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Bear Attack!!

Retirement Reflections

In a recent bear attack, an eye, a nose, and part of a mouth were lost in the battle.

The poor old bear didn’t stand a chance.

Against the nine-month-old, ready-for-action, Labradoodle….who in her defense, was only doing her thing.

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Bear definitely lost this round.

Sadly, we feared it might be the end of the 71-year old bear, Richard’s first childhood friend.

But Guardian Angels do exist. Enter, Ruth Hasman, Teddy Bear Doctor Extraordinaire. When contacted she responded promptly with an affirmative, ‘can do’ attitude.

We air-ambulanced Bear immediately (aka Canada Post). Once received, Ruth contacted us again to outline procedure options. She also offered to give bear a spa treatment (she noticed that he had not had a bath in quite a while). At every step of the way, Ruth was collaborative, professional and showed a great sense of humour.

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The (adorable) culprit in question, after a busy day.
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Here’s bear in his ‘before photo’.
And here he is again after his successful surgery (and much needed bath).

Thank you to ‘Dr. Ruth’ for all of her skill and expertise in giving this ‘bear attack’ a happy ending!

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Teddy Bear Doctor working her magic on another patient.

P.S. To avoid any future mishaps, Bear has been given a new location in our home….on a very high shelf.

 

Published by Retirement Reflections

Prior to retirement, I lived and worked in Beijing China for fourteen years (Middle School Principal/Deputy Director at The Western Academy of Beijing). Leaving international life behind, my husband and I retired to Vancouver Island in June 2015. To document both this transition and our new adventures, ‘Retirement Reflections’ was born. I hope that you enjoy reading these reflections, and will be willing to share your own.

95 thoughts on “Bear Attack!!”

  2. What a great story. I have my teddy bear and my favorite stuffed toy ever: Pixie the Mouse from Saturday morning cartoon fame. Both are looking a little shabby now, so I shall remember this Teddy Bear doctor should, heaven forbid, my early friends need first aid.

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      1. Pixie was part of a duo called Pixie and Dixie. I lurved Pixie. There was a cat named Jinx and the mice would say to him: “Hi Jinx” and I’d giggle every time.

        Yes, muse is here again. A day at home getting organized has put me back into the writing swing of things. I’m glad you’ve found your muse, too. Now let’s not lose them again.

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    1. Hi, Joanne – It didn’t look good at the beginning from our end either. All of the Teddy Bear Repair Specialists that I could find online were not currently taking new clients, at least not new ones from Canada, or not vintage bears. I was grateful to have found Ruth…and that she lives a mere Ferry Ride away!

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  4. Donna,
    This post gave me a huge smile…I particularly enjoyed the bit about a spa treatment for Teddy.
    Glad he is back in good shape. 🙂

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    1. Hi, Nancy – I’m glad that this post brought a smile to your face. The line about the ‘Teddy Bear Spa’ was all Ruth’s. Here sense of humour and way with words helped to turn a sad situation into a fun process!

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    1. Hi, Kate – You are absolutely right. It could have been much, much worse. And Kaylee, the Labradoodle, is gorgeous. I am sure that she was thinking “How nice of Donna and Richard to hide this little present for me in a hidden upstairs room. How clever I was to find it!” 🙂

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    1. Hi, Janis – You raise a great point. I will now have to search to see if a photo of young Richard and Bear exists. That would be an awesome find!
      BTW – I still have several of my childhood stuffed animals, my barbies, kiddles and my easy-bake oven. Marie Kondo would not be impressed 🙂

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    1. Thanks, Deb. I was impressed and amazed as well. It’s the same when I see an elaborate quilt (or any quilt at all). I always walk away thinking, someone did that with their own hands? With just some thread and scraps of materials???!!! I can’t sew at all….not even buttons back on! 🙂

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  11. It’s a bear of a tale. Beautiful restoration. Dennis says he hate to out do Richard but his Willie bear is 75 years old. Picture to follow

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    2. Ditto, I saw your graphic and wasn’t sure I would be able to read the post. So glad for the miracle working teddy bear doc and a happy ending. When my girls were little, we collected Lizzie High dolls. I think one of our dolls met up with one of our pups but the Lizzie High folks had a special in-house doll doctor who fixed our baby up good as new.

