The Rest of the Story-Bella

Mama's New Girl: La Bella Noche Matzke

 

Charlotte just loves Jake

 Friday dawned with Charlotte energized from her restful night. She did really great in her kennel, but once she was up for the morning, she had Jake worn out by 8 o'clock.He came into the office and tried to hide in the corner. I text-ed Sarah to let her know that she didn't need to come up to meet Charlotte, because I would be taking her back to her old home. Sarah responded that she didn't want me to take her back yet. She said, "What if Charlotte is my dog?"

 A few minutes later she text-ed me that she had been looking at Craigslist for dogs, and she had found a black German shepherd named Buffy. There was another German shepherd also, but when she tried to find it again, each time she clicked on the link..every one of them came up to Buffy's page. Sarah said she would email them about her. Not too long after a woman responded, and Sarah called her and they set up a time for Sarah to come see Buffy. 

 Here is the ad on Craigslist:
This is Buffy! She is a 3yr old black German Shepherd female. She is spayed and up to date on her shots - she was rescued off of the Euthanasia list at the county shelter. Buffy is looking for the perfect home! which may take awhile as she is a very special lady.
She is looking for:
Someone with prior Shepherd experience.
Someone that will go slow with her - she is shy and a little fearful
Someone with a fenced in yard! - she would not be a good apartment dog.
Someone without children younger than the age of eight.

She is a very good girl but needs people willing to go slow and let her come to them - she loves attention but was probably abused in the past and is scared of people at first.

Buffy walks very well on a leash and she rides well in the car. She is crate trained and good with cats and most other dogs (She likes dogs smaller than her best!) She takes treats very gently! Buffy is a kid focused dog who has bounded very well with my 8yr old daughter. I believe once she has time to bond with a family of her own that she will turn out to be quite protective of them!
She has been evaluated by a professional German Shepherd handler who was very impressed with her.

When Sarah arrived, she saw a beautiful black German Shepherd, who had a very sad story. She was frightened of every little sound. She was afraid of men especially. She got along with other dogs and cats, but was extremely shy and startled very easily. No one wanted to adopt such a scared dog. so "Dog Love Rescue" came to the pound and saved Buffy from being killed. She was on the euthanasia list for the next morning, so she really and truly is a miracle rescue story. Marianne, the Adoption Representative, told Sarah that no one had ever been able to get Buffy to come to them so quickly. Sarah called me and said she had paid the adoption fee and was on the way up to Prescott Valley.

Jake and Bella playing

She said "Mom, Buffy was named after Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so she will be your psychic vampire hunter, and I will have Charlotte to always protect me." Of course that caused some tears from us both. They arrived and we allowed the dogs to greet each other slowly, and soon all three were playing together. Charlotte and Buffy are submissive females, and Jake is now the Alpha 2 male (Marty is the main Alpha male). He puffed himself up and made himself taller than Buffy and the pack was formed. 

Everything was going very well, we got home from picking up Charlotte's kennel from her former owners. We let the dogs out and when they came in I put Buffy's leash around the top of our rocking chair just to hod her until we got our Chinese food ready. All of a sudden something spooked Buffy, so she started running, dragging the rocker with her, straight towards the back door. she she did, we heard a huge HISS and that angry meow that comes from cats when they are very unhappy. I was trying to get to Buffy, and looked down and there was Inky, our BIG cat, stuck half way out of the couch. Right then, Charlotte runs over, and Inky swipes at her, makes more screeching sounds and I reached down to help Inky out. She bit me. Sarah put Charlotte out on the back porch as I was lifting the couch up so Inky could get out. When I lifted it, Inky went with it. Somehow she had become stuck in between to bars, as this section of the couch is a recliner. More screeching from Inky, more hissing and the Sarah tried to help her out, only to get bitten also. At this point, Charlotte is outside looking in and barking, Inky is hissing and lashing out, and Jake then steps in and starts to go for Inky because she had bit us. Sarah had to get Jake and put him in the dining room. She comes back and holds the couch while I look to see what Inky is stuck on. I see that her tail and one back leg have gotten between the bars, so I pulled to recliner release and pulled the foot-piece out. Finally Inky was free and she took of like lightening! She did have some bleeding, but we could not entice her to come out from under our bed. Inky will get a bath today sometime after the Viking game.

 

We got Charlotte kenneled for the night, we started thinking of better names for Buffy. That name just didn't fit her personality...she would run from any vampire! We looked up a lot of names but the one that first came to me even before looking on the internet, was Bella. Sarah thought that I meant Bella, as in the Twilight movies, but that wasn't it. The name came to me because Bella means beautiful, and I started saying Bella Noche, which means beautiful night, so that is her new name. 

We checked on Inky, and she was under the covers of our bed, and still was bleeding from somewhere, but she wouldn't let us look. I finally was able to pick her up, and could not find any place that was cut. I put her in the Reiki room and shut the door. Did some work on her for healing and left her in there. About an hour later I heard her meowing, and knew she was finished with her Reiki session! She ran into our room and hid again. The next morning after I made the bed up she was trying to get under the covers, so I put another blanket on top and she was fine hiding on the bed.

Sarah ready to take Charlotte home

Sarah decided to take Charlotte home yesterday to allow her time to get adjusted to the apartment before Sarah had to work today. We got everything she needed for Charlotte and they set off for Phoenix. Charlotte in the front seat head out the window, in total ecstasy. Since Charlotte is a mini-lab her size is perfect for Sarah. She has lots of energy, but now Sarah has a dog who can run with her each morning. It is so cute that she cocks her head just like Ebony used to do when we talked to her. Sarah is very happy to finally have a dog of her own. I am glad that when she does come up that they will all get along.

An interesting tidbit about Charlotte. She lived on Leprechaun Drive, and was born on St. Patrick's Day. She is an Irish dog, and fits right into our family!

 All was quiet and peaceful in the house once again. I brushed Bella and got a lot of her summer coat off and decided to give her a bath, which went very well. She ran around as most dogs do after a bath, and then settled down next to Jake to go to sleep. I went to shower myself and when I returned to the den, Bella was sleeping on the couch, with her head on the pillow, just like Ebony used to do. Jake was on the floor by her, and I settled in my couch position and we all fell asleep after the energy filled day we had.

 
 This morning when Marty was coming home I called him to let him know that he would probably need to approach Bella slowly, as we were told she didn't like men. Well....he came in, and of course Bella went straight to him and wanted attention just like Jake. Anytime she would walk away, she turned right back around and sat closer for more hugs and attention. Instant bond once again. Hallelujah. Finally after the past weeks of trying to find a dog that fit perfectly in our home....Bella is a perfect fit. She needs to grow into her head and feet. She only weighs 60 pounds, and is very thin, much like Jake was when he wandered into our yard so many years ago. We will have her fattened up in no time! I think she's a keeper!!!!

No fear of men here !!!!

Bella is a cuddler!!!!