BELLA: We’ve loved every minute together

[jesse_the_k]

On day one, she was beautiful, and brave, and ready to cuddle. She was underweight, so her sleek black-and-brown body just fills an oval bed. Staring right at the camera with hope and trepidation, her stuffed alligator rests in front.

Today was her last day.

She’d been low energy, placing herself right in my path so I had to prompt her to move between rooms. Message sent: pay attention! Message received: Two vet visits and an expert ultrasound sonography later, we learned last Monday of an aggressive tumor on her spleen. Chances were poor she’d survive anesthesia, much less exploratory surgery. Even though the vets all loved her, she didn’t want to spend any more time there.

Since then we’ve been showering her with love.

Sunday she inspected a concrete coyote, placed on Lake Mendota’s Spring Harbor beach. Ideally, the coyote terrifies the ducks, so they don’t befoul the sand with their endless poop. Bella positioned her nose in the slot where the genuine fur tail is attached to concrete coyote's body. I don't know if she realized that it was a decoy, a sophisticated concept for a loving creature whose brain is smaller than a walnut. She surely was puzzled by its lack of scent.

Monday she had treats and peanut-butter—filled Kongs and visits to her favorite places. Today the most excellent vet came to our home for the final act. We’re sad, and we’re glad she hasn’t had to revisit the long months of suffering from back in 2019-20.

She’s always been a socially skilled dog—finding just the right way to interact with young puppies and slow-moving white-haired oldsters and all the animals in between. Her brain and quick reflexes let her capture squirrels and chipmunks, yet she’d drop her prize on command. Some days her dog park visits were about providing strange humans with love opportunities. Other times it was about sniffing the fences for rodents.

Greatest hits: Nine photo posts from our lives together

She came into our lives in February 2016, and I never stopped taking her picture. She graced our living room and helped me exercise and played with toys in the cottage up north or closely supervised MyGuy raking the yard. I’ve stretched out to video as well, where she gently played with a 6-month pup or explored the deeply strategic game "stick" with MyGuy.

She loved riding in the car, and was an excellent companion on our snowbirding and Up North travels.

Back in September 2019, she got very sick with immune-mediated hemolytic anemia. She withstood six months of intense drug treatment and managed to bounce most of the way back: the illness and treatment fast-forwarded her from a middle-aged to a senior dog. Her zoomies never lasted more than 2 minutes, but she continued to be her sweet, loving, mellow self.

She’ll live in our hearts (and my icons) forever.