Bella (Annabelle)

Her original owners called her Bella (on her ID chip) and at some point moved, and gave her away.  At some point after that she was found as a stray and the shelter asked Old Dog Haven to take her so she ended up in our Final Refuge home.  She had a very bad ear infection, and a very inflamed, infected toe.  At some point in her life the toe next to the inflamed toe had been amputated.

After months of treatment, her ear infection was under control and finally cured!  Her toe was a different story and after many attempts to treat it, the best course of action was to remove it.  Her toe was amputated and she wore a cone for a couple of weeks.  The good news is that she recovered very quickly and the only lasting effect was a slight limp.  We discovered that she can move very fast when she wants to!  She hurtles down our stairs to get to the kitchen in the morning as she is very food oriented!

Annabelle is a feisty dog as our vacuum cleaner head can testify!  If it gets too close then it soon discovers its mistake!

As far as we can tell, Annabelle is deaf.  She does not respond to voices or any other noise, except very loud car or truck engines, in which case she will bark.  She will also bark at anything that she sees that moves!  The good news is that as she has come to know our neighborhood her barking has decreased somewhat.

She is a happy dog and is very enthusiastic about most things, particularly anything involving food!  We found that she likes going for walks, but is less enthusiastic if it rains!  She enjoys wandering around our garden.

Early on, she decided to become her foster dad’s velcro dog and stays by his side as much as she can.  She sleeps near his chair while he works in his home office, and is always ready to provide help with snacks, no matter the time!

Update:  This dear old girl’s health failed her after close to two years, and her family had to say goodbye.  It was a joy to see her zest for her new life and she will be greatly missed.