Memorial

Beautiful beautiful Bella.....when we decided to bring a standard poodle into our family, we thought she would be a refined elegant calm creature that would be the opposite of the hunting dog that had just crossed the rainbow bridge.  What we got instead was a lively, comical, intelligent dog that at times was smarter than her owner and loved her people like no other. 

From the time Bella was a pup, she disliked car rides, often sleeping on the floor board,  but she always loved the destination once we arrived.  We usually ended up at the beach or some body of water where  Bella loved to chase balls or sticks or just run in and out of the waves. When she was very young, I came home one afternoon to find her covered in mud.  She and her brother had gone through the doggy door and spent the afternoon playing in a puddle then came back inside to take a nap. The entire room was covered in muddy puppy paw prints, but their cuteness outweighed the mess!   As Bella got older,  it never failed that if it was raining, she would just go stand outside getting soaked then come back inside and happily show us that she was wet--all smiles like it was some joke!! I'd often get a towel and dry her off, then she'd go back outside and we'd start the whole process again! She would just prance around in circles and show off like she was so proud of herself! She definitely was a lover of water! 

Bella also loved to play ball, but it was always on her terms and timetable. If you said the word ball, and she was in the mood, she would hunt one until it was found then bring it to you. But most of the time, she would decide when she was ready and randomly bring you a ball to play fetch. She could also easily catch one in the air. Sometimes, she would  decide to just play by herself by tossing the ball or dropping the ball over and over then fetching it and then doing it again.  Lately, this had become a late night ritual she would do right before we went to bed, always with a smile on her face and a look of approval like she was really impressed with herself!  And she should have been. 

A creature of habit,  Bella spent every night in our bed.  I would just ask her if she was ready to snuggle and she would head to our bedroom. Once in bed, Bella would climb up between my husband and me and lay as close to me as possible.  Then I'd rub her side and she would wrestle around on her back and paw at me for more loving.  When she decided she was through though, she would go lay at my husband's feet for the remainder of the night. If he got in her space, she would get grumpy and growl at him, so he learned to stay still. She had us all trained well! We sure miss our girl at night now.  The bed is lonely without her. 

From the get go, Bella wasn't a people person and so when we had anyone over, she was often territorial and unfriendly.  We often said that it was because we didn't socialize her properly, but it was probably just the poodle in her. But her personality changed at the end of her life.   Right before spring break, our healthy pup started feeling really bad. She had emergency surgery and a cancerous tumor was removed along with her spleen. We were told to just enjoy Bella for the time she had left. Postsurgery,  we took Bella to the beach for a week  and while there, she had a resurgence of energy and vigor.  We had a hard time keeping her out of the ocean on walks and she had the attitude and appetite of her much younger self. We recognized this as a huge blessing, but there was an even bigger blessing in store.  While there, Bella decided that our 8 year old granddaughter was now her very best friend.  Bella followed her everywhere, snuggled with her and made our granddaughter the happiest girl in the world. We documented the first time Bella climbed on the couch with our granddaughter, and both girls have the happiest smiles.  God was so good to our family that day. We continued to have the best vacation and then came home to have her healthy and happy for 5 more months.  We are thankful for that additional time. 

Our sweet Bella lived her best life and loved our family with gusto and humor up until the end.  She was miss personality and the absolute best gift from God.  We miss her pretty crossed paws when she was lounging and her happy dancing paws when she was excited.  We miss her snuggles when she climbed in your lap and sideways glances when she disapproved.  We miss her barking at dogs on tv including cartoon dogs like Bluey. And we just miss her presence in our home, that flash of black fur walking across the room or clicking nails across the floor.  But we are also grateful for the time we had with her.  God blessed us with a pup that provided so much more than we could have ever hoped for in Bella.