone pet Bear. However, Bear was gnawing on a rawhide bone. I knew better then to do that, but I wasn’t thinking. Bear nipped at Clone and my wife went berserk on him. Now you have to understand, my wife does not like dogs. I won’t say hate, but it is a pretty strong dislike. She likes cats. I hate cats. Yes, I hate them; I cannot stand the damn things. I used to be a sadistic prick and go out of my way to kill the things up until I was in my mid twenties. My wife likes to think I like her cats. I don’t, I just really tolerate them. My wife is on our third cat. I tried to keep from getting another one After Groucho, but she really wanted one so I caved in. So she really tore into Bear.

Bear has been getting progressively worse over the last couple of years. My wife’s patience with him wore out about 22 months ago. Mine has been wearing thin. I’ve been fighting to keep him, until last night. Last night Bear jumped the fence in our backyard. He attacked two of the neighbor kids that were riding through the alley on their bikes. I don’t believe he bit the kids, but he did give them one hell of a scare. Their father came to our house really upset, and I do not blame him. I’d be pissed if a dog chased my boys. This was the straw that broke the camels back. My wife was really mad. So I had to make a decision is it worth the continued property damage and fighting with my wife to keep my dog? I slept on it and I made up my mind.

I had joked for years now that when he died I was going to turn him into a hat to wear at the re-enactments, once he died. However, the dog has to be gone tonight. So tonight after work, I will be taking Bear to be put down. I don't think I would be able to make the hat, even if I had been serious. I will miss him; he really was a good dog.

UPDATE: This will be the last I post on this, at least for a while. It's done and I blame myself for the whole thing. He really just needed more attention and affection then I was able to give him. What cut deep was that at the pound they told me they would hold him for 10 days, if no one wanted him they'd put him down. However people rarely adopt dogs his age. They pretty much accused me of just trying to shirk my responsibilities. I'm also pretty sure that I'm the only one that will actually miss him and feels a loss. Even after all the trouble he has caused he was still by Bear-Bear. He watched after my family when I was gone, even if that meant crying to my wife that someone was on the front porch. He once took on a Pitbull that attacked Boopie. One time he tried to go through a window to protect me from a stranger. We later found out that stranger was a mental patient that had a habbit of attacking and sexually harassing females. I'm sorry Bear. Please forgive me.

I will never own another pet.