MAX BAER
On July 12, 1988, a very special puppy was whelped, and on May 23, 1996 he left us. Named Mac's-A-Million Bear he came to be known as Max Baer. From the day he came to live with us on September 17, 1988, he was the love of our lives. He was the son of ODTAA Barb-Bear-Ian and CH Co-Lee's Klassic K. He was part of the family and loved every human and dog that he ever met. He had a very rough childhood with many skin problems. He had to be shaved and dipped and bathed but faced all that came to him with courage and a smile. Although his skin conditions cleared up he had already learned to hate water and felt that it was good for internal user only. He tried very hard to convince his friends Nevi, Joey, Misha, Kenai and Annie of this while at Marymoore Park, but to no avail. He thought that ocean beaches were the greatest things ever invented if they would just get rid of those waves that messed the beach up. As you can see from his picture, sheep were meant to sleep on, not herd, and his favorite toy was his teddy bear head. We like to think this was because I collect Teddy Bears and he wanted one of his own.
MAX BAER & PRINCESS
On May 10,
1996, 16 days before her 9th birthday, Princess, came to live with
us. Max Baer accepted her just as
he did any dog who came into the house. She
was an immediate friend and he wanted to play.
He was willing to share all of his toys with her, but she was not used
to sharing. She had a lot to
learn and Max Baer had all the patience in the world to teach her.
On May 18, 1996, he took her to Joey's birthday party so that she could
meet all of his friends. He could
not wait to introduce his new sister. For
the two weeks they were together, they went everywhere with us.
Max spent a great deal of time trying to teach Princess to play
tug-of-war, and Princess spent time trying to teach Max Baer how to rough
house. He took care of Princess
and oriented her to her new home and then suddenly left us with no warning due
to liver disease on May 23, 1996.
PRINCESS
On May 27,
1987, Snow White Princess IX was whelped.
She was the daughter of Green Gables Snow King and Christy of
Clackamas. She spent her time
before coming to us in the Pullman Washington area.
She whelped one litter of puppies and her owners kept a puppy and
Princess went to another home. The
original owners of Princess got her back in the fall of 1995, but were unable
to keep her due to the size of their home.
On May 10, 1996, they brought her to us and she was the first female
either Van or I had. She became
our very special girl. The time
she spent with Max Baer was enough to begin to teach her something about us. She came to us at a very special time for a very special
reason. She was alone with Max
Baer when he died and I am convinced that he left her with the responsibility
of caring for us as he would have. Although
there were some problems, as there are with any new dog (puppy or mature dog),
she helped us through one of the most difficult times of our lives.
As an older dog she seemed to understand and share our grief.
We lost Princess on December 27, 1999 to kidney failure. Our love for her is very special and no other Samoyed will
ever take her place, just as none will every take Max Baer's place in our
hearts.