Introductions: Bella

The matriarch of the group

Bella arrived with Pieta during the 2014 June long weekend in Australia.

She was 18 months old at the time, nervy and skinny from a few months of previous bad experiences. A friend of mine was experiencing domestic violence issues, and the perpetrator didn’t limit his activities to the humans.

She moved to a new, smaller property, which didn’t need the four Maremmas who previously used to guard some hundreds of hectares running goats, sheep, cattle, and poultry.

I had initially bonded with Bella when we went to my friend’s original property to pick up her poultry. She was concerned her (by-then-in-gaol-for-a-week-) ex-partner would injure them during the splitting-up process, so we were taking them on until she found a new place.

Bella was in a smaller run, adjacent to the pigs, and unhappy about everything. A dog that’s been used to huge Australian paddocks and a happy life doesn’t deal well with confinement and violence.

I offered to sit with her and just see what happened.

So I found a comfortable spot and just sat. I commented on the pig we were next to, and the weather, and what a pretty girl she was, and how grass smelt like grass and other complete nonsense. Anything that would give me a warm, conversational, happy tone in my voice.

At the beginning of the chat, she sat at the other end of then pen away from me. But she was watching me. She wanted to be friends; she was just too nervous.

45mins of cheerful mindless chatter later, she was literally lying in my lap. 

From that point onwards, she was My Dog And Mine Alone.

Four weeks after that, she and Pieta came to live with us.

Lying in the lap of a friend on the day they arrived. Bella is looking directly at us.

Bella, in particular, taught me everything I know about teaching a frightened dog how to trust again.