Behr’s mom here. I’m borrowing “little” Behr Behr’s computer while she’s asleep. Shhhh. Whatever you do, don’t wake her up, please! It’s finally calm around here while she’s napping, and I need the peace and quiet!! Those of you who know Behr Behr personally will totally understand. Those who don’t know her personally will have to just imagine what it’s like living with a wild bear cub in your house. No kidding.

Anyhow, Kathryn, of 4urpets fame, and Pedro, of Vote for Pedro, have issued a challenge for the scariest teeth photo from the world of dog blogdom. No problem; I have just the perfect photo!!! This one is going to be the most bizarre, for sure!

Amazing bat imitation, isn’t it?

This is what Behr Behr does sometimes when we put her in her crate while we are at the dinner table, so that she’s not getting into anything and we can eat in peace. (the crate is within view of the table) She lays down in her crate, teeth resting on the bars, just making weird faces at us. Heaven only knows what goes thru her mind while she’s doing this!! I wish I knew sometimes. It does make us laugh, tho, and laughter is good for the heart. It’s one of the many reasons we love our little Behr Behr.

Behr Behr’s mom. 

It was 105° outside today. Whoever named the hot weather we are getting the “Dog Days of Summer” had a weird dog. Not only that, but their crazy dog is here too early. Ever since I was born in October, the weather has been great outside, but not now. It’s waaaaaaay too hot for this puppy!! I go outside to go potty and then hurry back inside to hang out in the air conditioning again, like any sane puppy would do. Not only that, but if I hurry back inside, I know my mom has a cool snack waiting for me, but more on that in a minute.

I was wondering about this dog that the “Dog Days of Summer” was named after, and why he liked hot weather, so I looked it up in Wikipedia. Yikes!!!! They’ve made a huge mistake!! They said that it was named this because of the Greeks and Romans thought that the Dog Star, named Sirius, (the brightest star in the Heavens), was angry and caused the hot weather. That’s simply NOT true. I know this because Sirius is my fur dad, and he’s extremely nice and wouldn’t cause it to be hot outside at all. So, they are all wrong, and they should apologize for saying mean things about my dad and then take the hot weather back. By the way, speaking of my dad, he really is a star, and has a bunch of championships and titles.

So, about the cool snacks my mom makes for me. She takes a Kong toy and fills it with yummy stuff and freezes it for me. YUM!!!! She takes fruit, low sodium chicken broth, and veggies and blends them in the blender to make a thick smoothie, which she pours into my Kong toy. {she fills the tiny hole in the Kong with peanut butter} She decided to use the extra heavy duty Kong because I… um… “accidentally” tore my “Fill N Freeze” bones up. My favorite popsicle so far is blended broth, banana, and zucchini.

I’m drooling now, just thinking about how good it tastes! Maybe the hot weather has it’s good side after all.

Behr Behr, daughter of Sirius. The good Sirius, who likes cool weather.

Week 3 of the siege at the bear refuge. I’ve been feeling like a hostage in my own home! I sure hope the vet releases me to play with other puppies soon before I totally run out of toys to tear up. Now all I have left is a couple of Kong toys, and they’re getting pretty boring. Hopefully mom will hurry up and get some of those toys for the zoo animals soon, ‘cause I need something more challenging to do. Grrrrrrr. See, I really AM a she-bear.

For anyone who might have been wondering, here’s the scoop. I guess everyone started getting alarmed because I was shuffling with my back feet, sometimes even dragging my toes a bit. Gosh, I mean, maybe I was just feeling lazy or something, you know? So, once again, Mom and Dad were praying for a miracle for me. I wonder how many miracles I’m allowed to have?