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  14. I immediately opened my email, Donna. What a title and introduction! A major giggle on the spa treatment. I will have to share your post with family. We have a Precious Mr. Bear in our family that is 35 years old, and we want him around well past 71, too. Thank goodness for your immediate resuscitation and Dr. Ruth’s skills!

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  15. That’s quite a colour change for Bear! So glad he could be rescued. My teddy lost an arm which my mum reattached, but he was never quite the same. I’ve no idea where he went, but I do still have the koala bear that my aunt brought me from Australia c1959/60.

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    1. HI, Anabel – It’s amazing how easy teddy bears can lose a limb (or facial features)! The fur on Richard’s bear is the same in all three photos. Teddy’s spa likely had something to do with the lightness of the third photo….but I believe that lighting also came into play! 🙂

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  16. Wow, Donna, Dr Ruth can work miracles. How wonderful that she’d could bring teddy back to his glory days. I still have my first doll which I received for my first Christmas at 4 months old. My daughter has her first teddy bear a gift when she was born. They hold treasured memories. You certainly caught me out with your opening paragraph and heading. I was concerned at first that it was a real bear attack. I’m hoping to see some when I visit in September but at a distance of course 😊

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    1. Hi, Sue – Dr. Ruth definitely does work miracles. More of her before/after patients can be found here: http://teddystuffybeardoctor.blogspot.com.
      I hope that you get a chance to see your live bear when you’re out this way in September. When Liesbet and Mark (Roaming About) were visiting last September, they got a great view of a bear….twice. You can check out that video on her blog or Facebook page. Super excited about your upcoming visit!

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    1. Thanks so much for dropping by. A couple of years ago, National Geographic featured an article on the world’s oldest doll hospital which is still operating in Lisbon, Portugal. You can check out that piece here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/europe/portugal/lisbon/doll-museum-hospital-de-bonecas/. As in Bear Repair, the waiting list for patients can be a bit lengthy. Lucky for us, Dr. Ruth had bear repaired and spa’d in less than a week!

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  18. Air ambulance AKA Canadian Post – this made me laugh, Donna. So happy that this story ends well. I was a little scared I was going to see some gore when I started reading! What an adorable puppy. My son and his wife have a golden doodle and she is absolutely delightful!

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  19. I have to agree with Molly, Donna! I was ready to share a bear story where a black bear got into my dad’s aviary and had a feast! But this is sooo cute and heartwarming thanks to Dr Ruth and her sewing skills. Glad Mr Bear is safe. And the pup isn’t in too much trouble!

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    1. Hi, Leanne – Richard actually discovered the “Puppy vs Bear” battle. Thankfully, he was quick on the scene. I came home after most of the blood and guts (aka “straw”) had been picked up….although we still have bits of diehard straw still present on our carpets!

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  23. Wow, I’m glad you were able to save the bear, Donna, considering he’d made it this far in life. We have done some home repairs on a monkey and a beaver–both actually belonging to the dog, but he got a little carried away in his “loving.”

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      1. Handling needle and thread takes practice. I used to give our children giant needles and thread or yarn and huge buttons to practice sewing. I tried to explain the concept of leaving some space when sewing on buttons. Scrap material or fleece. They had fun and learned in the process too.

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  26. Haha! This is funny and sad at the same time, Donna! What a good job done on Bear. And, good idea moving him to higher and safer grounds.

    Your episode reminds of a mishap during one of our house sits, when friends visited with their dog and the – unattended (yet supposedly well-behaved and not so young) dog chewed up an antique doll of the owners. It was sitting on the ground. Our worst moment as a house sitter!

