4/17/08 - Bella has been doing well.  She lost her appetite for a few days, but we realized we had switched the can food brand. Once we switched back to the original one we were using, her appetite came right back (of course with shredded cheese thrown on top).  and she loves cheese omelets!  Spoiled Girl!She is showing much more interest in being in our Livingroom.  We still keep her separated because she gets so excited around our resident boxer and we still need to keep her subdued.  She is finally giving foster dad the kidney bean dance.  And when she first comes out of her crate in the morning she will walk over to each of us to say "good morning".  Over the weekend we tried keeping her in the front yard while several of the neighbors and their kids were out - but it made her way too nervous.  She would not come out from hiding behind foster dad on the front stoop.  No barks yet, but when Max started barking like crazy at a strange dog in our front yard, Bella joined in with a howl - it was great to hear!!!

4/12/08 - Bella is pending adoption

4/7/08 - We are now entering our 4th week of Bella’s recovery and she is doing GREAT!!  She lost her appetite for a few days, but giving her some tasty treats (bread) in her food bowl with her meals put her right back on track!  She is doing much better outside.  Whereas before if she saw or heard
someone she didn’t know, she’d want to go right back in side; now a simple, “c’mon, do your business”, keeps her on track and she finishes out her “potty walk” without any interruptions.  She is showing great interested in wanting to stay outside a little longer.  She gets very excited when I come home from work.  When she hears my car pull into the driveway, she’s starts dancing and wiggling and getting so excited.  So much so that foster dad needs to have her in her crate, rather than in her room before my pending arrival home, at least until her recovery is complete.  She has made such great strides in the month she’s been with us.  She’s a completely different gal than she was when she arrived and we anticipate that as her recovery ends, her improvements will just be even greater. 

3/25/08 - We are into the 2nd week of the HW treatment/recovery and things are progressing nicely.  Bella  is such a darling to have around.  If we were going to adopt a 2nd dog, she would be THE ONE.  By being patient with her timid-ness and just letting her be who she is, without pushing her too far or too fast, she is finally getting comfortable in her own skin.  She has a great personality that is starting to shine through.  She’s showing signs of wanting to be more active AND interactive, and that’s a big no, no right now with the HW recovery.  So now we’ve gone from trying to pull her out of her shell, to keeping her in her shell for a few more weeks.  We can’t wait till she’s recovered, just to see how much fun she can be!  The vet thinks that she may have been “self sedating” herself so to speak with all those nasty heartworms in her system.  So between getting rid of those nasty invaders and her feeling comfortable and safe, we are sure after the recovery period is over, we will start having some great adventures! 

3/19/08 - Bella underwent her 2nd treatment yesterday and everything went well.  She’s lost a little of her spunk, but I’m sure that will return after her recovery.  Everyone who met her at the vet was just falling in love with her.  She’s still showing no ill-effects from the treatment and we are going to be keeping a close eye on her over the next several weeks as well as keeping her calm and quiet.  She wasn’t very hungry last night, but ate very well this morning!  Max, our resident boxer was very happy to see her back.  He went up to her crate and bowed down to almost his full belly with his nubby wagging just looking at her.  But he did not bark or show over-excitement
 (maybe he understands what she’s going through?).  We’ll keep you informed of how her recovery is
 progressing.  Thank you for keeping her in your thoughts and prayers.
 

3/18/08 - Bella’s first heartworm treatment went well yesterday.  I dropped her off, but Foster Dad picked her up last night as I had school right after work.  She ate a little for him and rested quite nicely the rest of the night.  Today her appetite was in full force and she gobbled up a HUGE breakfast.  She is showing no-ill effects from the treatments so far.  Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she continues her treatment/recovery.  And we'll be back with more updates.

3/15/08 - Cute Bella Story:  Bella has shown ZERO interest in furniture.  Her room has a couch that the dogs are welcome to sit on.  But she has always preferred the big fleece pillow on the ground or the bear skin rug.  Well, she was in her room 2 days ago.  Foster Dad was stepping up and over the gate to go in the room and accidentally bumped the gate making an unexpected noise.  Bella instead of  just startling or cowering jumped onto the couch for safety.  When I came downstairs I saw her on the couch and was amazed she had gotten up there. Foster Dad explained what happened.  Well guess what her FAVORITE place to stay is now.  You guessed it...the couch and the down comforter that's on it for the dogs.  The look on her face is like "this is sooooo COZY, why didn't I think of it sooner"!

3/14/08 - We are so sorry for the delay in this write-up.  We’ve had some urgent situations happen and everything on our “to do” list got bumped down several lines.
Bella has been progressing wonderfully.  She is giving me but wiggles and excited greetings when I come home.  Still not so with foster dad, but she is finally relaxed enough around him to eat for him and go pee and poop on potty runs for him.  We’ve raised the noise level around her and she is adapting just fine to the frequent “roars” in our house.  She is eating a mix of dry and wet food and is gaining needed weight. She still loves her slices of cheese!!  She is very comfortable with us now.  We even got her to sit in the living room for a little while.  She was not relaxed like she is in her crate or room, but she handled it all well considering.  She still startles at unexpected noises in the house, but does not cower or run to a corner to hide.  Our 14 year old nephew came by for a few hours and she was okay with him.  She did not venture out of her opened crate, but she was not necessarily hiding there. We’ve also had some repairmen coming and going too.  So she is much better at meeting new people on her home turf.
We had her at the vet for her well visit.  She is definitely extremely timid in new situations.  I had to carry her into the car and carry her in and out of the vet’s office, as she would not BUDGE.  Now for the bad news; our little Bella is heartworm positive.  So now that she is finally coming out of her shell and showing signs of animated life, we have to keep her subdued and calm.  She will have her treatments on Mon & Tues and will be staying with us for her full convalescence, which we don’t mind because she is such a fantastic guest.  We’ll be sure to keep you informed about her HW treatment and recovery and hope to bring you lots of positive stories about Bella.

