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Bella is Finally Home

Getting a new dog is hard. Leo died in April. He had been my dog for eleven years. Losing him was sad. 
After he died, I thought I'd wait for a long time to get another dog. No other dog would be Leo. A month later I missed having a dog to take care of and to play with and to walk...I found a new dog. 
Bella came home from the animal shelter a month, to the day, after I'd lost Leo. 

 She looks like Leo. One day a neighbor mistakenly called her Leo. 
Leo
Bella
But Bella isn't Leo...
She snores.
She doesn't like to wake up in the morning. 
She doesn't like Cheerios. 
She loves her crate.
She is much quieter.
She loves the dog park.
She loves kids.


I worried she wouldn't bond with me. I was comparing Leo, who lived with me for eleven years, to Bella...who just came home. She had abandonment fears. It took her awhile to let me in. Slowly I saw changes in her. She would sit closer and closer to me. She would come up on my bed...but I could still see resistance. 

 This week has seen more breakthroughs. The biggest is her bed. Since I brought her home, Bella has resisted going to her bed. She would drag it out into the middle of the room and play with it, like a toy...until this week. Bella is finally sleeping in her bed. 
When she settles down, she goes to her bed. 
I've been training her to know it's her bed and she's finally listening. 
Seeing her settled and safe makes me happy. I think Bella finally knows that she is home. 
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Comments

  1. jan godown anninoJanuary 2, 2015 at 10:41 PM

    I fee like I know both Leo & Bella with this post Michelle.
    It's evocative, helping me remember how we thought our Ginger, the cat, could never replace our Yukon, the cat..)
    And I like your list poem.
    It's a treat to meet you & your pages at the New Year, via Poetry Friday.

    j a n / Bookseedstudio

    ReplyDelete

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