Age & Sex: 8 yr. old Female	UTD: Yes
Weight: 50 lbs.	Other Dogs: Yes   Cats: Unknown
Color: Fawn	Children under 5: Yes
Ears: Natural	Children over 5: Yes
Tail: Docked	Mandatory Professional Training:  No
Spayed: Yes	Microchipped: No
Shelter Surrender	Location:  Jackson, NJ
Adoption Donation $150

1/07 - Bella has been adopted

12/5/06 - Bella is pending adoption with her foster family.

11/25/06 - Bella finally went to the vet.  The vet believes she is probably about 8yrs old possibly a little older.
 She does have some arthritic changes in her hind legs but the vet said it's what would be expected in an 
older dog.
The multiple lumps that Bella has over her body the vet feels are just benign cyst.  She attempted to do a
needle biopsy but the lumps are too small to get a sample.  The two growths on Bella's right paw were of a
greater concern to the vet and the vet said further testing and possibly removal of those may be needed.
I started giving Bella glucosamine with her meals as recommended by the Vet.  Bella seems to enjoy it
 so hopefully it will help with the stiffness.  We did go on a long walk around the nearby reservoir.  Bella
 did well on the leash except when another dog approached.  Bella would pull and try to get at the other
 dog.  Some of the time I know she just wanted to play but other times I wasn't sure if it was playful.  She
 did listen when told to sit when another dog went past so with time she may learn to not pull.  After two miles of walking Bella had enough she was starting to limp so we went home.  She did well
 on the car ride.  After some initial excitement she calmed down and sat like an angel the rest of the way.

10/2/06 - Bella continues do well.  Her appetite has improved and she has put on some weight.  Her coat looks much better and even some of the growths on her have shrunk.  She does seem to have a little stiffness when first getting up after that she does well.  She doesn't like to be outside by herself and will wait for Eve before she leaves the deck.  Other then not being alone she doesn't appear to be fazed by much.  She will knock down all the gates in the house.  The noise doesn't bother her even getting hit by the gate when it falls doesn't bother her.  We still have the problem of her running if she gets loose.  She has done that twice and we did have a hard time getting her back. 
Today she did get loose again but this time came right to me when I called and followed me right back into the house. 
She does have issues with some of the dogs in the neighborhood so I'm not sure if she gets along well with all dogs.  Bella and the Great Dane next door attack each other if they get near.  I'm not sure who is the instigator and since nobody wants to break the two of them up we limit their contact.  Both of them get along extremely well with Eve and with my neighbors pug puppy.  Bella also seems to do ok with other neighbor dogs although she hasn't gotten too close to any of them.  Bella when she does play does play hard which is normal for boxers.  This
usually scares Eve so she runs away to hide.  She has been doing well on the leash when I just take her.  If I have both her and Eve they sometimes pull to get ahead and have even snapped at each other on occasion.  She still hasn't gotten over her love of garbage diving.  She's fine as long as we're home but if we leave and don't kennel her she will be dumping any and all garbage cans.  I think with some time and work Bella will be a great pet.  I think she already is wonderful but needs a little more TLC and discipline.

9/13/06 - Bella has definitely made herself at home.  Now that she's more comfortable here she has started to get into some trouble when we're out.  The most recent one was she pulled a whole container of sauce off the counter and her and Eve proceeded to have an Italian lunch.  Now Bella is kept in the living room whenever we go out.  Bella has started to chase birds and rabbits in the yard.  We're still working on getting her to come when we call.  She listens very well in the house but not at all when she's off her leash.  She's put on some weight and now looks healthier.  We are enjoying having her.

9/2/06 - Bella is still doing great.  She actually has started to play with some of the toys that Eve leaves everywhere.  She was so funny throwing it around with such force that she would go flying into furniture and walls.  It sounded like she was killing something.  Eve ran and hid.  We're still working on keeping her from trying to run out whenever the front door is open, I think that will take sometime.

8/30/06 - We've all been so busy we haven't been good about updating Bella's page.  Bella continues to settle in nicely.  She did however give us a small heart attack the other day.  When my niece went out the front door Bella made a run for it as well.  Unlike Eve who knows not to go off our property Bella just kept running.  We had a hard time keeping her in our sites as she had no interest in making sure we were following her.  She ran about a mile before deciding to check out a nearby horse farm.  Luckily for us the horses were angels and didn't kick the barking dog running between their legs.  Bella finally decided she had enough and came to me.  Since then we have been working hard on front door do's and don'ts.  Eve and Bella continue to get along wonderfully.  They have even
started to chase each other in the yard.

8/24/06 - Bella continues to do well.  We've had our niece and nephews staying with us for the past week. 
Bella continues to remain calm and friendly even with all the commotion of 6 kids running around.  She has been very gentle with all the children even my 6 year old niece.  Bella's cough has resolved but now she has a runny nose.  We will give her another round of antibiotic for that.  We still need to work on some basic commands like come when she's off lead she doesn't think she has to listen all of the time. 

8/18/06 - Bella continues to settle in nicely.  We have been leaving her in the kitchen at night and when we go out without any problems.  Bella is such a good      she didn't even touch the loaf of bread that my son left open and at the edge of the counter.  It was definitely well within Bella's reach.  Bella and Eve are getting along well.  Bella continues to have little interest in playing with Eve and when she does try to play it is only for a few minutes.  Bella is a real sweetie who always tries to please.

8/14/06 - Bella had a pretty good day today.  It was her 3rd full day with us.  She and our dog Eve are getting along fairly well.  Eve has tried several times to get Bella to play but she doesn't seem too interested in playing.  She spends most of her time walking around the yard and sleeping by the pool.  Bella does have some food issues.  She will not let Eve near her food.  She growled once at her for walking near her dish and growled and snapped at Eve when she came over near the grill where there was some grease on the deck that Bella was licking.  She didn't bite Eve she just letting her know she wasn't going to share. 
Bella does have a slight cough that has become more pronounced the last two days.  The first day I thought it was from pulling on her leash but now I think she might have picked up a little cough.  Bella continues to do well with her commands.  She has sit down and almost has the down command learned but still needs some gentle reminders.  She still isn't fond of  the crate and will bark for 1/2 hr before settling down.  She does do really well out of the crate with no chewing or even trash diving.

8/12/06 - Bella has been with us for not quite 2 days.  She is so sweet and loveable.  She has had no
accidents in the house and loves everyone equally.  She and our dog Eve have met and have played
although only briefly.  She is now sitting well on command and we are working on the down command.  She
does very well on a leash, less pulling then Eve does.  She still hates the crate and barks and
whines for about 1/2 hour, but we have been getting her in with a treat and trying to only leave her
crated at night and short periods in the day.  Bella does seem to tire quickly.  But she is a
wonderful dog and I'm sure a great pet.