OUR FRIEND HAS LEFT US

Not into, onto.

seriously? Years ago, I began my career as a chemical investigator for CDC attached to the PA health Dept. In one case we had an investigation of a source of murine typhus and we ran across this house trailer that was occupied by these two elderly women who hoarded about 20 dogs inside. When I entered the place with a physician and state police officers, two of us blew our lunch from the smell. Its good you got your Bella away from there. Did she need a bath badly when you rescued her?

The people we got her from bathed here before we met them.

Have you thought of kindly breeding her yourself one day, and having lucrative puppies of your own?

Oh no . . . she's way too small . . . it would kill her if i tried that.

oh....you wouldn't want to do that then of course. t'would be terrible.

Wasn't that what the former owners were going to do with her though, unless I misread? I guess they didn't care if they harmed her. Or did they say "she's too small, let's get rid of her?"

A friend of mine had a lakeland terrier from a show line he would he would make available for stud sometimes. He had one of his sons, don't know if he did it with him also.

That has nothing to do with nothing, just thought it was interesting.

I think that people thought that was what would be done with her. She is the friendliest dog you ever saw, likes everyone and all the dogs she meets . . . until they try to sniff her rear end, at which point she offers to rip their throats out, or runs away. I think she was bred too early, and she would want nothing to do with it. At any event, we get dogs so that they can have a loving home and a life as free of stress as possible. They're just along for the ride.

That's how I feel about my boys, and the girls that I've had.

I have to say from what I read, it sounds as if she was just existing not living.

And, that you two saw that and saved her from that life..

It's more than evident that she is digressing into her little puppy self.

That is amazing in such a short time she knows.. She's safe, loved ....

Way to go both of you... There is a feeling of hearts all round...

It's going to be rather hard--she will need to be housebroken, for now she looks on going outside as a stimulus to go back in the house and pee. Fortunately, she pees on the "puppy training pads" (what we call peed pads). She had never gone for a walk before, so she runs around like a mad girl, wraps the lead around my legs, darts into the street--there will be a lot of work that needs to be done there. She doesn't see why she should sit at a street corner (a distinction--sidewalk, street, street corner--which hasn't sunken in yet), or why she should have to wait to cross the street until she is told she might do so. She is intelligent, though, and has learned come here in a matter of days, and learned to dash across the street when told to do so on the first day we had her. She'll learn.

This morning, the little girl came downstairs about 5:00 am and immediately ran to the front door. I went to the back door, and coaxed her out into the yard, but she wasn't interested. So i let her back in the house, and she ran to the front door again. "Come on . . . you're up, i'm up . . . it's time for a walk ! ! !" Later, i went upstairs and sat on the bed. The girl was rubbing her belly, and i began to caress her ears. She got a very serious look on her face--walks are fun but lovin' is far and away the most important thing.

She may not have been taken out for walks before, but it sounds as though she was fairly well socialized, so someone must have cared for her and given her some love before. That's good, because she basically trusts and bonds with people.

Housebreaking and leash training will be a snap--she's well on her way to training you already.

She sounds like a lovely little dog.

She's a sad girl right now. She is definitely a Mama's girl, and The Girl just left the house. She's been crying ever since.

It will be interesting to review this in a month, just to see the difference.

I forecast by then that she'll be your little sidekick, and you'll have to watch how you step 'cos she'll be right there.

<makes note on calendar to review this mid August>

awwww

I just made some sammiches . . . that should distract her . . . treats are something else she didn't know about until she came to live with us.

Lerd.

Love reading about the happy girl in her happy circumstances.

Schnifff.....

Lovely to read this ongoing story.

Thank you, it was quite a help with my grief over Miss Cleopatra. I think that it helps that it is a continuum. She really is mad for walks now, so we went for a walk about an hour and a half ago. Whenever we meet someone they comment on how cute she is. I told The Girl in a private message that i want to change the name of the movie to Everybody Loves Bella.