Bella's story

I didn't want a dog! A dog is a lot of work, responsibility, and is very time consuming. When Lady died, I bought a kitten to be my companion. A kitten is fun and playful, and quickly becomes an aloof cat, which doesn't thrive on your constant attentions, yet will be there to greet you when you come home.




And so, for the last 8 months, Wimsie and I have been comfortably cohabiting together with no intention of changing our status quo in any which way.



But fate has a wry sense of humor, and I find myself sitting on my couch tonight, with lovely Bella curled up beside me, occasionally letting out a little sigh of content.



This is Bella's story:



Bella is an English Cocker Spaniel, and up until two weeks ago, she was part of a happy little family somewhere in Coteau Landing (close to the Ontario border). For Bella, life was good, but for the little family, although Bella was loved, she didn't fit in with their lives and they had decided to give her away, hopefully to someone who would give her the love and care that she truly deserved. They put an ad on Kijiji, describing her as a pure bred Cocker female, not yet sterilized, looking for a home, and on and on... The lady answering the ad seemed nice enough, but in fact, it was Cruella Deville! Her only interest in Bella was her ability to churn out little Cocker Spaniel puppies. She picked up Bella and took her to her home, where she kept all her dogs in cages outdoors behind the house. But Bella is smart and quick, and when an opportunity showed itself, she escaped. Far from home, cold, hungry, full of fleas, coat all matted and full of burs, this brave little dog showed up at the home which houses our offices, about 6 kilometers from her captors. She still had her original collar on, with her name and a phone number on the medal hanging from it. Debbie at the office carried the dog upstairs and into my office, asking me for help with this doggie. It was hard to understand how an owner would let their dog get in such a terrible condition, yet put a lovely pink collar on her. Something wasn't right, and once I got the original owner on the phone, we were eventually able to piece her story together. The puppy mill will be investigated by the authorities and hopefully shut down. Meanwhile, Bella's fate remained with me. I brought Bella home to Farnham on the weekend where she officially became part of the Gillett household. Welcome home, Bella! May you spend the rest of your life happy in our midst - we will never let you down.



Turns out we get along amazingly well. Bella is highly energetic and loves to run, so she has become my daily running companion. She is sweet, gentle, loving, quiet, clean, and loves to play with Wimsie. She is also the reason that I have to leave work on time every day, if I have to do extra work; I must bring it home with me. Not a bad deal! I could get used to not working overtime so much…..