Tuesday Tails: Bella gets her groove back

By Elizabeth B.

When Bella (formerly CP Andy Dandy) first came to Col. Potter, she was a zombie.

At least, that’s what I called her. She’d been taking tranquilizers to help with anxiety and barking after she moved to a new state and a new condo. Her original owner eventually recognized that a condo can be a difficult place for a cairn terrier, with no yard and lots of unfamiliar noises. So she reached out to Col. Potter for help finding Bella a new home.

We got off to a slow start...

That’s where I came in. My husband and I picked Bella up from a big city two hours away. Unfortunately, the trip didn’t go quite as I—a first-time foster mom—had imagined. Because as it turns out, Bella wasn't used to being crated. So she cried and panted the whole way home. For two hours. Nothing we did could soothe her. I remember thinking: “What have I gotten myself into?!” I had visions of sleepless nights, days in which I was too distracted to work...

Thankfully, the moment we let Bella out of her crate into our backyard, she was right as rain. She came up to me, tail wagging faintly, ready to meet me for real. All anxiety about the crate was forgotten. No more crying or panting. But no more anything else, either. During our first week together, Bella was lethargic, showing little personality. She turned up her nose at her toys. She didn’t want anything to do with her foster brother, True. Each morning, she basically just parked herself on the back of the couch and watched the world go by.

Bella (fka CP Andy Dandy) watches the world go by

The upside of this is that she was a super easy dog to foster. Slowly, over the month I had her (and as I worked with my vet to wean her off the meds), I saw Bella start to let down her hair. Okay, maybe she just loosened her ponytail a bit. She started running to greet my husband at the door when he came home. She got excited when I pulled out her pink leash for a walk. She even initiated play with my other dog and chased him in figure eights around the room.

But I could see she was still tentative, still holding back. She seemed to sense that her time with me was almost up. She was doing so well that Bella was ready for her new mom. And after having waited for more than six months for the right dog to adopt, her new mom was more than ready for Bella.

Now Bella’s personality really shines...

After only her first month in her forever home, Bella has really started to let down her hair and show her sparkling personality. Here’s what Nancy, her adoptive mom, has shared with us:

“Bella has turned into a wild one, ladies. She has completely changed. She is so energetic. Oh how she loves to run and play, chase the cats, squirrels, and birds that get into my yard. And she’s found my basket of toys. She’s been pulling them out one at a time to find the squeaker in each one. She runs around with a toy in her mouth and growls. There’s an explosion of toys everywhere.

Toys, toys everywhere

“She sleeps in my bed and has started talking to me with her little groans. When she wants something, I ask her to ‘show me’ and off she goes to the frig for her apples or to the door to go out.

“You would not believe how she has come to play! Her favorite is hide and go seek. I hide in the closet or bathtub and she comes to find me. In the beginning, when I left the room, she stayed right on my tail. Now, I have time to hide and let her find me. She is so funny running around until she thinks she has found me and tiptoes real slow up to me with her tail going 90 miles an hour.

“As I write this, she's sound asleep on her perch. I couldn’t ask for a better dog. Love love love her. A huge thanks to Col. Potter for letting me adopt her!”

Bella enjoys a lovely walk