Bear and Lemon Cochran

We said goodbye to our sweet Lemon girl (breed: supermutt) December 5th, 2025. Her and her best friend Bear (breed: pyrenees/malamute something or other) were inseparable most of their lives, until late 2020, when Bear passed. Lemon hung around until just after her 14th birthday. They belonged together, and with us, and they should be together in this little written send off.

Bear was adopted in 2009 at a chain pet store in Tallahassee, from a shelter in Crawfordville, FL. We went to get a fish. We were just married and this was probably some base instinct to learn how to care for something together. Bear was a 95 pound one-year-old fluff ball bursting out of a small cage. We walked him while we looked at fish, left without a fish, and came back a few hours later to bring him home. He was magnetic and we couldn’t stay away. We felt lucky that someone else could, even if we didn’t understand how.

Lemon was adopted in 2012 as a puppy from a shelter in southern GA. Her clock was ticking and she was mangey and unsocialized. She peed on her new human Dad on the car ride home, and several times thereafter that first year. She fell in love with Bear, treats, and, after a day or two, her new parents. For her whole life, she maintained a fear of new people for specifically ten minutes, at which point she’d like to please place her butt on your lap.

Bear loved visiting parks, family, and the places his parents worked. He chased lizards and bugs outside, both in FL and Cincinnati. He always found the coolest parts of each house we lived in (remember, full fluff). He required long walks every morning and evening. Lemon was a homebody and her human Mom’s shadow for 13.5 years. She had to be in the same room as everyone at all times, a task that become more complicated when our daughter Juliet was born. But Lemon figured out a system. Apparently Bear also nominated her to be the greeter; Lemon took the job seriously, welcoming each of us home each and everyday with a full body tail wag. Bear preferred you come to him.

Both dogs adored Juliet. They kept close watch and enjoyed the range of new smells and toys in the house. And they let her pet and pull ears, feet, nose, and tails with astonishing understanding.

They each lived joyously to the end. Each woke up on their particular morning and let us know in their own way. (Ultrasounds would confirm.) Just days earlier, Bear was happy and energized and ornery. His body wasn’t cooperating, but he managed to dig up our new mulch bed and we did not mind. Juliet was 6 months old at the time and literally tried to gouge out his eye (in a sweet way) on what would be his last day with us. Even though his body was failing, the big guy handled it, like he always did, with incredible patience and love. In her last days, Lemon too stayed the course. Story and snack time in the bed with Juliet, now 5, was a favorite ritual for Lemon, and she never missed one. Welcome home greetings became harder, but never ceased. All neighbors continued to be thoroughly barked at. Unattended plates of food were properly disposed of.

It’s an incredible grief to lose Lemon now, Bear before. Our house feels less full and less warm. But they are not gone. They changed us in so many ways. Bear instilled in us the importance of slowing down. We understand now that there is always time for a long slow walk together in any weather. Except rain, which is apparently a hard no. Lemon taught us that even if you have an exceptionally large couch, everyone should cuddle as closely as possible; right on top is ideal. They both taught us how to be better for one another. These and surely many other pieces of Bear and Lemon carry forward in our lives. And they gave us so many stories to tell, which do comfort us as we cry and laugh over the thousands of doggy pictures in our phones. Probably everyday, for the rest of our lives.

Our heartfelt appreciation goes to Dr. Mahan, Dr. Todd, and the rest of the staff at Riverview Animal Hospital in Bellevue, KY. They took care of our pups and, as it goes, us, for more than 9 years. In memory of Bear and Lemon, we ask people to donate to, volunteer at, and adopt from local animal shelters. The dogs there just want to do whatever it is you want to do and love you unconditionally and we all need that.

Josh, Ashley, and Juliet Cochran