Cute Story

This is a Bernese Mountain Dog. They're great family dogs, but like many large dogs, they burn the candle fast. Berners tend to live about 7 years. Some friends of mine (and yours, too, if you knew them) have Berners, a 9 year old guy named Darwin and a 5 year old girl named Patty. I don't know much about Patty, but Darwin has a personality.

He's getting old, and he's had his day in the show ring and out to stud. (Berners have über-regulated sex lives because of genetic hazards, and have to be bred under supervision by veterinarians. Maybe that's part of the story...)

Anyway, Darwin's mistress (we'll call her "Susan" to preserve her anonymity), slogging her own way toward Medicare, still has energy to burn and way too much time on her hands. She's inherited a dozen and a half teddy bears from another friend, and she's busy making teddy bear clothes for them — all eighteen of them. They'll be given away to really old folks at the Home, where dressing and undressing teddy bears for hours on end seems to be Good Therapy. (I'll let you know in about ten years when it's my turn.)

Darwin thinks they're puppies. He is, "Susan" says, smitten by bears.