DATE: Saturday, November 15, 1997           TAG: 9711150316

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Guy Friddell 

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

LOST POOCH RETURNS JOYFULLY HOME - 3 BLOCKS AWAY, THAT IS

You can stop worrying about the shaggy little pup that had to be fetched from swimming 400 yards from shore in the chilly Lafayette River off New Hampshire Avenue in Norfolk last week.

For hours, if not days, people surmised. A vet's tag on his collar disclosed that his owner, Claire Terry, lived in Rhode Island.

That poor little dog must have fallen undetected off a boat on the nearby Intracoastal Waterway, folks speculated. Rhode Island newspapers called The Pilot to get his picture.

Turns out he lives on Connecticut Avenue, three blocks from New Hampshire, where he was found. And he ain't a pup.

He's going on 11 years, his owner said Friday.

And she ought to know.

She helped deliver him while she and her husband, Bob, were living in Rhode Island.

``He had the biggest paws of all of them in the litter, so we named him Bear Dog,'' she said.

But the paws stopped growing, as did the rest of Bear Dog. Now he weighs less than 20 pounds. He is half Lab, half cockapoo.

Since the Terrys came to Norfolk two years ago, Bear Dog has run away ``pretty regularly.''

That's the Lab in him, she said.

And then he never before lived in a neighborhood with so many dogs.

When someone came to the front door, out slipped Bear Dog.

``I know he heard me call. When he's downstairs, he can hear me open a box of cookies upstairs.''

He hates the water.

``That's the cockapoo in him,'' she said. ``He must have chased a duck into the river.''

That's the Lab in him.

Many children, as well as dogs, are in the neighborhood. Near distraught, she had all of them looking for Bear Dog.

``Our 2-month-old baby missed him,'' she said.

When he chose to swim ashore, he headed for the new sheer bulkhead instead of getting out at the natural bank. That's the cockapoo in him.

On New Hampshire, David Murphy spotted him swimming, just a speck 400 yards away. He and Nick Pope began calling to him.

Mark Walkup and Don Norris launched Walkup's canoe and paddled toward the dog-paddling Bear Dog. Norris fished him out.

``He was in bad shape, poor little guy,'' Pope said Friday. ``He couldn't have lasted much longer. He was so friendly he didn't seem to be old. He acted like a puppy.''

``He didn't get out of the house until 10:30 that morning, and they pulled him out of the water about noon,'' his owner said. ``But he wore himself out.''

Three days later a neighbor showed her The Pilot's story. Telephoning Pope, she said: ``You've got my dog!''

``The dog was very happy to see her,'' Pope said. ``He jumped into the car and sat beside her just as proud as can be while they drove three blocks to Connecticut.''

Terry is sending the clippings of Bear Dog's adventure to her husband, command master chief with the amphibious transport dock ship Shreveport with the George Washington battle group.

``I guess Bear Dog felt he needed attention,'' she said.

He sure got it. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Bear Dog

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