Belle 14-165

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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Snow White? Nope, that would be Miss Belle. What a beautiful girl she is! Not only great looking, but smart, funny, and extremely loving and loyal. Belle is a gorgeous curly redhead. She loves car rides, people, treats, people, walks, the water, people, cuddling next to anyone and oh yes, people. Belle was raised in a day care setting and we were told she let the kids play all over her. She happily goes to anyone passing by but stays in the unfenced yard.  

I do not know all the circumstances but while Belle was raised with cats,  there was some kind of altercation with a young cat and Belle was surrendered to RAGOM.  When she came to us, she was very unsure.  Imagine if you had lived in a loving home your entire life, was sent to a kennel and then driven several hundred miles away to a new home, people, dogs and routine.  It would be pretty scary.

The first three days she raised her lip and growled at our two resident dogs.  In less than a week, she is playing with them, sleeping beside them and sharing food bowls.  She has full run of the house, has not had an accident and minds perfectly.  Not only is she a looker with manners, she knows lots of commands:  sit, stay, down, bang, your dead, speak and “no”.

Belle does like to carry toys around and while she does not destuff them, I came home after a ballgame one night and there she was on the dog bed with 6 squeakers laying around her and the toy they came out of.  No stuffing pulled out, just squeakers.  Boy, was she proud!

She is the “fairest girl in the land” you know.

At a Glance #14-165

Golden Retriever Born: April 2006
Female 100 lbs

Status: Deceased

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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who Is the Fairest of Them All? Snow White? Nope, that would be Miss Belle. What a beautiful girl she is! Not only great looking, but smart, funny, and extremely loving and loyal. Belle is a gorgeous curly redhead. She loves car rides, people, treats, people, walks, the water, people, cuddling next to anyone and oh yes, people. Belle was raised in a day care setting and we were told she let the kids play all over her. She happily goes to anyone passing by but stays in the unfenced yard.  

I do not know all the circumstances but while Belle was raised with cats,  there was some kind of altercation with a young cat and Belle was surrendered to RAGOM.  When she came to us, she was very unsure.  Imagine if you had lived in a loving home your entire life, was sent to a kennel and then driven several hundred miles away to a new home, people, dogs and routine.  It would be pretty scary.

The first three days she raised her lip and growled at our two resident dogs.  In less than a week, she is playing with them, sleeping beside them and sharing food bowls.  She has full run of the house, has not had an accident and minds perfectly.  Not only is she a looker with manners, she knows lots of commands:  sit, stay, down, bang, your dead, speak and “no”.

Belle does like to carry toys around and while she does not destuff them, I came home after a ballgame one night and there she was on the dog bed with 6 squeakers laying around her and the toy they came out of.  No stuffing pulled out, just squeakers.  Boy, was she proud!

She is the “fairest girl in the land” you know.

Updates

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Belle came to live with us in July of 2014. She was eight years old, and a good 20 pounds overweight, but she was the perfect golden - got used to us and our house quickly. She didn't get up on furniture nor counter surf, and loved to chase a tennis ball in the back yard without us worrying about her wandering off somewhere.

She never had an accident in the house, and only needed to go out at the most four times a day, often only three. She was ready for long walks, though if the weather wasn't the best sometimes she would play "balky mule" and plant all four legs until we turned around and went back. Between the walks and a bit of a reduced diet we got her down to 70 pounds, which seemed to be a good weight for her.

She was supposed to have been my Christmas present, but she bonded with my wife and was her dog, but I was a fairly close second, although our youngest daughter may have beaten me out for that position.

And all of our grandchildren were special to her. Our youngest granddaughter was seriously afraid of dogs, having been frightened by one when she was a toddler, but since her sister got to brush Belle, she wanted to as well. 

Over the next couple of years her fright went away, and she would hug Belle goodbye. In that sense, Belle was much more of a rescue dog than a rescued dog.

Last summer she developed a slight limp, which the veterinarian said was due to something lodged in her foot that was working its way out. Things got better for a while, but then she started to limp much worse, though she would still go for walks. We tried medicine, which didn't help.

By Monday the 14th she suddenly did not want to get up to go out, though she finally would if coaxed. Tuesday my wife and I needed to go to Rochester for a medical issue, so our daughters came down to take her to the vet. She did get up and greet them enthusiastically, but we could see she was in pain.

This time we got an x-ray done, which showed a massive tumor on her left upper leg joint that had spread all the way down the leg. The vet said there was nothing we could do, even to make her comfortable. The girls stayed with her and fed her peanut butter until she gently went to sleep.

We miss her. A lot.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Beautiful Belle has found her fur ever family, and her foster moms, Sherry, and Janet could not be happier for her. Here she is with her new family, and you can see how happy they all are. Congratulations Belle, Pat and Bob!