The Brave Bell

Bell is a Standard Poodle with loving owners who care for her very much.

She has been accustomed to playing in her front yard quite often. Her yard is a trusted place where she felt safe. Her owners feel safe and comfortable with her out there as well. One Bellday Bell was playing in her yard as usual. Never in a million years would they think of letting their beautiful poodle playing in the front yard would ever cause them any harm, but on this particular day they were wrong.

Before they knew it, she had gone missing. Her owners had no idea what poor Bell was going through at the moment, but they were extremely concerned.

She was taken from her front yard by purebred dog thieves. They snatched her up from her front yard and put her in there van. Being the smart poodle that she is, she knew that she didn’t belong to these people. Bell then became frantic! She knew that something had gone terribly wrong. Bell did everything she could to get out of the hands of these dog thieves. She then jumped out the window, and ran as fast and as far away as she could!

As she was running down the highway, onlookers were trying to help get her back to the dog thieves, but she was not having it. Bell ran from everyone – even those who seemed as if they were trying to help her. The onlookers thought “why is this dog so scared of these people if they really are her owners?” Something didn’t seem right, so they asked the thieves if Bell was even their dog. They noticed other types of purebred dogs in the back of their van and were quite suspicious.

Bell ran and ran and dodged and dodged – no one could catch her.

It started to become night and finally the dog thieves had given up. They left Bell in a shopping center. She had been running away from them for quite some time now. She was NOT left alone: A nice, kind lady had made it a point to capture her. She was not going to let this beautiful poodle go astray. She was then able to put Bell in her green pickup truck and away they went. Bell spent the night at this kind lady’s barn.

The very next day this sweet lady had taken her to the Vet to get her microchip scanned.  The vet found Bell’s owner’s right away and she was returned to her loving family. Bell now can no longer play in her lovely front yard. Never again will her loving owners let Bell out of their sight.

Best Dog in the World

By T’Mara Goodsell

One’s first love is always perfect until one meets one’s second love.
~Elizabeth Aston

Years ago, I owned the very best dog in the world.

I was a child when we got her. She was a graceful brown hound, a
foundling who taught me that our pets are not purchased, but ordained.

She romped when I did and knew how to smile in that funny way that
only some dogs have. She grew up with me, always there when I needed her. My grown hand still remembers the sleek bump on the top of her head and that gentle divot just past her nose that fit my index finger just perfectly.

She passed away during one of my college vacations. My heart broke
then, and I knew that there would never be another dog like her, and there
hasn’t been. I was sure that I could never love another dog as much as
I’d loved her.

Fortunately, I was wrong about that part.

My next dog came into my life when I was married. My husband
traveled for a living, and I was often lonely. This dog grew into a lumbering Wolfhound and Sheepdog mix who taught me patience. He was a large, grizzled sentry, that dog. He rarely left my side until the children were born, and then he became their guardian, too. I can still feel that swirl of fur along his back and the weight of his chin when it rested in my lap.

When he passed away, my heart broke. As much as I had loved that
childhood dog, I had been wrong.  This was the very best dog in the world.
There would never be another dog like him, and there hasn’ t been. I was sure I would never love another dog as much as I’d loved him.

I was wrong again.

We got the next one, a loping black Lab-and-Terrier mix, when the
children were little. He taught me the importance of adapting. He was
everyone’s dog from the beginning, and that was just as it should be. When he played tug of war with the children, he dragged them across the kitchen floor as they shrieked with laughter. He always seemed to sleep in the room of the child who needed his company the most.

These days his face is expressively gray, and he spends more time
with me since the almost-grown children aren’t around so much.

The other day my oldest, home from college, played tug of war. We all laughed–just a little–as the dog was gently pulled across the kitchen floor.

He is, of course, the very best dog in the world. I will never
forget that exquisitely soft tuft of fur behind his ears or the tickly feel
when he nuzzles. There won’t be another dog like him.

And that’s okay, because we will never be at this point in our
lives again.

Sometimes I’ve wondered why two species that get along so well should have such different life spans. It just doesn’t seem right. And then I wonder if that’s part of the lesson: To teach us that love itself has a spirit that returns again and again and never really dies.

It’s amazing, in a way, how they bring to our ever-changing lives
exactly what it is that we need at the moment. They make room for one
another, this family of dogs who has never even met. And they fit–into our
families, into our lives, into our memories, and into our hearts–because they always have been and always will be the best dogs in the world.