MEET BELLA. She'll lick her way into your heart.
Bella is about 5-6 years old. She is spayed, current on shots, and microchipped. She was rescued from the Merced Animal Shelter over 2 years ago, the day before she was scheduled to be put to sleep. Bella was my first foster dog ever. I was fostering her for a different rescue. Nobody knew anything about her, so I'll admit I was very nervous about having a strange dog in my home (that, of course, was over 3 dozen foster dogs ago!).
Yet I need not have worried. Bella had obviously been a house dog at one time. She came to us housetrained and extremely well-behaved. She was never pushy for attention. Bella was simply an unassuming little lovebug. The rescue found a home for her very quickly and I never really heard about her again. However, at the time her new family picked her up from me, I told them to save my phone number, and if for any reason they could not keep her in the future and could not reach the rescue that they got her from, to call me.
That was over 2 years ago. Today I got that call. Bella is now under the care of Walkin' the Bark Rescue. She urgently needs an adoptive home.
Bella is very short and stocky and weighs about 45 lbs. She's rather compact. We're not sure what mix of breeds she is but she looks very much like a giant jack russell. Maybe a bit bulldog, maybe a bit hound--your guess is as good as ours. Below is Bella's original bio back from 2005:
The biggest thing I can say about Bella is that she is very eager to be loved by people. Her eyes light up when she sees you looking at her and she immediately rushes to your side for some loving. She loves loves loves to be petted, and has quickly learned to sit before receiving pets (rather than jumping on people). She has great big, sweetie pie eyes and you can just tell how much she yearns for love. She's not pushy for attention either. All you have to do is look away from her, and she will leave you alone.
She introduced me to one of my neighbors today. We were getting out of the car and she saw a neighbor across the street working on her lawn. She immediately pulled me across the street. Since she's relatively light, I could've easily stopped her, but I felt it was time to get to know that neighbor anyway. When we approached the neighbor, she was extremely well-mannered. She just sniffed a bit and waited to be petted, and did not jump at all. Then she patiently stood my side as I spent the next 10 minutes talking with the neighbor.
We haven't had her for very long, but she has come out of her shell with the other dogs and has begun to play with them. She ran into a cat in a parking lot the other day. They just looked at each other and went their separate ways, so she is probably ok with cats.
Bella is a calm dog and is the ideal temperament for an indoor dog. Having a yard is not necessary as she doesn't seem to require much exercise, though of course some walks would be ideal. She seems to most enjoy sitting by (or perhaps on) you to be petted. She hasn't barked at all, although she did make a kind of whimpering sound when she first arrived and was unsure of her circumstances.
Bella is very low-maintenance. She knows sit and is housetrained. She is also learning to sleep in a crate. She lets me pick her up and roll her over. She doesn't show any food aggression as she allowed a dog expert to put her fingers in her mouth and completely remove a treat (for which she was rewarded with TWO treats of course!). She rides well in a car (with or without a doggie seat belt), and is good on a leash after she gets over her initial excitement of being outside. She also let me dremel her nails and didn't make a big to-do about the strange sound like most dogs do, which really surprised me. She is very responsive to voice correction.
Bella Today:
Bella is exactly as I remember her except she's gained a bit of weight. She is extremely people-oriented. I'm not sure if she remembers us or our home from way back when, but she immediately became content to attach herself to my or my boyfriend's side. Bella is very much a velcro dog, following one or the other everywhere around the house. I don't think there is anything in the world that would make her happier than to simply be near her people.
We were told by her previous family that she slept every night in the young teenage daughter's bed, so she's probably very used to cuddling. She is always looking up at you, ready to soak up any attention you'd like to give her. She still does have the tendency to lift herself up on people for attention (I don't say "jump" because it's really a rather gentle motion), but we've started to correct her on this and with consistency, I don't think it would be long before she learned. We are instead trying to emphasize sitting for petting.
Maybe this will change as she becomes more comfortable, but Bella doesn't seem to be terribly food-motivated. Her biggest motivation seems to be attention and affection from her people. She seems to hate water (except to drink) and we're told she gets frightened of the newspaper. We are reintroducing her to a crate and she is not stubborn about going in at all and lays quietly inside.
Bella is housetrained but we've noticed a tendency to mark new smells (perhaps other dogs' smells) so she should be closely monitored for the first few days as she becomes familiar with the new scents. She appears to get along with other dogs, though she probably hasn't been around them very much in the past. I'm not sure at this point, however, if she's a dog-park kind of dog as she prefers the company of people to other dogs. I don't think she would mind living in a multi-dog household but I think she is comfortable being an only dog and might even prefer it.
Bella would be a great family dog. She is quiet, calm, loyal and extremely devoted to her people. If you're looking for a well-behaved, well-adjusted dog that will be content to simply be your constant companion, Bella is the one.
Bella is going to make somebody an extremely loving dog. Does anyone have some room in their home and heart for her?
If you are interested in adopting Bella, please email your completed Adoption Application. We do request a $200 tax-deductible donation to help cover a portion of each dog's medical expenses. A homecheck will also be required because we do want to be sure that each dog goes to an environment suited to them.
