Bella
Having once published a newspaper I am used
to getting complaint letters, but I thought this column would not offend
anyone. To my surprise I received the following letter regarding last month’s
column on Baxter:
“I appreciate a fellow canine getting some
press but I beg to differ on Baxter. (Bullish Baxter, April) In fact I beg for
anything and I'm quite good at it. Better than Baxter, that's for sure and I
know him as well as any dog would want to, better actually. I wouldn't call him
handsome or cute. Try eating in the same room with him. I did and now if he's
in my store I'm not. He might be short and stocky (I'm being far too kind here)
but he has a temper and under bite that he is evidently quite proud of.
And as for catching or chasing snow balls, he is fortunate to find them before
they melt. Baxter should stick to sniffing rest stops although I could out-mark
and out-smell him there too. Treat him if you must but check me out. I'm the
pretty one. Sincerely, Bella, The Real Hardware Dog”
Upon receipt of this letter, I felt it only
fair for Bella to have equal time for her story. I contacted Brent Parsons,
Bella’s loyal owner.
Bella,
a German Shepard, was adopted as a puppy, ten years ago. She was supposed to be Brent’s wife’s dog,
but Bella had other ideas and immediately attached herself to Brent. Where
Brent goes Bella goes. She can be found
five days a week at the Pioneer Hardware Store. Bella enjoys mingling with the
customers and playing hide and seek. The only thing she doesn’t like at the
store is Baxter. Baxter is a good friend to her anywhere else but Bella will
refuse to go into the store if Baxter is there.
Bella
and Baxter will, however, ride in the same vehicle when Tom (Baxter’s owner)
and Brent go fishing. Bella spends her
time at the lake finding old bones she buried the previous year while Baxter is
busy finding his scent from a previous visit.
. When there’s snow on the ground, Bella
fusses until she has coerced Brent into a game of “fetch the snow ball”. It is Bella’s passion. If Bella had her way the
game would last all day. But once the game of fetch is over, Bella heads into
the store and rests behind the counter.
Bella likes a nice steak bone but bring her
a rawhide bone and she buries it in the store hoping Brent won’t find it. She has been known to even steal toys from the
dog next door and hide them in the store.
Customers are often surprised when searching for a piece of hardware and
end up pulling out a rawhide bone or a ragged stuffed hedgehog.
. Bella hopes you will come by for a
visit. She accepts dog biscuits but if
it has snowed, be prepared to throw a snowball or two for her to fetch.
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