Bella Bear

by Erica
(British Columbia, Canada)

I love my 11 month old Rottie (Bella) and commonly refer to her as my fur baby. She is a beautiful, calm, lap loving, kiss giving, belly rub seeking goof all wrapped into one.

Sometimes however, my perfect pup gets the "puppy crazies" and takes off like a flash, running in circles and hitting a play stance every 5 seconds, especially when she has something in her mouth she knows she's not allowed to have.

Well, about a month ago, we (miss B and I) were at the local school playing ball, and all was going wonderful until she found some child's poor abandoned glove. Nose to the ground, just touching the glove, she looked up at me as if to say "it's on". And just like that she took off, glove in mouth.

After several attempts to call her in my strongest 'COME' voice and "DROP IT" command, I resorted to shaking the treats I had in my pocket and calling her in the most upbeat persuasive voice I had. By this point, my beautiful calm loving puppy had turned into a little terror and was grabbing any garbage she could that was left behind from school lunches and sports players.

She was getting the best of me and no matter how much running toward her or away from her I managed, I would not be able to catch her. She was in a full blown game of keep away.

Frustrated, I gathered up the balls, throwing stick, treats and my keys and headed for the car. She watched me carefully as I made my way to the car but still did not follow. As I reached the car and tossed the toys in the trunk, I noticed her trotting towards me. Still annoyed and more than a bit hurt that Bella wasn't listening to me, I opened the backseat car door and then hopped in the front.

I started the car, yelled "goodbye" out the window, and started to (slowly) back out of the parking spot. As I turned my head to the left to check where she was, a blur of black fur shot right past me and dove into the backseat like a superhero on a mission.

Foot on the brake I turned around to tell her off but all I could see was her big brown eyes and panting tongue hanging out the side of her mouth, after just making the sprint of her life and dive to home base in order to not be left behind.

All I could do was burst out into laughter and shake my head as I closed the backseat door and admired my little rascal.