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| Name: |
Bella
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Age: |
Twenty months old
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| Gender: |
Female |
Breed: |
American Bulldog |
| Home: |
Littlehampton, West Sussex, England |
Bella
is a rescue dog who we adopted at ten months and then discovered (from
her microchip) had originally been called Tiger, but as our surname is Wood we
decided to keep the name the shelter had given her rather than have her suffer
any confusion of changing it back. Now we call her Tinkerbelle because she
can be extremely mischievous and she still has a good deal of puppiness that
we're waiting for her to grow out of.
I had a cat, Bilbo, who at eighteen had passed away a year before and I still missed
very much when we first saw Bella's picture on the Internet. She had already
been in the shelter for a month and I knew straight away she was the one.
Bella had already had two owners in her short life, the first selling her when
she got too big and the second leaving her chained in a yard all day until the
dog wardens finally came and collected her. When we went to the shelter to
meet Bella, she came over very hesitantly and then leaned in and licked my
nose and that was it - immediate and unconditional love and we took her home
the following weekend as soon as the house had been made a little more big-dog
friendly and her bed had been delivered! At first she was nervous and
uncertain, she was so thin she looked like a poster add for a dogs trust with
all her ribs visibly jutting out and a big hollow place where her tummy should
be. But with love and trust and - much to my husband Chris' horror -
home-cooked doggy meals, Bella soon found her place in our world and began, I
hope, to think maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
Ten months later and Bella has changed almost beyond recognition. She's a
fantastic addition to our childless household and fills it with love and fun
the occasional unpleasant smell. She walks every morning on the beach and
although she was really frightened of the waves when she first saw them last
winter now she loves little more than to wade out into the surf and chase off
the gulls who are trying to catch their breakfast on the water. Her
boisterous play and her size (she's now just over 90 pounds) can be a little
off-putting to some of the other dogs (not to mention their owners) but Bella
loves to meet everyone she sees and if they let her chase them she's in her
element - at least until she's too worn out to run anymore and then she'll
just throw herself to the ground, tongue hanging out, and hope that one of us
will come along with a reviving bottle of water and a tasty treat to help her
find the energy and motivation for the journey home.
Bella's certainly a handful and a bundle of hyperactive energy when she's out
but in the house she's as calm and lethargic as you would wish in a dog.
Hope you love reading about her as much as I love telling you - I'd be lost
without her.
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