Dog Walk Cut Short

The three dogs were at the front door in a flash, prancing with happy anticipation and eager for the evening walk. It hasn't taken Katie long to learn the evening walk routine, and she was right in there with Lady and Lucky, tail wagging, her whole body saying "Let's go, let's go!" The chill in the early springtime air added to their friskiness. And then we had cause to celebrate - Katie did her first good "sit" at the end of the driveway, albeit with a bit of encouragement.

Because of Lady's tendency to become overstimulated, several "pause points" have been worked into the daily routine. The dogs are expected to sit politely and wait for the command to proceed before meals, before going out a door, and at the end of the driveway before starting the walk. This helps Lady remain calm and encourages her to focus on the person who is in charge. So Katie is just learning this, and all three dogs had just been released from their end of the driveway "sit," when Lady suddenly erupted into an explosion of frenzied barking. Bear. 

It was climbing over the side fence. I didn't move at first, other than to pull Lady back in. Bears are fairly common around here, and they usually run away or climb a tree when confronted. But this one moved towards us. A retreat seemed prudent. We were walking back towards the house when I remembered a neighbor's warning about a huge mama bear with two cubs. He'd reported the mama bear tangling with our across-the-street neighbor's boxer a few nights ago. The boxer was lucky to escape the encounter with only a scratch. As this came to mind, I looked back over my shoulder and saw Mama's massive head coming over the hill. And then I did what you are absolutely not supposed to do - I ran.

We made it into the garage and got the door down without further drama. I didn't take the time to look back and see how far she pursued us, if at all. I'm just glad all three dogs were cooperative, and that Lady didn't insist on staying out there to do battle. What I didn't realize until getting back upstairs and looking out the window, was that Mama's two cubs had been frightened by all the ruckus and climbed almost to the top of a tall tree next to the fence. I watched, fascinated, for several minutes until noticing that they appeared stuck. Mama had her paws on the trunk looking up at them. Fascination turned to fear as we watched the cubs struggle on the high branches. Oh no. A fall from that height would surely kill them.

Who the heck do you call if a baby bear is about to plummet out of the top of a tree? I knew I'd seen stories in the paper of a bear being tranquilized and dropped into a net after spending several days up a tree in a public area. For lack of a better idea, I called the "non-emergency" city police number, which turned out to be of no help whatsoever. Fortunately however, the babies soon figured it out, with Mama's encouragement and support. And thankfully, I recovered my presence of mind enough to grab the camera. Many of the shots are blurry (were my hands shaking? light levels too low?), but you can still make out the sequence of events.

Here they are, waaaaay at the top. It's hard to tell how tall this tree is, 

but this photo was taken with a telephoto lens.

Mama goes up the tree and calls to her cubs. I imagine her saying

"Come on little ones, you can do it! Be careful."

The babies finally make it down to the crook of the tree (can you

make out their black fur?), so she heads back down.

But then she pauses. Maybe scolding them:

 "Don't play around. Come down right now!"

Okay, here they come. Whew!

They're so little! So cute!!

They look like little monkeys!

The End.

So thankful for a happy ending!!

(P.S. And thanks to Kim for the post title idea :)