"Bella"
dob. 9.february 2003
Owner: Lena S. Dahl and Jenny Mikalsen
Breeder: Heidi V. Larsen

Height: 42 cm
Health: littersister has patella luxation

-Pedigree-
-Results-
-More pictures-

Bella is my second IG. I got her a year after Java, when Java were almost 1,5 years old. She was actually the only female puppy available at the time, from a litter with one male (isabella) and 3 females. Her breeder brought her to Oslo for me right after my Easter-holiday 2003, when she was 3 months old. She hadn't much to grow to reach Java, and didn't stop growing till she was 42cm...

I've been showing her quite a bit - not because I've expected to win anything (although she's got one CAC from her first "adult" show at 1 year old), but she's the dog I've started to learn showing with. Since she's very much on the tall side, we have only one CAC and just a few Best-Bitch placings (usually last), but I've learned to appreciate starting with a "difficult" dog. I've learned not to expect anything, to have fun in the ring (I don't win anyway, right?!?), and to be happy with everything a judge decides to give me above that! I've decided to "retire" Bella now, because she's become increasingly shy of the judge, and I can see that she's not comfortable at all. So, if she's not happy with it, then she'll not have to do it. I might still "brush some dust of her" and show her, if the right judge appears, but I haven't decided yet.

Bella is a really great dog to work with. I just wish I had more time! I'd love to teach her some obedience one day, she's really focused and takes things easily. What we do find time for, is Lure Coursing. Bella is really crazy about plastic bags (home-practice), but on the field, she has to come and "get me" half way through the race - I think she wants me to run with her or something... So the big challenge is to teach her to follow the lure WITHOUT me! I only let her run "half-the-field" (the half where she runs towards the finish - and me), so that she hopefully get the picture that I'm always at the finish-line, waiting for her.

My biggest problem with her is her barking. She didn't really bark when I got her, untill Java taught her to bark at the doorbell. That wasn't really a problem. But when we moved after a month or so, we started taking our walks along "Akerselva" (a river deviding Oslo almost in the middle into a western and an eastern part). It's our closest green-area, so we went there a lot. Unfortunately, that's were she learned (the hard way) that barking is the best weapon when we meet dogs she's uncertain of. There's a lot of dogs with unresponsible owners there, who have no control over their dogs, but still keep them off-lead. We've met so many loose dogs, often several together, comming at us full speed, probably just to say hello to me and my dogs. No wonder, they've often scared my dogs - and one day, Bella decided to try barking... It worked, and it's become a quite large problem. I'm no longer able to keep her off-lead anywhere public where we might encounter other dogs, only in the woods, where we rarely meet neither people nor dogs.

Bella's alway been a strong mind, and I guess she wasn't very old before she passed Java on the ranking in our little pack. This worked very well for both of them (I think Java's happy not to be "in charge"!), but Bella found it a bit difficult when we brought Sasha into the family. Also, they come from two different bloodlines that have a history of "disagreement" (=fighting). Luckilly, Sasha's been a very good "Bella-psychologist", so it turned out ok, even if Bella's had a hard time ajusting to not being "Top-dog" in the house.

Because of bad chemistry with some of the other girls, Bella is now on a permanent holiday. She lives happily together with Javas brother, Taro. It's sad that she weren't able to continue living with us, but she couldn't have come to a better family! Thanks a lot Jenny for taking so good care of my big girl!