Ale is used to watching neighbors do double takes as they pass her yard. The nature lover, who runs The Curious Nook, an urban food homestead, often hears worried passersby screaming warnings out of their windows.
“People yell out of their car, ‘Ma’am, you have a bear in your backyard!’” Ale said in a video for The Dodo.
The Dodo
But Ale knows she has nothing to fear. The animal in her yard isn’t a bear — he’s a lovable Newfoundland pup named Napoleon.
The Dodo
“He’s such a gentle giant,” Ale said.
Ale adopted Napoleon when he was 9 weeks old, and the pair have been inseparable ever since. When Ale got pregnant, Napoleon stayed right by her side.
“My pregnancy wasn’t easy,” Ale said. “I had vertigo in the beginning, and he was there as a support for me to lean against.”
The Dodo
During her pregnancy, Ale was blindsided by depression. Everyone around her was excited for the new baby, and Ale struggled to share in their joy. Throughout this time, she often walked Napoleon along the cliffs near their home. On one occasion, Napoleon did something spectacular — he saved Ale’s life.
“My thoughts were really dark, and I couldn’t get out of it,” Ale said. “One day, I got too close to the cliff’s edge. He pulled my arm backwards to a bench where we always rested and laid his head on my lap, and I just sat there petting him, and I cried.”
The Dodo
Today, Ale is doing a lot better. Her son is 3 years old, and Napoleon is now his protector, too.
“When the baby would cry at night, he would pop up immediately, like, ‘What’s going on with my baby?!’” Ale said.
Ale is so grateful to have a best friend like Napoleon, and she doesn’t know what she’d do without him.
“He really is an angel,” Ale said. “In the shape of a Newfoundland, but that’s the best kind.”
