I might 'win' this one. Growing up my mom was crazy animal lady (still is). The most dogs we ever had at one time was 27. All inside dogs. I've had pet dogs, cats, birds, gerbils, fish, goats, cows, possums, a pet fox and a pet bear. All the dogs were mutts we rescued except the Basenji my sister brought back from Sierra Leone so he wouldn't get eaten (civil war there, folks are starving). We stole two or three dogs off neighbours because they eventually came over and said, Ok, screw it, he obviously would rather live here than with me; you keep him. We'd be like, we're sorry, we didn't do it on purpose...
The bear was cool; a little roly-poly black dude, rotund, as wide as he was high, an orphan. You get a bear and you think, what the hell!?? We have a damn bear!? Ok, so it's a dog. Then you let him out of his cage and you're like, oh but quick like a cat! Then he bites you and you think, oh but strong like a BEAR! My sister has a damn BEAR! What the hell!? Letting him out of his cage meant wrestling. Little dude was really loyal but he kept score; every point you scored would cause him to escalate, and play always ended with him getting too rough and you'd have to be no, no stop you stupid bear, ow back to the cage. She took him to camp and went on the canoe trip and the dude that was supposed to give him water didn't, and he died. Very sad. Bears are cool.
FYI. if your mother has just waxed the kitchen floor and the cows come in the kitchen and whump! do the splits use carpet scraps out of the attic. Didn't make it to school that day. Carpet scraps.
