Bella was born March 5, 1995. Our neighbor had just lost his rottie, Butch and was given a female by a man he worked with. He was not ready for another dog so when he saw my son Brian outside he handed her to him and said "Here see if your Mom will let you keep her". In comes Brian with this rottie pup, "Mom can we keep her?Please, I pronise I will take care of her". He was the youngest of my three and I had heard the story before, but one look and I was instantly in love.

 

   When she first came to us she was afraid of everything, everything that is except her shadow!! Bella was a shadow chaser. Bella chased her own shadow, our shadows, the shadows of birds flying overhead, if there was a shadow, Bella chased it. Our first visit to our vet was a disaster! Bellas struggled, yelped, growled, and cowered. Dr. Bonasch said "you either get this dog into puppy classes now or when she is two you will be in here saying I need to put her down because you cannot handle her". Well I believed him and off we went to Laura, what a god send Laura and her puppy class was! We learned to play nice with other dogs and learned all of our basic obedience commands, tho we never quite mastered "down". Most of all I learned that I was boss dog, sort of: Sadie is our Lab mix and from the minute Bella came into our home it was clear that Sadie was BOSS DOG! Sadie had a growl that she used sometimes with Bella and it just made Bella lay flat and not move. I owe Sadie a huge thank you for her help.

 

Bella grew and became a sweet, loving 100lb lap dog. She protected my grandkids from their parents. When someone scolded a grandchild Bella sat in between the scolder and child, not threatening, just watchful that it would remain only a scolding. I shudder to think what she may have done had someone actually harmed one of the kids. She was so protective of me that she would grab my then husbands arm if he even hugged me. Maybe she was smarter than I thought!

 

My now husband, Howard, met Bella a few years ago when I got my house and dogs back after my divorce was final. One of my best memories of the two of them is they were both out back when I heard Howard yell, "Honey come here your dog is acting like Cujo!", he was really afraid, Bella sat there, very innocently, with her lip curled up snarling, at no one and nothing inparticular, just snarling, something she had never done before. I think it was just a new thing for her, and she did it that once and never again.

 

We took her to the ocean for the first time in 2003, she hated it, the roar of the waves was too much for her I guess. But after some genlte coaxing we made it to the surf line. Bella would have done anything I asked her, not always willingly or happily but she did it.

 

She never had health problems until February 2003. She started splaying her back legs when she walked sometimes and slippery floors were very hard for her to walk on. Off we went to Dr. Bonasch. She was overweight to begin with, then a round of x-rays revealed Spondylosis.I cried and was very upset, the not knowing what I was dealing with was too hard, but after learning more I was able to deal with it. If the weight was not controlled and if she moved the wrong way she risked paralysis of her back end. We started her on diet dog food, air puffs, and the weight came off. She was prescribed Rimadly but we never started her on it. We were also given the option of seeing a specialist, sometimes they do hemilaminectomies for this condition, but I opted not to follow this path. I did research alternative treatments but never had to employ any of them. She did not seem to be in pain and with the weight loss became more active.

 

Bella coughed a few times starting Friday, nothing major just a slight gagging cough now and then, Sunday we had heard enough and took her to the emergency vet. The vet tech noticed her eyes were red, the eye itself, bloody red, I had not even noticed this...chest x-rays revealed spots on her lungs and the emergency vet said the word "cancer"...now I had a breast cancer scare a few years ago and was very stoic and did not freak out, but when I heard that Bella may have cancer I was hysterical. The next morning we went to Dr. Bonasch.He lost his own rottie, Krista, to osteosarcoma last year and seeing Bella ill was very hard for him.

 I am going to insert emails I sent to Liz at the Rottweiler Health foundation(http://www.rottweilerhealth.org) here because I just cannot write the story again, not yet anyway:

 

July 14, 2003:  I emailed you a few months ago with my story of Bella. Now I have more bad news but nothing definite as we are going to see the specialist tomorrow. Bella has many white spots in her chest-on x-ray; the emergency vet that we took Bella to says cancer. I took her today because something was just not right, nothing major and I did not notice the blood in her eye until we got to the vet.  Her right eye was bloody, she is panting much more than usual. His differential diagnosis is Hypema, lung nodules, possible neoplasia or disseminated fungal infection. (I doubt the latter). So we will go see her regular vet in the morning then on to the specialist. I needless to say am heartbroken, but for tonight Bella is home with me and happy and comfortable.  I will let you know how Bellas story turns out.

 After spending two days with vets, the specialist did an ultrasound and aspirated her spleen, her best guess is lymphosarcoma. We will have the results back tomorrow about noon. For today she is home and comfortable.

July 15, 2003: Bella has hemangiosarcoma and lymphosarcoma. While my vet is talking with an oncologist today, my understanding is that by the time it has spread to the lungs the prognosis is poor. She is at home today with my son and comfortable but my dear old friend and I will probably take our last ride together in the next couple of days. This is the hardest thing I have ever done Liz.

July 16, 2003:  At 5:10 p.m. today my best friend Bella went to sleep for the last time. It was peaceful, she was with those she loved and who loved her. There is emptiness in our house that you can see; the hole in my heart is less visible but there none the less. I like to think that she can again run and chase shadows and that she is with my mom and dad. They can take her to the race track and my dad can feed her all of the ice cream cones she wants, there is no weight issue where they are. We spent our last day lying on the floor and she ate two ice cream cones and even a cone full of baby food meat, treats she loved and never got. Last night was a rough one for her with breathing and today she was having some trouble walking.  You were right, she told me and because I love her so much I listened. I saw her pathology report today, what a mess. I will have her ashes returned to me and keep her with me and someday we will again be together.

Thank you Liz for your support.

The end does not mean it is over:

Bella endured the x-rays, spleen biopsy, prodding and poking stoicly and without fighting. She never had to be muzzled, just talked to and stroked.

The day we took Bella to Dr. Bonasch for the last time I took them a big pot of purple flowers, they are quite possibly the best vet office in the world! They were sad, I cried, Bella was resigned, thankful I think, she was tired and ready to go.

I cannot say how much the kind loving care of Dr. Bonasch and his staff has meant to me over the years. Had I searched the world over I could not have found a better veterinary office.

So that is Bellas story, but it does not end there: Bella brought to me a new Rottie-the Tankster! I am in love with him, but there is a difference,  it is a tempered love I think, Bella was a once in a life time love that can never be replaced. He can never replace Bella and was not meant to, but he certainly fills my days, home and heart! He is sweet, loving and makes my heart happy! I love him with all that I have and he means the world to me. I will care for him, love him and he will have the opportunity to bebefit form the lessons Bella taught me. He will go to the ocean early, to Mt.Shasta, Tahoe, Mexico, I only regret that Las Vegas is not more dog friendly.  He went to work with me this morning and is just a sweet loving baby boy. He met the doctors, the staff, everyone next door at Dr. Hummers office and a few strangers as well. Oh and the baby that was in with her mom thought that the Tank was the best thing she had ever seen and he thought the same of her! He is totally in love with Abel and today he and Meeko have become best friends.

Bella taught me more and gave me more than I ever taught her or gave her, she taught me unconditional love, patience, a gentleness, a sense of what it means to put another before yourself. She led me to the best people at the pet bereavement board, and thru some strange twists led me to Tank. I was wanting, I thought a "new" puppy, but when the entire litter that I had a deposit on one puppy in died, I knew that Bella had something different in mind for me, and it was Tank.