Furry Friend

My great-niece, Paityn, spent some time at our house yesterday because her mom is in training 12 hours a day for four days this week on a new job. 
This is Paityn:

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Paityn is a handful, to say the least. She's nearly 1 1/2, so she's into everything and wants to investigate (aka pull things out of cupboards and off of shelves). She's also very cute, so it's difficult to get upset with her. 
Paityn and Bear have always liked each other. She has never been afraid of Bear, and he's always been very gentle with her. But now that Paityn is bigger than Bear, she likes to tease him. Mom said she spent much of the afternoon yesterday taking away Bear's food. Um, you don't mess with Bear's food - that's all I'm gonna say about that. 
Anyway, I guess Bear finally got upset over it and nipped at Paityn. It scared her. Mom said she really cried over it. But, apparently they made up because she was playing with him again a short time later. Although, I think she figured out that messing with his food was the cause of their problems. 
When I got home from work last night, Bear was fit to be tied. He knows how to tell time (not a lie), and at five o'clock sharp he sits by the door or puts his head through the stairs banister and waits for me to get home. When I'm late or have to run errands and get delayed, he thinks something is wrong and drives Mom crazy. We used to laugh about it, but try not to so much anymore because it's obviously important business to Bear that I get home on time. 
After his day with Paityn, Bear needed some lovin'. He usually follows me everywhere once I get home, and last night was no exception. At one point, I sensed he wasn't around and figured he went upstairs to hang with Mom. I went in my bedroom to change into jeans before I fixed dinner and this is what I saw:

Bear was hiding under the bed. I guess he thought Paityn was coming back. Either that, or he just needed some quiet time. How cute is that?! 
He has an aversion to the camera, so I snapped a shot as quickly as I could. He heard the noise my iPhone makes, and crept out on his belly from under the bed. Since he looked so forlorn, I laid on my stomach and talked to him, at which point I snapped this photo:

He realized I caught him on camera, and that's when he got sulky so this is what he looked like as we were head to head and I talked to him:

The poor thing! I tried to comfort him. Finally, I offered up some string cheese and he followed me into the kitchen. 
Whoever says animals don't have personality needs to come to my house. My dog will prove them wrong. He definitely has personality! I just wish he could talk in human (and English) sometimes so I knew exactly what he was thinking. Until then, I'm learning to read his actions, and I've learned that string cheese is almost a cure-all.