Bella

When I (Amie) started my formal dog training education at Starmark Academy in Hutto, Texas, I was assigned two rescue dogs to train. I had completed an interview process and advised the instructor I wanted to work with German Shepherds and I wanted them to be males; I was assigned “Koala/ Kola (because they misspelled it on her kennel card)”;a white fluffy female Great Pyrenees mix who was so submissive that she wouldn’t even look up to see who was calling out her name- I was in LOVE!. Koala quickly became mine, both through developing our bond and adopting and renaming her Bella Sass, Sass to reflect her stubbornness. It wasn’t long before I realized Bella was not interested in obedience for show (she actually failed our advanced obedience test), but she loves to love, so I decided she would make an amazing Animal-Assisted Intervention Therapy dog.

Bella and I primarily volunteer at St. Benedicts Nursing Home; she makes the residents smile and that is such a gift.