3/6/08 - Bella is still as quiet as ever.  It is taking her a while to come out of her shell.  We recommend her being in a home that does not have a lot of noise and activity.  She is doing well with us (2 adults, a 6 yr old boy and resident boxer).  But multiple kids with a lot of noise and activity could be too much for her.  She is still going into her crate overnight and during the day when we are home she is babygated in our sunparlor and she seems to prefer this.  We tried giving her full roam of the house over the weekend but she preferred curling back up into her open crate.  We think she sees being “enclosed” as being safe.  It could take her a while to build up the security to just hang out in the LR. 
She does get nervous and flinches/startles at any loud unexpected noise, especially metallic in sound.  I banged the spoon on the dog food can to get it all out and have learned I cannot do this near Bella.   When she has this “nervous reaction”, she tries to run into a corner or cowers down.  No biting or nipping from the fear, which is good.  So we just ignore her during her reaction, so as not to reward it.  I’ll stand there calmly and let her re-approach me when she realizes everything is a-okay. 
She has finally worked up an appetitive!! It is only for canned dog food and cheese slices right now.  But we’re going to start gradually introducing dry into the wet food.  We're just happy that she'll finally start adding on a few pounds.
She shows more apprehension towards males than females.  She met a husband/wife couple from up the street and was okay with them (probably sensed they were dog lovers – they have 3 themselves).  However when she met a dad and his 12 year old son up the street, she was quite fearful and just stuck like glue to my husbands leg and couldn’t wait to get back into the house. 
She does like Max, our Boxer.  If I go up to the babygate and he is with me they both get excited about being pet.  It looks like she is trying to do the kidney bean dance.  It was such a relief to finally see this!  We think she would fare well with another boxer who wants to be the leader. We’re not sure how well she would do with a young “all I want to do is play” boxer though, as she prefers to lie quietly nearby her humans.
Our 14 year old nephew is coming by for a few hours this weekend, so we will see how she does meeting an older boy on her “home turf”.  We’ll keep you posted on her progress!

2/28/08 - Oh My Gosh... we’re so excited, Bella finally wagged her nubby!  Whenever we talk to her she usually just lifts her head up from the pillow, if that. Last night she stood up when I talked with her and when I put my hands out and said "come here", it was the first time she voluntarily walked towards me and wanted me to pet her and that's when I saw the nubby wiggle!!  We are so excited!  It’s taken her 4 days before she could muster up the courage to start feeling safe enough to show some happiness!
This little girl is so timid.  She never barks.  I don’t know if it’s just the way she is or  if someone or something caused her to be this way.  She just lies curled up on her big fleece pillow until she's hungry or has to go to the bathroom.  So when she stands up, we know she needs something.  She seemed a bit nervous the first few days when leash walking, but now she is starting to relax.
When we put her food down she won't eat it for at least an hour or two or more (even covered in plain yogurt).  But when she’s ready, she will eat it all in one feeding.  If she hears any loud noise or voice, she cowers (looks like in fear).  So we are using our "library" voice with her at all times.  We are planning a “field trip” for Max (resident boxer), so we can observe her behavior for an extended period of time with full access to our house, us and our 6 year without our  90 lb. over-exuberant boxer interfering.  We’ll let you know how things progress.  In the meantime, we are very happy to be giving this sweetheart everything she needs to feel safe and loved.

2/26/08 - What can I say...Bella is so easy to have around.  She is sweet, quiet and undemanding.  All she wants is a nice cozy, warm place to stay.  She hasn't barked once yet.  And we are dying to see some butt wiggles, but nothing so far.  She seemed so sad when she came to us.  We hope that with some time to build trust in us and her surroundings that her true personality will show through.  She is content with being behind a babygate in our sunparlor right next to our LR.  She loves curling up on a big fleece pillow our son had made.  We put her in the crate overnight...which she isn't happy about going in, but she has no problem staying there once she's in.   And we crate her when we are not home.  I think she can move up to just being babygated over night and probably wouldn't have a problem with being left out in her forever home. But we take these steps slowly and cautiously with all of our fosters.  She is housetrained.  She is not an active dog in any sense at this point.  We'll see if that changes as she becomes accustomed to her surroundings.  I think she wouldn't mind a quiet household, or if it's an active loud one - I think she would be good if she had a safe zone to stay in.  Loud noises frighten her and she cowers if you approach her loudly and unexpectedly so we have learned to approach her in a way that doesn't frighten her.  She walks well on leash, but is not showing any need or desire to expend energy.  She is a very skinny little thing...I think she lost a lot of weight while she was in the shelter. Hopefully after we fatten her up a bit (an easy accomplishment in our household), she'll have more energy to be herself.  We'll keep you posted on how things develop. In the meantime, we are enjoying having her around.  

2/23/08 - Bella has arrived at the Boxer Resort & Spa and this is indeed a girl who needs some sweet loving.  She hasn't made one peep yet.  She is quietly laying on the rug near me while I'm typing.  I think she will be relieved to be in a nice, warm, safe home tonight.  She is not showing any issues towards our Boxer (whom she has seen through the babygate) or our 6 year old.  We've been told she has no issues with cats either. 
She's not interested in dinner yet.  We put some plain yogurt over her dry kibble and she licked a little bit of it up.  She definitely needs to put on a few pounds.  So we'll offer her some tasty treats until she gains her appetite back and puts on some needed weight.
We'll keep you updated on her progress.  I'm sure as soon as she starts feeling more comfortable in her new surroundings, we'll see her personality come through.