Anyhow, they did x-rays to see if I was developing something called wobbler’s, even tho I wasn’t wobbling. The x-rays looked great. Hopefully I won’t need an MRI, either. As if that weren’t enough, my liver enzymes have been running 6 times the upper limit of normal (translation: NOT good). I was starting to develop some other symptoms that might indicate either liver failure or Addison’s disease, so I’ve had lots and lots of stupid tests, and lots of trips to the vet’s office. At least they feed me and play with me, so they’re not all bad. I never get to play with other puppies there tho, so that’s no fun.

GOOD NEWS!!! I guess I got another miracle. (have I hit my limit yet?) Now my liver is totally normal, and the test for Addison’s came back negative. Woo Hoo!!!!!!! All I have to do now is stop shuffling, and everybody will be happy. If it’ll get me out of confinement, I’ll give it my best try.

So that’s the update and good news from the bear refuge.

♥ Behr Behr, the bored she-bear. Grrrrrrrrr. Rip, shred.

I just want to say “Happy Father’s Day” to the best dad a puppy could have!! Thanks for playing with me, feeding me, and taking me fun places! I’m glad you adopted me.

Look how much I’ve grown! Here’s me with my Dad when I was a little pup, and a picture of me with Dad in the car last week.

♥ Behr Behr

Greetings from the  BEAR  REFUGE.

In case you didn’t know, my name, Behr, is German for “little bear”. Hmmmm. I’m growing up into a big bear someday, so I sure hope they don’t change my name when I’m not little anymore! I try real hard to live up to the name “bear”, too! Grrrrrrr.

I’ve been really, really bored lately. I haven’t really done any fun things to write about, either, although Mom and Dad are supposed to take me somewhere with LOTS and LOTS of great danes tomorrow. Yippeeee! We are going to a really big dog show that is only for great danes, although I’m not going to be in it myself. I will get to hang out and hopefully meet lots of other danes and see what it’s like to be at a show, tho. Mom and Dad put my showing on hold for a while until the vets finish running tests on me. I sure hope they don’t find any thing really wrong, tho, and that I can go back to playing and having a normal puppy life soon. More on that when I find out.

SO, meanwhile, I’m having to “rest more”, which in puppy language means other than walkies, I’m just hanging around the house totally bored silly. Mom said our home was a bear refuge for now. I had to look up the word “refuge” ‘cause it was a new word for me. I guess a refuge is a place where wild animals live to stay protected from any danger or stressful things. I take that as a compliment, being called a “wild animal”, that is, so I guess a bear refuge is a good thing. Well, at least for a little while.

I’ve grown up enough that I don’t tear up stuff around the house now, just toys. I even got a toy that was supposed to be strong enough for real tigers, but believe me, it was no match for this wild bear!! It was a Tuffy’s “Mega Ring”,

made with 3 layers of industrial grade luggage material, covered by 3 layers of PVC and then 1 layer of fleece, all held together with 7 rows of stitching. I ran around with it for a while, and then within 45 minutes I had pulled it apart. Unfortunately, Mom took it away from me, right when I was really starting to have fun with it. Here’s a picture of my handiwork. I’m pretty proud of how nice this toy looks now.

Since this lasted me longer than most dog toys, I decided that maybe I should get on the ‘net and find some more toys made for tigers and bears. I found a website that has toys for zoos and refuges, so Mom said maybe she’ll buy toys from there instead of the pet store. We’ve been looking thru the wish lists made by other wild bears and lions to get ideas of toys for me. What a great idea! We’ll turn this place into a serious wild bear habitat before long if I get my way.  I can hardly wait!

♥ Behr Behr, tiger tough, with a teddy bear heart.

I was actually getting excited about becoming the world’s first sign spinning Dane, so I got up early to practice. Hmmm. Where would I get a sign to practice with? Oh, Iknow!

My parents have this silly rule that when they don’t want me to cross an imaginary line (like out of my crate or into a room), they say “no dogs!” and draw a line with their hand. You know, the rule is ok when they ask me to stay in my crate with the door open, or maybe out of the bathroom room or something (although I do like to get in there and snag the toilet paper). I guess I can handle that. BUT, when they tell me I can’t be in the kitchen where all of the food is, I say, “no way!!”

