J-Bear as he was affectionately known always thrived for mental stimulation so I always had to come up with games for him. One of my favorite memories was of him always collecting the metal food bowls from each dog after they finished eating (and sometimes before!). He would collect them one by one and bring them to me simply for a small piece of a treat. He was also crazy about big rocks and his hard plastic balls. He would go outside for hour after hour playing soccer with his ball and when he would come in, he would aways have a big rock that he brought to his bed.
It is a shame that not too many people actually saw his true personality, he was really a silly dog with a warm heart but he played it tough in public.
In July 2007, after a short but fast and deadly illness called Coombs Disease, I had to make the decision to have my baby boy put to sleep. He had suffered for just a few days but his body was no longer making red blood cells and even with treatment at Tufts Veterinary School, he would have had a very small percent chance of survival. I couldn't let him suffer any longer. it was the hardest day of my life.
