Retribution

“The families dog was bought for a guard,
Chained to a post in a chilly backyard,
Housed in a shed that was airless and dark,
And every few weeks had a run in the park.
When boredom set in with no fun and no work,
One day it broke loose and went quietly beserk.
Pa could’nt fathom just why it went wild,
As it flattened his wife and then bit his child.
The police were called in to sort out the mess,
And the whole sorry tale was revealed by the press,
The Rescue Society was really annoyed,
So, the dog was rehomed–and the owners destroyed”
~unknown

Last night she had another milestone – she was able to play with Katey and Autumn and even Autumn’s large excited barking didn’t scare her.  Autumn pushed her little head down with her paw and Bella rose right up and gave Autumn a good ear bite.  There was lots of face pulling, wagging tails, and excitement barks all around.  She is also now accepting treats which she was afraid of the first few days.  She even chowed down on the muchy bone I bought everyone earlier this week.

She is still afraid of me when I approach her standing up – but I bend down she is not afraid – I believe this will go away with time.  She sleeps on the bed with me every night and has not had a single accident since the first day she was here.  She has also gained a little weight – and you can no longer see her ribs sticking out – although you can still feel them if you touch her body.  Her appetite has improved and I am giving her a little extra dog food to fatten her up some and get her to a healthy weight.  She is so loving and it warmed my heart last night to see her tail wagging as they played on the bed.  One week ago she was cowering under the table and this week she is jumping fearlessly into playtime.   She really is special girl!

For more pictures and videos of Bella – go here!

She looks terrified poor little thing.  She was in a shelter in OK, and its through the help of Friends of Saving the PAWS of Altus who originally pulled her from the shelter and Paws on Wheels Transports that this little girl will come to me and hopefully find her happiness.  She is a tiny little thing – only 23 lbs. She is getting a new name to go with her new life – Isabella (Bella for short).  I will post updated pictures of little Bella once she arrives.  I think her and Katey will end up being the best of pals!!

Bella arrived to me on 12/04/2011.  I believe she is a catahoula/corgi mix.  She is terrified of the other dogs – although she seems to like Katey.  For now, I am only exposing her to Katey and Autumn who both have received Bella with open arms.  Bella LOVES dog treats but getting her to eat has been a bit challenging.  I have started to feed her by hand, and it seems to work – she ate her entire dinner last night.  She is very skinny – you can see all of her bones so needs to put on some weight – probably about 3-5 lbs at least – she is very underweight.  Her fear of the outside seems to be subsiding – today she actually played outside with Katey – they both ran back and forth in the backyard but all of the fun ended when Autumn joined in and started to bark loudly and Bella was startled.  She has a long road ahead of her – to learn to trust both people and other dogs again but I think she will make it – she certainly is a special girl!

12/04/2011 – Bella’s First night

Bella

8 Photos

I brought her home and it took her about 2-3 days to realize that she was safe.  I had to treat her for hook worms but other than that she was mostly healthy – the only concern we had is her belly was going to to go back to normal once she recovered.  She followed me around everywhere in the house, and she could not be left alone – even with other dogs.  She had severe separation anxiety – and during the day when I was at work she had to be crated or she would eat the walls in the dog room.  It took months for her to feel safe and feel like she was going to be abandoned.   She still has some loose skin in her tummy but most of it has gone back to normal.

Abbey is an incredibly loving and sweet dog.  Just talking to her will make her day.  She is a Catahoula/Pit bull mix and extremely strong.  She can jump over the baby gate in a single bound – even at 8 she still does it (although lately the landing is a bit tough for her).  She gets along with all of the other dogs – but she is Katey’s favorite.  Katey loves to mess with her – bite her ears and the two will play for hours if I let them.   Abbey does not know her own strength at times and she has hurt Katey in play in the past – so now they can only safely play while supervised.  All of the dogs in the house love Abbey and although to this day she has a knack for destruction – in her older age the need to destroy things has subsided significantly.

Abbey is terrified of new people she doesn’t know – she is generally a quiet dog but when someone new is around she will bark.  She will generally run out give them one bark and then hide behind the couch.  She is curious of new people but scared of what will happen.  When introducing new dogs, some caution needs to be taken with Abbey – although she is accepting of other dogs, she needs to warm up to them in her own time.  Abbey has brought so much love and joy to my house and to my pack – I cannot imagine my home without her!

Abbey

17 Photos

I went to pick her up with the intention of getting her treated and adopted out.  After one week – everyone in the pack (including me) had fallen in love with her.  It is easy to see why it is that the tech couldn’t put this dog down.  Willow loves everyone – every cat, dog, person, bird anything.  She was the pack leader for a few years when Katey “stepped” down so to speak – but now that she is also getting older, she is having the pass the reigns to Autumn but she is not happy about that.

Willow is a Lab/Catahoula mix.  She has one blue eye and one brown.  I don’t think she has ever been unhappy – from the very start she was always a happy and well behaved dog.  I honestly think that she got dumped at the shelter just because of the heartworm.  She is dangerous in that she has an extremely powerful tail which will clear tables, knock children and people down at times of extreme excitement.  She has never had an accident inside the house – ever!

She loves Katey to death but Katey is not all that fond of her.  She consistently tries to get Katey’s attention and when she can’t – she gets frustrated and tries to hump Abbey!  Even though she is almost 9 now – she still plays like a pup.  She LOVES the water and in the summer time she loves chasing the water from a water hose in the back yard!

Willow

23 Photos

I stole some pics from Keely’s page – but will add more later as I upload some from my phone as well =)  A huge thank you goes out to Jamie and Patrick Grindle who not only opened their homes to us so we didn’t have to pay for hotels, but also drove to Boston to pick us up and to take us back so that we could save cash on our flights.  It was so appreciated you have no idea!

Also I would like to note that the only reason why I was able to make this trip work at all was because of Laura with Doggie Relief who took wonderful care of my babies while I was gone.  If you need pet sitting – I can think of no one better!!

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Thank you to my friend Aliceia for sharing it on Facebook!