Bella Hendricks is a big, beautiful, 9-year-old German Shepherd from a faraway country I’d never heard of. Slow-VAH-key-uh.
Bella an her Mom an Dad welcomed us in, an Bella trotted up for the Wag-an-Sniff. Her fur was soft and thick an she had those pawsome sticky-uppy ears. I felt like saluting.
“Good morning,” I said, standing as tall as I could (which still wasn’t as tall as Bella). “It’s a great pleasure.”
“Good morning, Mr. Bonzo. Do come in.” Her voice was surprisingly soft. “I’m Bella Hendricks, and this is my Mom an Daddy, Nancy and Chris. I’m looking forward to sharing my story.”
After obtaining permission, my assistant rooted around in The Satchel for a duh-LI-shus, turkey-an-sweet-puh-tay-doh dog treat. Bella came over to help, gently accepted the treat an daintily devoured it. She then curled up gracefully. “So, shall I begin?”
“Ready when you are.”
“I came from a Very Excellent Breeder/Dog Importer in YOUR-Up, in the country of Slow-VAH-key-uh,” she began. “They train an import dogs like me, mostly for careers with the military or pleece. But not all of ’em. Although I’m extremely well-trained (not to brag, but we German Shepherds are very, very smart), I am a companion kinda dog. A family dog.
“Mom an Daddy had lost their previous German Shepherd, Max, and were looking for another who was healthy, with a great disposition anna good bloodline. They couldn’t find what they wanted at Max’s breeder, so they expanded their search. The minute they spotted my adorable puppy pick-shur, that was that, an my exciting journey began. First off, I needed a passport.”
She showed it to me. It was blue and looked Extremely Important. “Woof, Bella, that is Extra Crispy Biscuits!” I exclaimed.
“The breeder drove me to the airport in Prague, which is in a country I can’t pruh-nounce. I was put in my own crate, then me an a way smaller, very cuddly travelling companion were loaded into one of those big, metal bird-machines, which flew to New York City, where we hadda long delay. By the time we got to Orlando, where we were getting picked up, I was more than ready to vacate my crate. Well, the first pooch Mom an Daddy spotted was my little travelling companion, sitting quietly in his crate looking adorable. Mom an Daddy thought HE was their pooch an were saying how sweet he was when the Human In Charge said nope, it was the other pooch, at which point I burst outta the crate and shot off like a rocket, zoomin’ all over the cargo section, with several humans in hot pursuit.”
“Oh, Woof!”
Bella laughed. “It took six humans to catch me. Even on the way back, with Mom driving an Daddy holding me, I didn’t stop wigglin.’
“They were wondering how’d I’d adjust in a strange, new place with no fields to run in an no sleepin’ under the stars. They had a fluffy bed and numerous toys an stuffies ready for me, which was lovely, but it still took some time to settle in, an things got a bit bumpy. For example, whenever I didn’t have my leash on, I’d take off RUNNING. The neighbors were always sayin’ to each other, ‘There goes Bella!’
“Mom has trained dogs before, so she pretty soon started Basic Puppy Behavior trainin’. But for some reason (even though I’m Very Smart), I got con-FUSED an Mom got FRUSS-trated. So she talked to my Dog Importers an found out I only understood Slovakian. Either she hadda learn Slovakian or I hadda learn English.”
“Let me take a wild guess what happened,” I said. We both laughed.
“So, now I’m bilingual,” she stated proudly. “But, for a few months, I was rather a wild puppy, frenly an happy, but pretty much bouncin’ off the walls. I’d fly up and down the stairs, zoom in an outta the rooms. We were all goin’ a little crazy. So Mom an Daddy signed me up at Paw Prints, where a very nice human called Mr. Sean teaches pooches about O-B-D-ence, Proper Puppy Behavior, an Socializin’ With Fellow Dogs. I loved it. I was such a good student (have I mentioned I’m Very Smart?) that I was asked to help Mr. Sean train other pooch students.”
“Cool Kibbles!”
“The totally most fun thing was the Pond Parties.”
“What’s a Pond Party?”
“Well, there’s this shallow pond where we all splash around. Right next to it, there’s a whole bunch of duh-lightful, squishy MUD, which we’re allowed to roll around in AS MUCH AS WE WANT!! Sometimes we almost don’t recognize each other.”
“Shut the doghouse door!”
“I’m serious. It’s my absolutely FAV-rite Thing! Of course, they hose us down an dry us off before we go home.”
“Do you have a BFF?”
“I did. Kingston. He’s a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. We met on neighborhood leash walks. He was way littler an younger than me an he’d come right up an steal my tennis balls. Just a goofy puppy, you know. He moved away an I really miss him. My Paw Prints pooch pal is Bosley, he’s a Cool Kibbles Standard Poo.”
“Any favrite foodstuffs?”
“YES! Hard-boiled Eggs. I try to wait patiently while Mom boils my egg, then hasta let it cool. If it takes too long, I must admit I occasionally whine. I mean, they’re just So Yummy!
“When I’m eating my regular food, I want Mom or Daddy to watch. I’m not a Lap Dog, but I just want them to be close. If they’re not there, I wait. In the evening, we all watch TV. Then, when I’m sleepy, I like Mom to stay with me for a while.”
Heading home, I was thinking about how Bella was a fearless world traveler when she was still just a Pupper. An how, even though she’s Big, Strong an Seriously Impressive Looking (with a Big, Strong, Seriously Impressive Bark), she’s also a sweet, frenly, loving companion.
Till next time,
The Bonz