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      1. Pretty well, actually. I was so dreading writing them the email and the story of what happened, but they laughed at it, despite of the emotional value. “It would make a good story,” they said. Great people, who did ask us back to house sit for them (and Lola) again, which we happily did. 🙂 The worst thing was that we didn’t actually do something wrong, but that it was our visitors, so it was out of our hands.

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  27. Whew! I’m so relieved to hear of Bear Repair! Now I can get my son’s bear out of his resting place in a box in our storage room. He was injured 35 years ago, and sad to say, I couldn’t fix him. But there’ hope now—great post, Donna!

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  28. Donna: This was so much fun to read and reminded me of a little, cozy, soft teddy bear that I got my daughter many years ago during a visit to Yosemite. She named it Bo-Bo. Sadly I don’t know what came of Bo-Bo, but he was as real as can be and I sure do miss him. I wish he were still around. My daughter’s 5 year old son has a favorite little cozy, soft teddy that he named “Bie-Bie”, so I will caution my daughter to guard Bie-Bie with her life so that this little family friend will be around for many decades to come! thanks for this very light-hearted and sentimental read. It definitely made me smile.

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  29. Hi, Susan – It’s amazing how some precious stuffed animals seem to develop full personalities of their own. Great advice to your daughter on safeguarding Bie Bie. These childhood friends are great to hang on to. Hope all is well with you!

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  30. OMG! Donna, I love this post.
    Is there an award for the perfect post? Because this one would be a winner. Everything, all of it, from the real bear at the top to the cute recovering one at the bottom. Wonderful!
    P.S. You’re so lucky to have found Dr. Ruth 🙂

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  33. Dr Ruth is a miracle worker! Bear looks better than ever! And I am certain that in spite of the altercation it would be very difficult to have even a modicum of left-over anger towards Bear’s adorable assailant. I’m glad that Bear is now in a safe place and his nemesis has found a comfortable place to dream.

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    1. Hi, Lisa – It turned out to be a good story all around. Dr. Ruth lives in Vancouver. Charlie, our 3-year old grandson, lives there as well. Charlie (with the help of our daughter-in-law) picked up Bear for us last weekend. He brought us Bear yesterday and had many exciting stories to share about the experience. All’s well that ends well! 🙂

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    1. Thanks, Hugh – I believe that Bear is liking his new home….but the spare bed does not look the same without him! We picked up Bear this past weekend. If we had not experienced the tragic tale ourselves, we would not have noticed anything different about Bear, not even the colour (I think the photography lighting had a big role to play in the difference of the photos). He did smell a bit better though! 🙂

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  35. Well, you had me going there for a minute. I’m happy Richard got his childhood friend back in such nice condition. Dr Ruth is a miracle worker.

    Just an aside. I have not been getting your blogs (and several others) in my email for at least since the first of the year. Seem like since several people took some well deserved time off near the end of 2018. I also don’t get a notice when you comment on mine. I am looking into this and hope wordpress can straighten me out. In the meantime, I’ll just keep checking back

    Laura

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    1. Hi, Laura – I fully agree, Dr. Ruth is a true miracle worker. I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.

      I’m sorry to hear about your WordPress woes. Has this been sorted since you found a few of us in your Spam? If not, the WP Happiness Engineers should be able to help. Keep me posted on this and let me know if there is anything that I can do.

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  37. Awww this is so sweet – and every single part of the story – from the culprit to the solution – is sweet. As an aside, I couldn’t deny that pooch anything and could forgive everything.

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    1. Hi, Jo – Even after I posted, the sweetness continued. As Dr. Ruth and our 3-year old grandson both live in the same city, Charlie was the one who lovingly picked up Bear and returned him to Grandpa. Charlie even made a special bed for Bear. How adorable is that?

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  39. Hi Donna – in due course I’ll contact her and ask her for a recommendation here in the UK … as I need a ‘dog’ dealt with and tidied up et al – Hardwick is very special!! So glad Richard’s bear is now repaired … a worthy time out for him .. cheers Hilary

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