goodbye, bellarina...

let me just preface this by saying that belle was the best. dog. ever. she came from the humane society at 3 months old, all giant ears and puppy kisses. a german shepherd/great pyrenees mix, she grew to be one of the biggest lap dogs you could imagine. smart, joyful, attentive, sweet, friendly, protective...she was everything anyone could possibly want in a dog.

last thursday, belle became suddenly and extremely sick--what turned out to be an acute onset of immune-mediated hemolytic anemia. basically, this means that her white blood cells started attacking her red blood cells, limiting the amount of oxygen available to her organs. she had a blood transfusion on friday night, and despite every effort and what i know must have been a fierce fight on her part, she continued to decline. my parents made the difficult but compassionate decision to put her down on sunday afternoon. belle was only 6 years old; she would have been 7 at the end of the month.

i will miss so many things about bella...the way she bounced up and down like she was on a trampoline, the way she gazed at people, the way she loved to go for rides, the way she loved to give kisses and be pet...even her klepto tendencies of stealing toys and groceries from the neighbors :). she was sweet and good and i hope that everyone gets to have a puppy as wonderful as her in their life at some point.

i love you so much, belle-face bear...

click here to see more pictures of belle