Seriously, What Amazing Progress...

And so Fluffy Fans, we are nearing the end of the chapter that we met our dear friend Bella. She came to us in September, half starved, naked and scared out of her mind. Soon enough she will leave us to live with her Furever Family. She will become a beloved, cherished and oh, so spoiled family pet. Her life will be filled with new adventures and new people and more love than she ever knew existed. Oh, man, I'm gonna miss her.

This weekend she had one of her best, best, best ever. On Friday, my brother and his wife dropped Jessie off. Jessie has been here at The Lodge before and gotten to meet a couple of the different fosters. She hadn't met Bella yet but by Friday night that changed.

They were racing and chasing and playing ball in the front yard with the other two Labrayahoos that live here. After a while, Jessie found a second ball and was off in a corner by herself destroying it. (Can't wait for spring to come so we can find all the ones buried under the snow).
Mocha and Te'a were playing with the other ball and poor Bella was roaming around the yard with noone to play with.

So...since it was dark and the neighbors couldn't see me. I did what all good parents do and played with their kid. I got down on my hands and knees, slapped the ground and made a little bark at Bella. In no time at all she was off like a shot and ran a circle around the front yard. It wasn't any circle it was flat out, ears pinned back, tail tucked in to prevent "drag" circle around the front yard. She did this again and again. She would loop around and stop at me, bow and bark and take off again. By the time all was said and done, I was on the ground laughing so hard I couldn't bark anymore. My gloves were soaked, my knees were soaked and my cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. I thought we had made excellent progress.

Yesterday, as we had a spare dog in the house, we loaded up and took everybody to the Nashotah Dog Park. Saw a lot of the usuals there - it's going to be wierd going with only two in a few weeks. Te'a did her usual psychotic OCD ball chase. Mocha and Jessie ranged out and Bella heeled behind me. She let some people touch her as we stopped to talk. We ran into another Fluffy Dog Foster who asked if we were going to the event. Oh Whoa - Forgot all about the Fluffy Dog Event at Tail Waggin's Doggy Day Care. Oops. Ran home, got some lunch and re-loaded Bella and Te'a in the car. We left Mo and Jess at home as they were really tired and needed their rest. At the day care party, Bella had more hands on her than ever before. She let anybody and everybody touch her. She wagged, she greeted and she was loved. I thought she had made even more amazing progress.

This morning Steve and Kris stopped over to pick Jessie up and take her home. They walked in the front door and everybody kind of stood in the foyer talking. Steve is six five and wanted to love on his dog. When he squatted down to do that, Bella came over and let him pet her. Again and again and again. When they left, Bella returned to her usual place between the dining room table and the buffet. I thought she made amazing progress.

Not long after they left, the doorbell rang again. Oh, boy, here we go... they're here to meet Bella. All the dogs ran to the front door - yes, all the dogs. Bella came over as we stood around and let them pet her. As I am a good hostess, I welcomed our visitors to have a seat...on my filthy dog-foot-print covered foyer floor. They're dog people. They were down in no time. As we sat around talking, Bella became more and more and more relaxed and pretty soon was laying down on the floor with her head between her front paws with three new people loving on her. We sat and talked for over 90 minutes and after a while took the doggies out to play in the snow and get some air. I thought she made more than awesome amazing progress.

Scott and I talked after they left. Man, she was amazing today; she was amazing this weekend. We were in the family room and Bella was in her usual place under the dining room table. Pretty soon, she was doing laps around the house and stopping to stare in the family room where we were. Pretty soon, she was in the family room and after a little bit, sat down. She sat there for a few moments but while sitting there would jump like she was going to jump up, every time the kids made a noise in another room. After a few minutes of this, she finally laid down and stretched out. Yup. I think she's made amazing progress.

We also made a startling discovery this weekend as to her eating habits. We had a dessert that was made in an aluminum pie pan with some crumblies leftover. I thought Bella might enjoy a treat so I threw some dog chow into it, mixed in an egg and left it for her. She inhaled it. Usually when I give her an egg in her chow, she'll eat but not wolf it. The secret must be in the pie pan. Strange.

Wow. So that's the end of Bella's amazing progress story. Although, I'm sure there will be more. Soon enough she will be moving on to her Furever Home with her new family with her new mistress named, Isabella. Yup.

What amazing progress.