March 16, 2013

We have had the pleasure of fostering Bella for 5 days now and she is in love with everyone in our household! She was obviously well loved by her previous owner, she loves her humans. Her previous family couldn't keep her because their work hours were so long, they were unable to give her the attention she loves. For the first two days she was at our house, she needed to be with a human at all times. We tried to have her sleep downstairs with our resident dog and she cried until I came downstairs and slept on the couch with her. She was a little nervous and each time I fell asleep, she would nudge my hand so I would pet her again. Ever since the second night, she's been ok downstairs without me on the couch (which is great because I like to sleep too:). 

She is fully potty trained and stands by the back door when she has to go outside. We have a fenced back yard and she loves to run around and eat sticks. I think she needs a fenced-in yard, her previous owner said she liked the opportunity to escape. I've noticed her "escape-ism" tendencies when I leave and she tries to come with me, I really believe she just wants to be with her humans, especially if they are going somewhere fun! She hasn't shown any interest in escaping from the back yard (jumping the fence, or getting out through the gate) which is good, especially since the snow pack is high and the 4 foot fence isn't 4 feet right now!

Bella loves everyone in our family (me, the hubby, and 2 kids, ages 9 and 13), and is starting to love our resident dog. She wasn't sure about him at first, she wanted to be the boss of the house and he didn't think it was a good idea. She has some stuffed animals that she loves and carries them around for comfort. Unfortunately, my resident dog likes to steal toys and then shred them so we had to take them all away. Since she doesn't have a toy, she's improvised and now uses the dog bed as her toy. She is starting to warm up to our resident dog and they have even wrestled a few times today. Hopefully, she will continue to warm up to him and realize that he's a fun playmate. 

Bella is fine in the house when we are gone, she has free roam and so far has done great. As I'm writing this update, I remembered her 2nd night with us. My husband had just finished cooking ground turkey on the stove. He shut the burner off and returned to see Bella "belly up" to the stove, helping herself to the pan full of meat! Now, we are a little more careful about what we leave on the edge of the stove or counter. 

As for Bella's health, she seems very healthy and the only issue she's had was a few ear infections. She's going to the vet for a check-up on Monday so I'm going to ask if I should clean her ears more often than usual. I'm guessing the vet is also going to tell us that Bella needs to loose a few pounds. As I like to say, she's a little "big boned," we don't want to hurt her feelings! We are trying to get outside every day and walk (when it's not an icy skating rink on the sidewalks) and I think that will help her lose some weight. I tried walking her on a regular leash and quickly realized she needs a gentle leader. She loves her walks and the gentle leader makes our walks much nicer. 

Bella is a very sweet girl and we are happy to have her with us. We are still getting to know her, but can say that she loves kids! I'm not 100% how she feels about other dogs, she's still deciding how she feels about our resident dog (we've seen other dogs when we are on a walk and Bella has no problem with them). I don't know how she feels about cats, she's never been around them. She's ok with turtles, we have two of them!

Thanks for looking at Bella's information, she's a sweet girl and we're having a lot of fun with her! 

Fun in the snow

Looking for sticks!!!