Bella: Our Lovely New Dog

[jesse_the_k]

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Bella has burrowed her way into our hearts. Last week the Underdog Rescue placed Bella in our care. We've enjoyed every moment of our time with her.

She's a remarkably lovely dog. She's a young adult, though we don't know her exact age. She herded all the children in her first Madison placement , so we suspect she's got some Border collie in the mix. Her fur looks black from a distance but up close it's a deep brown; so maybe there's some chocolate lab heritage. We're thrilled with how easy* she is:

• She greets everyone with a wiggle and a kiss, genuinely pleased to meet new people and dogs.


• Her fur is as soft as a rabbit's coat, and she's so soothing to pet.


• She enjoys playing, walking, and sleeping equally.


• When she sleeps, she emits comforting snores, snuffles, and wheezes.


• She came to us already potty- and crate-trained


• She already knows "sit," "no," "come," and "drop it." In less than 10 days she's well on her way to "down," "hupup," and "off."

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*: We assumed all dogs were challenging after 14 years with Teddy the Neurotic, then 15yrs with Lucy the Alpha Bitch.

Comments

[chanter1944]

:D! That is all. *can't help speaking in 'dog voice', as in, person talking to puppydog* Hi baby.*

Okay, that's not entirely all. The everyone greeted with a wiggle and a kiss sounds like chocolate lab heritage, too. I know collies can be sweeties themselves, but... labby bias, me? Why neeeever.

*Bella, not you. If I talk to you like that, you're well within your rights to call me on it! :)

[j00j]

I'm glad this pup is a good fit for you so far!

[littlebutfierce]

Eeeeee yay!!!

[were_duck]

Oh my goshhhhhhhhh :D :D :D

[capri0mni]

Puppy!

Okay, not "puppy," but --

PUPPY!!

[sonia]

What a sweetness! Wishing you all much joy!

[davidgillon]

Puppy <3 !

[lilysea]

Yay! ^_^

She sounds lovely! ^_^

[umadoshi]

She looks and sounds wonderful! *^^*

[dogstar]

The brown in labs (ie chocolate) doesn't work that way - there could totally be lab in the mix, but it wouldn't show up as 'some brown on a black coat'. :D From the photos, i tmay be sunburn (natural sunbleaching, which can be intensified by nutritional deficiencies) on her coat OR possibly a coloration called "seal" which is a super weird color that no one can figure out genetically. It's most common in pit bulls, but it also pops up in a small number of other breeds. I think she's probably sunbleached though.

[susanreads]

Pretty doggie!

Nerd time: is the photo placement (one floating left, one floating right) deliberate? I like the effect on my reading page, but here - which I guess is site style - not so much. There are bullet points on top of the first photo and the second one drops down alongside this comment box / the first comment. Perhaps a bug in site style?

[jesse_the_k]

It was my feeble attempt to place the pix side by side. (I searched for "img left margin HTML" and used the first code which popped up. And that code probably permits the text flow, which would be useful in some cases. I'd be thrilled to learn of a better approach (or pointed to a resource)

[jesse_the_k]

Fabulous info! Thanks. Re: sunburn, is this merely cosmetic or evidence of being chained out for too long?

[susanreads]

Ah, is that hand-carved HTML? I thought it was CSS. The trouble with style attributes in HTML is that different browsers are liable to treat them differently. I would recommend adding hspace=10 (or some other number) to the <img> attributes, to put some space in there so it doesn't collide with your bullet points ... but on somebody else's browser it might be too much.

I don't know how to clear the float at the end of the post, so that it doesn't overlap the comments, without using CSS, but a <br clear=both> might do it, at the expense of extra white-space.

[dogstar]

It *can* be 'omg was an outdoor' dog but it's just as common for it to just be a Thing That Happens.

She sounds like an awesome dog.

[kalmn]

They're all puppies. PUPPY!

[bibliofile]

Neat! Does the same info apply to cats too? My housemate's two cats were both black, one with shiny, brown-black fur and the other with a softer, blue-based black fur.

(In fabric dyeing you get either a brown-based black or a blue-based black, depending on the fabric & chemicals used, so I thought it was funny that these cats illustrated each type.)


YAY NEW PUPPY!!!!! Sounds like a peach. if you get her in a large enough group, would she herd grownup humans too?

[capri0mni]

Indeed!

[jesse_the_k]

I would love to bring her to lobbycon to see, but I doubt that will be permitted.

(Another weird thing about Santa Fe. Everybody brought their pet dogs everywhere. Grocery stores!)

[jesse_the_k]

Yep! I'm 100% happier with her in the room.

[jesse_the_k]

Zanks. Forgot just how wonderful life can be with one more dog in it.

[jesse_the_k]

:))))

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks. She's already brought at least a month-load of joy in the last week. :,)

[jesse_the_k]

She has that lovely wiggly puppy quality, and we can't pin down her age, so sure PUPPY is just swell.

As long as she can stare at you while you're cooking, you can call her anything you like :,)

[jesse_the_k]

I think she's the best possible mix -- a "curb setter" of the highest quality. Nothing wrong with wiggling & kisses, although I could do with a little less drool. A price I'm willing to pay.

[jesse_the_k]

So are we!

[jesse_the_k]

We're gleeeeeeeful.

[jesse_the_k]

Yeah. Hope you get a chance to pet her, she's ... truly indescribably. soft.

[capri0mni]

And, of course, I'm now at the age where I think of any human under the age of 25 as a kid, bordering on "little," so:

PUPPY! (puppy-puppy-puppy-PUPPY!!)

[rainbow]

awwww <3 <3 <3

happies!

[chanter1944]

If ever I get the chance to meet this wiggly kissy softy mix, I strongly suspect I will be meeeeeelted in ridiculously short order. :) I only wish you could bring her to WisCon...

[jesse_the_k]

Hmmm. I'm certain she could make a star appearance! If you're within 50 miles, she might even fly in for a meet&greet — PM me.