Some dogs are just that, dogs. Used for protection and security. Some are best friends, sometimes filling voids when friends are no longer around. And then there are those dogs that are just a GOAT (Greatest of All Time). If you are lucky to experience a GOAT, you realize how blessed you are.
I can tell you I have been that lucky. In July of 2012, our friends had puppies, and a group of us each got one. That is where Gryphon came to be with us. In the fall of 2012, I saw a post from someone at church who mentioned she had a 2-year-old Lab Weimaraner mix that she could no longer keep. She had recently had two twin boys and already had another dog, and this new dog was just too energetic to care for.
I have no idea what got into me, but I reached out to her on Facebook and mentioned that I might be interested. What the hell was I thinking? Two dogs? I never wanted two dogs, but for some strange reason, I reached out. Thank God I did!!
We agreed to meet at a park, and I would take this Lab Weimaraner mix and see how she would be with Gryphon, who, I might add, was only three months old. When I got to the park, Cynthia got Bella out of the van and told me she hoped this worked out because if it didn’t, she would have to take Bella to the pound.
I took Bella home that night, and she and Gryphon ran around the house for hours. Eventually, they both fell asleep. Of course, I kept Bella.
Bella and Gryphon got along just fine. Bella would come to chew a few things in the house, but what dog doesn’t? Bella was always in charge. Even after my husband passed, I decided to get a huge Great Dane (Memphis, boy do I miss that goofy dog), who I had to eventually rehome.
It has taken me a week to talk about this. Bella is with my husband, John. At least in my mind, I like to think that. If there is a Dog Heaven, she is there.
My late husband John and I went through four dogs. Elmo, a pure bread chocolate labrador, when Johnny and Joey were three and under. Emmy came next, a FAT-loving, funny, emotional, purebred yellow lab who loved to float in our pool on a raft, as she was too fat to swim. Go figure a lab that can’t swim. Emmy would occasionally come up missing when she slowly wandered off and went to the neighbor’s house to visit another dog. He was a beautiful golden retriever. They loved hanging out together.
One year, our family went camping at Hueston Woods, as we did a lot when the kids were young, and a skunk sprayed Emmy. As our family and friends all sat around the fire pit, we thought skunks were in the area, but when we went into the tent that night, we discovered it was Emmy who smelled. We laughed so hard, but trying to get the skunk smell out of her the next day wasn’t funny.
She never really recovered from the skunk spray. She developed a tumor on her nose, and that eventually took her away from us. When I say that dog was funny and emotional, she was. We would know if she did something wrong when we walked in the door because she would have her nose in the kitchen corner as if she was already in time out.
After Emmy came Gryphon in July of 2012. She was the first mixed bread we ever had. I’m not sure what she was mixed with, but she was a fluffy ball of love. She was so small and would bark at the boys when they would walk down the grass at the church where everyone parked to pick up their kids from Colerain High School to avoid the long pickup lines.
In 2018, when I lost my husband and sold the house, Gyphon went with the boys, and Bella came with me. Bella and I moved to Hamilton into The Davis. She loved The Davis. I would open the French doors, and she would just stand there watching the busyness of an ever-growing Hamilton. Even Hamilton Police would stop and say hello to her. She was even on TV at one point.
Bella went to work with me every day at C.W. Wood Machinery. She always ran in the door to the accountant and then made her rounds to my brothers. She hiked hundreds of miles with me and always sat on the front porch with me, catching glimpses of Hummingbirds. You know God Winks!
Bella had a purpose in life. She was a healer, connector, friend, and lover. When I lost my husband, John, she grieved just like I did. She laid with me every night I cried out for him. She would stretch out her long body and lay next to me so that I could feel something alongside me. She was helping me to heal from my loss.
She connected me to my partner’s kids and family when connecting with me was too hard. She changed their mindset about owning a dog. My partner, John, fell so hard in love with Bella, and together, they developed a special relationship—one I know he is missing.
Bella greeted everyone in our neighborhood. She was their friend. She had no enemies, not even other dogs. Whenever we hiked, kids and family would want to pet her. Every time we passed by someone, they said how beautiful she was. And she was. She also visited a few breweries in her time.
She had a calming spirit about her. It’s almost as if Bella took on the calm that my husband had when he was with us. But even though she calmed me, she became extremely anxious about not being around me in her older years. Hence, she went everywhere with me if it was possible. Even if it was just running to the store, she didn’t mind hanging out in the Jeep with the windows down, knowing I would quickly return.
Bella loved LOVIES. Who doesn’t? No matter who was giving or receiving love, she wanted to be a part of it. She just loved love. I have no idea where she got that from.
I could sit here and write a book about our experiences together (she, too, got sprayed by a skunk, lol), but I won’t do that to you. I will just leave you with this.
Can a dog save your life? YES!!! She saved mine. She loved me unconditionally when I was extremely hard to love, kind of like my husband did. Plain and simple, she was a GOAT!
Great Of All Time!!!!
Luv, Luv,
Julie
