Meet the Siblings - Bella the Dog

Again, totally satirical post about our furry babies. Feel free to skip if you aren't an animal lover.

Brighton,

As I said yesterday, you are blessed with not one, but TWO siblings (not of the human kind). Your oldest sibling is the cat, Tiny and the other one is Bella, the dog.

Let me introduce Bella.

Bella is our family dog and she is 6 years old. She is a black lab mix (mixed with what we are not sure - maybe a golden retriever). After your daddy and I were married a few years, we decided to buy a house with a big back yard. We installed a 9 foot privacy fence; partly to keep the neighborhood kids from cutting through our yard to the park and partly because we both wanted to adopt a dog from the local animal shelter.

We searched for weeks and finally one Saturday afternoon, we saw the most precious 6 month old black lab mix. I asked to see her, but your daddy asked to see this mangy Australian Shepard instead. We saw the shepard mix first who promptly ran into a corner and hid, peed submissively all over the floor and wouldn't let us pet him. However when we got to interact with the dog I chose, she promptly ran to us wagging her tail then laid down in my lap.  It was love at first sight and we named her Bella.

Bella the day we adopted her!

Bella is the absolute sweetest dog and she is super smart too. She knows how to sit, stay, shake with both paws, jump up, lay down, roll over, "leave" items where they fall and take a treat gently from your hand. She also knows to lay on her bed when asked, go to "her" room (the office) when we need her to stay out of the way and runs to the door when we ask her if she needs to go outside or go potty. We think she is a genius.

She does have some quirks, just like her brother the cat. Just like a typical lab, Bella loves the ocean, lakes and rivers and will swim until her heart is content. However, she has some diva like personality traits: if you are lounging in a lake on a raft, she wants to share the raft with you. Also, if you are on a kayak or paddle board, she wants to lay or stand on it while you paddle her around. 

Bella in her puppy phase - Queen of Lake Norman

Bella and her boyfriend Bailey, of course on the kayak and not swimming beside it

She loves swimming, but hates getting a bath. Whether we bathe her outside in the spring/summer with the hose on the deck, or in our bathtub in the fall/winter with warmer water, she fights a bath like nobody's business. She will give you the "miserable" face and whine the whole time, but once you're done and offer her a towel to dry off with, she loves you again.

Bella also hates the mailman which is totally cliche. She barks her head off the minute she hears the poor guy walk up our side porch. One day when the side screen door wasn't latched, she actually barged out the door and chased after him into our yard. We've had to apologize many times for that ridiculous day. She also has a habit of thinking every piece of furniture in the house is her dog bed (the couch, our bed, the guest bed, the ottoman) so we have to set up this alarm pad on the couch, put the ottoman up and close all the bedroom doors so she doesn't lay on the wrong things.

Like a typical dog, she loves car rides and sticking her head out the window. She loves to run alongside your daddy when he rides a bike, she loves her chew toys and she thinks she is a lap dog. She will immediately try to lay on you if you sit on the ground. She also loves to chase squirrels and sometimes Tiny. But she won't fetch a stick or a ball and won't go to the bathroom in the yard if it's raining - we have to hold an umbrella over her. What a diva!

Bella is a people lover. Everyone loves her and she is extremely gentle with small children - she'll let them pet her however they please, pull her ears and get in her face. Kids tend to be afraid of her at first due to her size (85 pounds), her energy level (high), and her wagging tail (which can feel like a hard smack when it hits you) but once she calms down, they fall in love with her. 

I know she will be a sweet, protective sibling to you and you'll be the best of friends.

Love, 

Mama