Miss Yankee Belle Sperry is (on purpose) a mixture of two breeds, one of which I hadn’t heard of before. She’s Very Beautyful, too: haff Golden Retreever, an the haff I hadn’t heard of, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retreever.
Miss Yankee Belle (who was almost 10 when I innerviewed her an she’s Totally 10 by now) lives in a Crispy Biscuits place called Sea Oaks, which is a Very Very Very Dog Frenly place.
Our knock prompted a coupla arooo woofs from inside, then a nice lady opened the door to greet me an my assistant. An there stood this gorgeous doggo: great poss-chur, long, silky waves of golden fur, sparkling, sincere eyes, feathery tail.
Miss Yankee Belle trotted up for the Wag an Sniff. “Well, hello, Mr. Bonzo. Just come right on in,” she said. “Welcome to our home!”
Her voice was very pleasant: soft liddle arooos rather than barketty barks.
“Umm, I, er, oops,” I said brilliantly, as my notebook toppled to the floor. “I’m, um, I’m Bonzo an this is, umm, my assistant.”
Grinning like a Total Doof, I retrieved my notebook, sternly reminding myself that I was a pro-FESH-ional journalist. (AND a happy batch-lurr.)
“Come’on In! We’ll sit an get comf-tubble,” the Golden Grrl said with a liddle laugh. “This is my Mom Barbi an my Dad Greg.”
Finally finding my voice, I fluffed my ruff, an flashed what I hoped was a casual, confident smile. “It’s my pleasure to meet you all, and I’m eager to hear your story.”
After obtaining permission, my assistant withdrew a coupla duhlishus bacon snacks from The Satchel. Miss Yankee Belle accepted them puhlitely, and delicately nibbled them UP.
“That was lovely,” she said. “Now I’m ready to tell my tail. You may call me Belle if you’d like, Mr. Bonzo. Shall I begin?”
“Whenever you’re ready, Miss Belle,” I replied, opening my notebook.
“Well, back in 2015 Dad an Mom were in Cuh-NETTY-cut, a state that is Very Pretty an often Very Cold, I’ve heard. Dad had lost his pree-vious dog, Maggie (a Golden Re-tree-ver), an he missed havin’ a pooch pal, so he found a rescue puppy but he hadda get what’s called VETTED, I’m not sure what that IS, but it kept takin’ a really looong time, even after Aunt Kelly, who was associated with the dog adoption agency, tried to help. But it just didn’t work out.”
“Woof, Belle, that musta been depressin’ for him,” I sympathized.
“Totally,” she said, “but it all ackshully, finally worked out just like it was S’POSE to, Thank Lassie. Dad said it was COSMIC!
“Here’s what happened: a few days later, on The Line, Dad found The Perfect Pupper at a kennel in Mass-ACHEW-sitz. Even though she was only haff Golden Re-TREEver an the other haff Nova Scotia Duck Toller, that was okey-dokey with Dad. He called them up Right Then and There an said, ‘WE WANT THAT DOG.’
“An they drove to Mass-ACHEW-sitz an (at last) picked up their bran new pupper. An it was – ME! An THEN we all drove to New HAM-sure to get a crate and lotsa other dog stuff, all for ME.”
“Woof! What a great tail! It WAS meant to be,” I agreed. “What was it like at first?”
“Well,” Miss Belle said with a liddle laff, “since my pooch mom an dad were both HUNTERS, I was, of course, a natural HUNTERESS and, therefore, Exceedingly Energetic. So, as a pupper, before I learned the ROOLS an calmed down a liddle, I was, as you can imagine, a Very Bouncy, Very rem-BUNK-shus puppy. Dad says it took me about 5 years to calm down. He says I was in the Terrible Twos for 5 years. Once I grabbed Dad’s glasses off the coffee table an chewed up the ear part. To my credit, I did figure out Potty Training pretty quick, tho, and I was always great in the car, so those were pluses.
“I still LOVE bein’ outside, an HUNTIN’! That’s probly why there were never that many squirrels around our house. They spread the word an relocated I’m pretty sure. Now that we moved to here, I don’t ackshully HUNT that much, I mostly just sit an watch the squirrels an lizards in the back yard. I do have stuffies, but I’m pretty meh about them. Same with Fetch. A few rounds an I’m Done. Oh, an I’m pickin’ up Proper Off-Leash Buh-havior pretty quick.”
“Crispy Biscuits! Do you swim?” I asked.
“I CAN, but I don’t really like it. Dad tried an tried to teach me how in the pool every summer, but by the next summer I had already forgotten. However, I LOVE MUD!! Rollin’ in Mud is Totally Cool Kibbles.”
I didn’t even want to think about her beautiful golden fur post-mud roll. “What about the beach?” I inquired.
“I love runnin’ in the sand with my pooch pals. Just not the water part. One time I was relaxin’ on the sand when a whole bunch of that soap-sudsy water snuck right up buh-hind me and got me all wet! It scared the Total Woof outta me an I ran all the way up the dune an didn’t wanna come down. Now I’m use to it. I’ve got a ton of beach buddies, like Maxine, she’s a Golden. An I always run up to greet Every Human I meet on the beach.”
“I know you’ve only lived here a liddle while, but it sounds like you’ve already made lotsa frens.”
“Oh, yes, absolutely, Mr. Bonzo. I pretty much get along with ALL Pooches and Humans. When Mom an Dad hafta be away, I stay with Miss Sandy an her pooch, Nash. (Short for Nashville.) Then there’s Bogie, he’s an Old English Sheepdog, an lotsa other leash walk pooch pals.”
“Have you travelled much?” I inquired.
“Not a whole lot. We did go to Savannah a while back. We went on a speshul Dog Friendly Walkin’ Tour which was Super Cool Kibbles. PLUS, the tour ended at a store that had treats for us dogs an our humans. Savannah is a Very Dog Frenly Place.
“When I’m just, you know, relaxin’ around the house, chewin’ my Marrow Bone, I sometimes watch TV, mostly Animal Planet. You’ve probly noticed, I have several comfy beds, so I sleep wherever I want. I am an exceedingly lucky dog, Mr. Bonzo,” she smiled.
Headin’ home I was thinkin’ about how the Stars Totally Aligned in order for Miss Yankee Belle to find her Furever Famly. An about Miss Belle’s happy liddle smile. Sigh.
Till next time,
Don’t Be Shy
We are always looking for pets with interesting stories. To set up an interview, email
[email protected].