I talk back to them, sneak in, and pretend I didn’t hear them so I can be in the kitchen where the food is.

Anyhow, since I don’t like their silly “no dogs allowed” thing, I chose that sign to practice with. Here I am running around the yard with the sign.

I jumped up with it, spun around, and did a couple of cool tricks. Things were going well.

Then I got to thinking about how much I dislike them keeping me out of the food filled kitchen, and it made me mad. Grrrrrrr. So, I kinda “accidentally on purpose” like tore up the silly sign.

Then I remembered how much I LOVE to chew on sticks, and, well, you can guess what happened to the stick.

Maybe I won’t become the world’s first sign spinning Dane after all. It’s just too tempting to eat the signs and the sticks. Oh well. I tried.

♥ Behr Behr, the sign eating Dane.

Ok, so maybe I’m in trouble again. I don’t know which of my many gymnastic moves got me in trouble this time, but it did. It’s just that I’m so darned athletic that I can hardly contain myself and I’m always experimenting with new moves. I leap, I jump, I twist, I flip, I do somersaults, I can pronk (see previous post) and you should see my zoomies! They’re lightening fast! My mom and dad just don’t appreciate my amazing talent, that’s all.

I’m even getting a great education in the process, as I learn all the things that vets can do for puppies. Did you even know that there are radiologists for dogs? See how much I’m learning?

So now my mom said I need to get a job because of all of my vet visits. She got this dumb idea by reading about Jonesy and Tinky, and their mom trying to get them a job. Thanks guys; you’re no help.

While Mom and Dad were driving me around in my car, I was looking out of the window when it hit me!! There are humans on the streets wearing silly costumes, and others spinning signs all around them in funny ways. (see video) I guess they’re advertising for businesses or something like that. Does that guy ever look like a fake dog, or what??

Well, gosh, I have a dog costume on all the time, and I can already do all kinds of flips and stuff, so what if I learned to do them with a sign in my mouth? I think it’s brilliant! I could be the world’s first sign spinning dane!!!

So, let me know if your company needs a sign spinner that looks like a dog, ok?

Sorry, gotta get back to practicing now.

♥ Behr Behr, the spin doggie

Most of the time, I tell you about my activities, mishaps, and fun things that happen in my life. I guess I haven’t told you much about my personality or favorite things. Sorry about that.

A few of my favorite things are:

My moose toy (absolute favorite!!!!)

Mom can hide Mr. Moose anywhere in the house and tell me to go find him, and with lightning speed I race thru the house and hunt him down. I tear out after him so fast I knock things down that are in my way accidentally sometimes. I’m a really good moose hunter. Actually, I can find several of my toys, by name now. It’s a game we call “find it” around my house.

My Zebra Pillow. It’s soft, like Mr. Moose, but I’ve decided that I like the zebra so much that I take it to bed with me and use it as a pillow. I don’t chew on the zebra much at all, since I like it better as a pillow. (I do tend to tear everything else I own up tho…)

The zoomies!!!! I love to run as fast as I can whenever I get the chance. For whatever reason, my parents aren’t always impressed with my turbo-charged zoomie runs. I think they’re pretty cool, tho.

Air conditioning (or fans). Mom and Dad turn on the A/C in the car, aim it at the front seat arm rest, put a pillow there for my head, and I’m a happy camper. I don’t care how long of a drive we are on, as long as I’ve got my A/C and pillow. It also means my head is next to their arms on the arm rest, so that makes it extra snuggly.

Digging for buried treasure. I used to dig plain ol’ holes all the time, but that got boring. Now I’m fascinated with tree roots. I love to dig them up and pull them out of the ground to chew on. It’s like hunting for buried treasure!

