Hi Leah,

It has been almost a year since we adopted Bear and I have just got with technology to download some photos of him. I thought you might be interested to know how he is doing. One photo is outdoors camping and the other is of him eating, with his ball close at hand. He also likes to lay down while eating his meals.

You can see from the photos that Bear has flourished here with us . He now weighs about 70 pounds; he was around 50 or so pounds when we first brought him home. He loves to go outdoors, but when we first brought him home we had to go out with him in the yard and play with him and his ball. And his balls are his best friend. He takes it everywhere. He gets along great with our children and their friends, although he did nip at the friends for a little while.

We did almost lose him twice. The first time was when he jumped the fence in our backyard (which is about 4 feet high) into woods. I think he went after a rabbit or squirrel. Fortunately a little while later I found him. The second time was last summer while we were camping. He was on his leash and we came back from a morning walk. There happened to be a rabbit at our campsite and Bear decided to take off after it, leash still attached. We thought for sure he was gone but because of the leash he got caught up in the bushes and then was whining to be found. So we do make sure to keep close eye and hold on him now when we are camping, particularly if there are other animals around.

Bear appears to have adpated well with us. Thanks for your help.