A "Den" Fit for Bear

Since Bear joined our little farmstead, things have changed pretty dramatically around here.

Mostly in respect to my morning routine. I now have to, get this, wake up on time and act responsibly toward the care of someone other than myself. I know. I know.

But, besides my new morning walk-and-water schedule, life with this big old boy named Bear has been pretty smooth sailing. He's such a friendly dog that it's easy to forgive his few faults- like how he's always very excited to see us (read: jumps up sometimes), and how he doesn't really understand the concept of "Come," and the slobber.

Oh, the slobber.

The slobber is one (of several) reasons that Bear is an outside dog. Yes, an outside dog. That means that Bear doesn't come in the house. He comes into the entryway at night to sleep, but he stays outside for most of the day, where he can sniff and dig and slobber to his heart's content.

To get ready for Bear, we needed to make an outdoor shelter of sorts to protect him from the elements during the day, and also he's really old and likes to sleep a lot, so we wanted him to have a place to be comfy for his morning, mid-day, and afternoon naps.

Luckily, our farmplace has ninety million buildings.

(That's an exaggeration.)

One of these buildings, the one we called the "white quonset," was mostly full of firewood.



It also has windows pretty close to ground level...

and my handy husband decided that moving a little firewood, building a box, and popping out a window would make it a perfect "den" for Bear.

After moving the firewood around inside the white quonset. Trevor was able to access the window from the inside.

It was quick work to pull a couple nails and the window was out.

Using some plywood and 2x4's, Trevor built walls around the window opening to make a smaller space for Bear, so he'd be warmer. Trevor then put a plywood "ceiling" on top of the new walls.

We had some landscaping rock, and Trevor made a little staircase...

And there it is!

I added some "feminine touches," (read: couch cushions with a lovely 1970 flower motif), a few rugs for the floor, and an old blanket so Bear would be snuggly and warm during the day while we're gone.

You can see a little bit of his run wire in the picture- Trevor attached a wire to one corner of the quonset and attached the other end to a tree in the grove.

He attached the lead wire to a carabiner connected to a pulley so that Bear can run the entire length of the run wire, and the lead wire is long enough that he can reach his water dish (which is around the corner of the quonset), and can get into his den easily.

We noticed that Bear somehow flipped the pulley over on the run wire and got stuck... so we attached a weight (the big brown thing hanging off the carabiner) so he can't do that, anymore.

He gets to slobber to his heart's delight, and scare bunny rabbits, and go up on top of the compost pile, and drink his water, and sleep (he likes to sleep), all with a little den of his very own.

Happy dog.

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