Watching myself drooling water. Yep, you read that right. Almost every time I drink water from my bowl, I walk over to a mirror we have that’s my height and just watch the water drip from my mouth. I think it’s pretty funny. It’s the only time I drool (other than while waiting for meals when I’m super hungry). Sometimes when I’m in the house and bored, this is how I entertain myself. Back and forth from the water dish to the mirror. Mom keeps trying to catch this on video, but I won’t let her. When I see her sneak up with the camera, I stop and look at her with that look that says, “what?” like I don’t have any idea why she’s there.

Playing cops and robbers with Mom and Dad. In case you are wondering, I play the robber, they are the mean ol’ cops. I am REALLY sneaky about this one. I silently, with much stealth, work to steal things right near them without them ever catching me. They say I’m like a pick pocket or something, whatever that is. I have actually stolen handkerchiefs out of Dad’s pocket. Maybe that’s what they mean. My favorite thing is to steal socks, so they have to hide them from me. I discovered that sometimes they hide them in the dirty clothes hamper, so they can’t outsmart me on that one! Ha! I like to steal anything that is soft and small enough to fit in my mouth, ‘cause that way it doesn’t make any noise when I take it. I think it’s quite an accomplishment if an 88lb. black great dane can sneak by them and steal something without them catching me, especially since they’re on to my game.

My greatest accomplishment so far? Stealing the felt pads off of the feet of chairs they are sitting in…WHILE they are still in the chair! This one takes lots of patience. I do it a little bit at a time, waiting for them to move a little bit and shift their weight in the chair while I give it a little tug. Eventually I get it. Always amazes them.

Pretending I’m a gazelle. I just jump up off the ground with all 4 feet at the same time, still moving forward, like a gazelle does. Dad said this is called “stotting” or “pronking”. You can watch a video of an antelope pronking on this website:

http://encarta.msn.com/media_461542639/pronking_springbok.html

(Note: I think you have to either watch it with Internet Explorer, or have Firefox configured to operate in an IE like environment) Maybe someday my mom can catch me doing this and video tape it for you. I’m kinda unpredictable, tho, and only do it suddenly when the urge strikes and I’m feeling particularly energetic. One time, when Dusty’s mom came over, I got the zoomies and every time I ran by her, I pronked. (if you can use the word that way)

So there you go. Don’t you feel like you know me a little better now?

♥ Behr Behr, the moose loving, totally cool, sneaky, pronking pirate

I posted a “temporary post” way back in March, called Pretty in Pink, with promises to return to it at a later date. Long story, but I’m just now getting back to it.

Recap: My blog dog friend, Frankie, was sooooooo generous in sending me a beautiful pink vest as a gift. Right when mom was taking my first photos in it, her camera died.

Now that she has a new camera, she has tried and tried to catch me holding still with my pretty vest on. As soon as she’s not looking for a second, or she lets go of me, I move. I guess I’m always thinking of what I can get into next, and before I know it, I’ve forgotten that she told me to hold still for a moment, and I’m off to explore again. Honest, I try, but I just keep forgetting to hold still.

So, we’ll just post some photos of me on the move with my vest on. Fortunately, her new camera is pretty high speed, or we wouldn’t even have these. You should see some of the ones we aren’t using, tho. I think they’re pretty funny.

So, Frankie, once again, THANK YOU!!!!

♥Behr Behr, the pink blur.

By the way, if you look at how the vest fit me in the original post, and how it fits now, you’ll see how much I grew in those weeks

I’m attracted to moths. I love just staring at them.

I can’t figure out what in the world they are doing flying around our lights outside night after night. It’s like they have the zoomies or something. They fly around and around the light, then they crash into it for whatever reason (are they blind, or what?), then they fly around it again. They do this all night long. After wearing themselves out flying around our lights, they sleep all day, so they can get up at night and do the same thing all over again.

Don’t they have anything else to do, or is this how they spend their whole lives?

Just things I think about.

♥Behr Behr , the Observer

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