Bear Bear

Bear Bear is a Bichon Frise. We got him because Mr. Otto was depressed for months after Spunky left. As you can tell from the photos, Bear Bear is very fluffy. I need to comb him every other day and cut his hair every couple of weeks since, like people, he doesn't shed his hair. He weighs about 10 lbs. He is a very active, but not hyper dog. He sticks to me like glue.

Unfortunately, Mr. Otto taught him some bad habits like seperation anxiety and jealousy. Whenever I start petting one of the dogs, the other one has to come over to get petted also. Bear Bear will often start to growl if I'm petting him first and Mr. Otto comes over. Bichon's have a very distinctive growl and Mr. Otto has learned to imitate Bear's growl so both of them will frequently start to growl and compete for my petting affection. This of course is not healthy so I just ignore both of them when they start to growl and take turns petting them. Despite his jealousy of Otto in terms of getting petted, he gets along great with Mr. Otto and they sleep next to each other and play together. Bear Bear will even go to the door if Mr. Otto is stuck outside on the patio and start whining for me to let Mr. Otto back in.

Bear Bear is not much of a barker unless Mr. Otto starts in. He's definitely not as obediant as Mr. Otto which is why we call him Bear Bear. His original name was Bear, but we'd end up having to repeat commands before he'd do them so we've ended up calling him Bear Bear. He's definitely excited about chow time. I make them both sit and stay before letting them out to eat and Bear Bear always whines and scitters about before sitting down. Bichon's have the ability to balance on their hind legs and we've taught him to do that and twirl around in circles.