Bella
Bella is an 8 year old, 9 pound chihuahua. She is up to date on vaccinations, spayed, and has had a dental. Bella has now been in rescue for 1.5 years! Our longest yet.
Bella was rescued from a high kill shelter in Quebec; her time was up. We decided to give her a chance. She came to us very fearful and aggressive—so much so that she's now nicknamed Bitey Bella.
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We definitely could not get close to her at first as she would bite out of fear and she was fast with her full mouth of teeth. She is also a flight risk so her foster parents had to have the yard Bella-proofed!
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As time went on, we learned to really watch her and assess her body language (those ears are her tell) so we would not get bitten. We noticed, of course, that she loved her food but the problem was she wouldn't chew it. She just gulped it down (it's still a bit of a problem)!
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Her fosters started to give her high-value treats as a motivator to get close to her and worked on this daily. They got to a point where they could finally pick her up and carry her—which she loves!!
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Bella originally had issues with housetraining but has learned to use a peepad.
She doesn't like the cold, so when she arrived in the wintertime, it was hard to train her outside as the snow was very deep. She now has her own little outhouse in house with an entrance and she comes down from the loft to pee and poop when she needs. There have been no issues since!
We do block areas of the house and have her dog beds (PLURAL) around for her when we are out. She does not need a crate but there have been no issues in her crate while traveling.
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She has her person and that is her foster dad. She is his shadow! She loves to kiss him and lick his ears when she wants attention. This is not the same Bella we got over a year ago!
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Bella is very difficult to walk on leash. She loves to put on her collar and go for walks but barks at ever person or vehicle! She gets her exercise in the back yard and loves to be outside but again will bark at anyone walking on the path.
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She is very playful with her toys and loves to provoke you to take it from her with lots of sound effects. She is not the kind of Dog you can grab, snuggle, kiss and rub all over; however, she does get her routine morning rub down from Her Person and she makes sure she gets it. Her foster dad will get his face licked and she is very vocal with grumbling until he does it. One thing is for sure—she does love getting her ears rubbed!
This girl is loving life on her terms and that's OK.
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If you feel like you might be the person to give Bella the right home, please submit an application!
