That's not a Newfy it's a BEAR!

As you may have deducted from my earlier picture posts I was recently in Skagway, Alaska.

Skagway is a tourist town. Four cruise ships were in port on the early September morning I landed by Alaskan State Ferry. By eight o’clock I was enjoying a good sniff around the usual fudge shops and ice cream parlors. I particularly liked the train station that sold tickets on the narrow gage line to White Horse, YT.

Mom found a coffee joint and ordered up a couple of mighty fine smelling breakfast sandwiches. (Anything with cheddar equals mighty fine in my book.)

As we finished the ships began to release their holds—thousands of people.

And on the street, every third person would say, "I thought it was a bear." Now, as any newfy audience understands, this is nothing new.

Dad would mutter under his breath, “no you didn’t.”

My mom would just laugh and say “put another dollar in the newfy fund.”

But this day in Skagway was different. I'm no longer sure I approve of the comparison. For not even 24 hours had past since I had truly realized what a bear is. What a bear means.

It was in Haines up at Chilkoot Lake. A warm day, the kayak tourists pulling up to the boat ramp. Dad had the bumper and I was on my leash. The Salmon were jumping, as they entered the lake from the river which fed directly into the bay. Boiling would be a strong term, but it was with an amazing frequency that these salmon splashes would ripple the calm waters.

Dad thought I might go hot dog hunting like Nanook and Pooka, only for real salmon…he called it, "bear style." I was excited to go swimming…well, why not, just look at the place. Paradise!

Dad looked at his watch, then at mom: wet dog, small trailer(one bed), late afternoon—let’s not.

We walked back up to the car, and we just stared at the scenery. Until the man next to us woke us from our halcyon moment with his muted exclamation, “oh, there he is…”
…And, there, right under me, in the water, I saw this big brown Newfoundland!

Now what would you do? My mom is brown, all my sisters are brown…I love browns! My tail was wagging and I just couldn’t wait to see him. Maybe even go swimming with him…I like salmon, he likes salmon. He could teach me!

He rose a little further out of the water. I could barely contain myself with glee.

Then, I caught his sent on the breeze. It was immediate. I experienced the sudden spine tingling realization that what you know so intimately is not at all what you think. It is emotional, primal, an almost pain in the pit of your stomach…

…an adrenalin that demands every ounce of your being protect what is yours, to scream, to howl like only wolves can howl.

That is what I did on this day…and that is what I did on every other encounter I had with a bear. There were seven.

As for the cruise ship tourists in Skagway...they continued to call me bear, to pet my head, to ask if we lived there and express their shock that cars could reach such a place.

So many people pet me that my head floof smelled of stale perfume until I could get to the next bear-free lake.

Be well my dogster friends...it's good to be home.

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