Joining Jetty on his cottage holiday was his cousin Ollie. Usually we refer to them as Dumb and Dumber — well-earned nicknames. However, this week we had to change it up to Useless and Uselesser. After lunch one day we were sitting in the living room, the dogs passed out on the floor, blissfully dreaming of chipmunks, squirrels, and sticks, when Jenn spied a bear out the back window. As we raced to the window, I grabbed my camera and dispatched Graham to the cabin to warn the girls to stay inside. While we watched the bear's progress across the property, something in our tones alerted the dogs that there was excitement afoot, and they woke up from their naps and came to join us. Up until that point, the dogs had been very good about warning us of any impending dangers, such as Grandpa's arrival, which resulted in 10 minutes of fierce barking, the comings and goings of all the neighbours on their docks, and the imminent threat from the chipmunks who live in the front lawn. But bears — not so much. What happened to the theory that bears will stay away because of the smell of dogs, and the other theory that dogs will smell the arrival of a bear and warn it off with their barking? Unfortunately for us, Useless and Uselesser apparently only hunt small game.
