Many call me a crazy dog lady. Some think my obsession with dogs is wonderful. Others, couldn't care less about my love for animals. However, I will fully admit that I am the definition of a crazy dog lady. Since I was young, I have always had at least two dogs. As I got older, my family chose to adopt more and more dogs. When I was a little girl, my parents took me to the local mall pet shop. I fell completely in love with a German Shepherd puppy, and begged my parents to get her. After they said "no" multiple times, I cried the whole car ride home. Finally, my father turned the car around to go get the puppy. The rest is history.
Since he grew up with a German Shepherd, he had a soft spot in his heart for this breed. I was so in love with my new puppy, and little did I know that she would give me the best 12 years of my life. My family named our new puppy Dutchess, after my father's childhood dog with the same name. **Disclaimer: I do not condone purchasing animals from pet shops, I am fully committed to adopting shelter animals. However, I was very young at the time, and did not realize what 'adopt, don't shop' would mean to me one day.**
Dutchess soon became my family's guard dog, and ultimate best friend. I valued the 12 years I had with Dutchess, but feel as if I should have celebrated and cherished her life even more. Since we brought our first German Shepherd home, we adopted two more so she could have friends as she got older. Dame and Chanel were adopted later in Dutchy's life, but the three were inseparable. As dogs do, Dutchy got older and ended up passing away after living 12 beautiful years. I did not realize that her death would affect me as much as it did. She was the most perfect animal and I loved her as if she was my child. It took me a very long time to recover from her death, but a year after she died, I was finally ready to adopt a puppy to add to my family. After searching for German Shepherd puppies for endless hours at a time, and many failed shelter meet-ups with different dogs, we (finally) found the perfect puppy.
My father came across the cutest puppy he has ever seen, and knew this dog would be the one.
My father immediately set up an appointment to meet this puppy and couldn't resist ... he brought her home. Bella is the name we decided on as a family. I decided that I wanted to document Bella's puppy-hood and cherish every moment I could that she was small. I knew that I would do something big for her 1st birthday one day.
Bella grew more and more each day. We adopted her in June, and by October she was already huge!
Since I have very few pictures of my beloved Dutchess growing up, I made sure to change that with Bella.
On Bella's first birthday, I bought gourmet bone cookies.
... and I threw a party for Bella and her two sisters.
After playing outside all day, she indulged in many birthday cookies, and was very content.
Your dog may only be a part of your life, but you are their whole life.
