I repent, I am not above the rules. I will obey rule #1... So here it is, pics of my girl-


And because everyone likes to see girls frolicking through the water...



For those who have asked about the dog- I am by NO means a dog expert or trainer. I have a wonderful 8 year old yellow lab, and have been working with her since she was 2 days old. She does everything that I need her to do (including a dang good dove dog). She is incredible with the kids and cousins, very very gentle dog. But she also knows her role in the family. My wife will attest that any time I am away for a night, the dog sleeps in a spot where she can watch the whole house and roams from room to room checking everyone.

My dog is NOT trained to attack anyone. I'm honestly not sure if she would bite or not (she is a lab, and a VERY well mannered one). What I did (when I lived in Houston) was train her to clear rooms and my yard. I have never had anyone hide in a room to see what she will do, because I don't want her to either bite someone on accident, or learn that this is just a game. She takes it seriously when we do "work".

When she sees the pistol come out, she goes into "work mode", really turns into a different dog, her drive really kicks in (similar to when she sees the shotgun and decoys come out!). She will stay on my hip quietly until I give her the command "clear", at which point she will run into the room I am pointing to, barking and going bananas. Once she has checked the room, she will turn and wait for me before going to the next room. We work through the whole house doing this, clearing room by room. We do the same thing in the yard. It works for me.

My goal is two fold, 1) to make such a racket that any unseen intruder will leave; and 2) if there is someone in the room intending to harm, the dog will hopefully buy me a few moments to respond appropriately. I love my dog, but she is decidedly more expendable than my family.

When we moved to CO, we relearned everything with the new house and yard. Has been especially useful in clearing animals from the back yard, as I can stand on the deck and systematically clear every corner of the yard together. I don't have to leave the deck, but can shoot anywhere needed while the dog distracts. Believe it or not, if she is running at an animal she will also come to a full stop on command (continuing to bark). We work on this all the time with deer.

This training really came in handy during the bear encounter. Even though I didn't have my gun, she snapped to my hip on command, and then I was able to have her run into the room ahead of me.

I'm sure that her barking from the top of the stairs would have made the bear retreat as well. But her bull rushing down the stairs making such a racket was really much more forceful. The main reason I sent her was because my wife was downstairs with our new born son, and if the bear were to get all the way in, it would have been between my wife and I. I wanted to ensure it didn't come in any further, and provide as much negative reinforcement as possible for this young bear (who thus far hasn't given a rip about human contact).

Bears will readily change food sources when their preferences are in short supply, and they will always go after the easiest calories.

That being said, there is a general sequence in their diet of preferred foods (and it varies some by location). The snowpack for the winter impacts the duration of the spring melt off. Anything that slows down the general spring succession of plants is likely to trigger problems starting roughly the second week in July. Keep in mind when they first emerge, the only things they can effectively digest is the really new green shoots, and really rotten winter kill carcasses. Disrupt this, and they are playing catchup all summer. That late spring freeze could really mess with plant grown. A low snow pack melts off fast, and by late June you can may be pretty dry for plant growth purposes....if you see them munching on grass, and find subsequent scat piles with fairly undigested grass (ie the silicate have started to harden), start watching for problems heading to town. Early July (breeding season), the females are going to flip to a very high insect diet. This bump in fat and protein is needed to trigger hormones needed to kick start estrous. Afterwards , the sweet tooth kicks in a assorted berries are important. Coming into August acorns make up a huge portion of their diet. If it is a crappy acorn year, they will find calories as they come into hyper ph agia. Through September and October, they are eating or looking for food up to 18 hours a day......knock out any step, and they will come looking for cookies ;-)

Sean I'd call that a bear feeder.