Jaclyn Banash

Melissa Blayton & Payton

Jennifer Breedlove

Sarah Deters &

Amanda Harris
(Three Dog Bakery)

Dennis & Terry Garberg

Betsy Green &

Suzie Swyden

Kevin & Jessica Kietzman

The Shih Tzu Mafia

Andria Lea

Leslie Goldhahn &
Darren Mark

Denise McCleary
(Pom Pom Squad)

Laurie Menendez

Jennifer, Ethan, Jack & Tommy Murphy

Subashini Nadarajah

Steve Nuss &

John Matthews

Elizabeth Pendlebury
(Team Foxy)

Karli Ritter & Chris

Will & Tristan Roske
(The KC Auction Co.)

Jo Marie Scaglia (The Mixx)

Jen & Dan Scott (nightlifekc.com)

Bernard Shondell
(Team Charlie)

Drew Six & Miki Jarrett
(Drew6 Band)

Diane Southwick &

Scott Cotter

Tony Vinardi

Gretchen Wagner
(Doggie Style Bowtique)

Krystal Zeh

Bear

canine-mate of Rita Cortes

Bear lived 15 wonderful years and left us in February 2009. She gave lie to the notion that dogs do not experience complex thought. Bear was an awesome pup: she was independent, adorable, loving, clever, and the leader of the pack.

A Life Well Lived

It was the time for a dog. I had a spouse, a yard and a house; in other words, a stable life. She was scrawny and thin. She was barely a year old and she had already had a litter of puppies. Where ever she had been before, she had suffered. The hair on her ears would cover the fly bite scars but the scars themselves would never grow new hair. She looked up at me from the cage at the pound and only asked for a chance. I took her home.

We only kept one thing from her former life, her name Bear. I'm trying to imagine just how cute a puppy she had been, a roly poly black and white bundle of fur. She was smart and so fast. She terrorized the bunnies and squirrels at my in-laws huge back yard, tearing out the back door in a race to beat the rabbits to the fence or the squirrels to the nearest tree. But her favorite method of hunting was to rely on her natural camouflage to lurk in the shadows underneath the big black walnut tree. The squirrels couldn't see her in the deep shadows but Bear could certainly see them coming down the trunk. By the time they did see her it was too late. Even in the winter, when her ground cover disappeared she still sat watch, ready to launch herself off the deck like a torpedo. Winter was her season. She adored the snow. And why not, once she was on a decent diet and got plenty of exercise her coat filled out into massive two layer insulation system. She would submarine her snout in big wet piles of snow. She was an incredibly patient dog. She had to be since my camera was always pointed in her direction. She became my favorite model for our holiday cards.

We found the perfect weekend adventures in the enormous dog park not far from our house. Acres of unfenced pasture, woodland and lake to explore, sniff and roam. It was here that Bear developed her "Mad Dog Run". She would suddenly seem to take leave of her senses and run with fearless abandon, tongue hanging from her mouth. Just when I thought she might run into a tree or another dog she would cut sharply and avoid the obstacle. It was an expression of joy that was distinctive to Bear and was always guaranteed to make me smile. Her reward was always a dip in the lake. She wasn't a water hog like my other dogs but she would go into the water just to cool off.

She seemed to get along with most other animals. Maybe too well in the case of my in-laws elderly Siamese cats. I'm not sure what Bear had in mind but all we saw was Bear dragging one of the cats down the hallway by the scruff of her neck. We added other dogs to our little pack yet in attitude Bear remained an only dog. Yet time was gaining on my little black dog. Our trips to the park took longer as she tried to keep up. Her hips started to falter. Her eyes and her hearing. Yet she still tolerated my obsessive need to chronicle her life. Why wouldn't I? She had given me so much. Love, joy and laughter. An endless amount of hair. Several squirrel and rabbit carcasses. Kisses and licks. The most reliable alarm clock a person could have.

Many people often joke that when they come back in another life they want to come back as one of my dogs, that somehow the dogs are lucky to get me. They've got it twisted. I'm the lucky one. I'm so lucky to have had this little black dog in my life.

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Photo Credit: All contest photos were provided by Elaina of Photography by Elaina.
You can see more of Elaina's work at www.elainag.com.