Sunday, November 7, 2010

Benvenuta Bella! Welcome Beautiful!

We've a new beauty in our home, the lovely Bella. My husband and I have been talking about getting another dog for a few months now: "Oh, when we move"... or "When we get a bigger house." He showed me Bella on online and I just couldn't get her off my mind. She's supposed to be a Shepherd mix and I'm not really a big dog person but she looked so much like my husband's old dog that I was just sure he would love her. He wasn't really serious about

getting her but I just really wanted to see what she was like.

I wouldn't dare take a grown dog without bringing her home first to see how she was with the kids and our other dog, so I arranged to have her come for the evening last night and she's been with us ever since. I expect her former owner will want to take her back at least to say goodbye, but it seems like she’s ours! She is so great with the kids and comes from a family with two children, one being a one-year-old which is nice that she’s used to babies. She also doesn’t give two hoots about our dog Sam. Sam can be aggressive to other dogs especially ones that are vying for my husband’s attention. He’s very protective and doesn’t like Bella to go near my two daughters. He’s not so protective of my son, but that’s probably because he’s bigger.

We love Sam but he isn’t the most easy going dog. He’s great with the kids which we are so grateful for and is really the most important thing when you have pets and children but he runs away the first chance he can. He’ll come back for my husband sometimes if he’s already had a little run, but he barely ever listens to me. We have 3 acres of land so he loves to explore it and he never runs more than 1/2 km from the house but he’s a car chaser and we’re so afraid he’s going to get hit. We’ve considered the electric fence but keep saying we’ll get it for our new home. Mind you we’ve been talking about moving for 2 years now and we’re still here.

Sam will also get into garbage, compost etc but if we specifically say “No” then he’s pretty good to listen. He used to have a disgusting habit of eating our daughter’s dirty diapers but he’s kinda gotten out of that now that he’s older. When he was a younger, I’m not sure if he was a puppy or maybe over a year old, our glass outdoor table blew over and broke and no word of a lie, he ate the broken glass. It’s the kind of glass that doesn’t shard, but it was still like eating sharp rocks. It’s amazing he’s still around really. He jumped out of our car window while we were driving 100 km an hour and got away with just some road rash. I was holding him in my lap, and looking back I think if I hadn’t been holding the leash or had let go immediately, he might have gone straight under the car tires and well, he might not be here. He also does many other annoying things like scratch at the door to get in even though he knows that I won’t let him in unless he barks. I’ve trained him to do bark on command but he reverts to his instinctual scratching. What is with that anyways? Why do so many dogs scratch to get in? He’s a good boy though for the most part.

Bella seems like she’s much more laid back. She’s also more cuddly and affectionate. With Sam if you try to rub him down or scratch him he just gets all excited and wants to lick you or play or get in your face. Bella will gently put her head on your lap and snuggle in. She’s even done this with my son who was tickled pick with that because even though Sam will play and is good with the kids he’s just not that kind of dog. I feel bad for him because he’s getting a lot of scolding for growling at Bella and I’m sure he feels so threatened right now but I know he’ll get over it. He was the same way with my sister-in-law’s dog and now they are the best of buddies. Right now he’s preoccupied with some perceived threat outside and he’s hasn’t growled or bothered with Belle since they came in from their nighttime potty. I think it’s because the outside light which usually only comes on by motion sensor is set to stay on and he’s really smart, he probably thinks there is something out there to make it turn on. I should turn it off and see what he does.

Ha ha just what I thought. He spent a few more minutes looking out the window, then moseyed on down the hall to his bed, ohh, back for one more look, and gone again. He’s just too smart and that’s what frustrating about him, he knows when he is doing wrong but chooses to do it anyways :). Like us all at times I guess.

Bella seems to like to lie down next to wherever you are and that’s what she’s doing right now. Sam has finally decided there really is nothing outside and has gone to flake out on the couch. Me? I’m going to bed, Char out.

2 comments:

  1. Your family keeps expanding!

    Bella sounds like a sweet dog. Maybe she'll be a postive influence on Sam :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's what we're hoping Hilary. I was amazed this morning when she saw Army Reserves marching on our street and just went to the end of the driveway, barked, and came as soon as I called her. So refreshing. Sam would have gone nuts!!! PS.. come March this family is complete, fer sure... I think.

    ReplyDelete

To protect mine and my family's privacy, comments with identifying information will be edited. Comments will also be edited for obscenities.