THE STORY OF BEAR'S DEN (cont.)

In February of 1995, much to Ken's consternation, I brought home a small, black puppy who had been wandering the streets of Sylmar. I named her Retro.

Retro

A friend had decided to buy herself a Bouvier in mid-summer of that year. Because I had fond memories of the dog from my childhood, I went with her. Well…we arrived at a rather busy and noisy kennel. The proprietor seemed to have dogs and puppies of all sorts of breeds everywhere. In a large pen in the front, there were several puppies who, we were told, were Bouviers, and a few of them were blond. Chubby, sweet-faced pups. We were introduced to a gorgeous blond Bouvier who we were told was a dog called BooBoo, the father of the litter of pups.

BooBoo

My friend wanted a girl and most of this litter already had homes, so we were asked to help bring out another litter, which were living in a run behind the house. The proprietor picked up 3 puppies and asked me to bring out 2 more to put them in the same puppy pen at the front of his house. The shyest little boy was terrified of humans and happily let go of his bowels all down the front of me. Everybody laughed. We spent most of the afternoon looking at and playing with the puppies. The kennel was a very busy place with lots of people that day looking at the little Bouviers. The shy kid, when someone asked to talk to him, would hide behind me while I was sitting in the puppy pen. He wasn't too sure he liked me either, but I guess I was a better alternative than the other humans.