Bella's Banana Bites

Say hello to Bella!  She is a 7-month-old female purebred boxer with a gorgeous brindle coat, adorable little white paws, and eyes that make your heart melt.  She is a Cancer (born 7/21/09), and she enjoys snuggling in bed, long walks and runs at Garden of the Gods, and not-so-ferociously tearing apart chew toys.  My sister and her boyfriend got little Bella when she was only 3 months old, and I met her for the first time when I went out to Colorado Springs for a visit.  What can I say? It was love at first sight.  Bella has amazing muscle tone and looks so strong, but yet she is still tiny and cute in a way that I suppose only a large-breed puppy can appear.  She is amazingly well-behaved (aside from the appearance of her alter ego, which I refer to endearingly as "Bella Pooper"), and any owners of chronic barkers take note: I never heard her bark once while I was visiting!  Even on one occasion when we were wrestling over a chew toy, I happened to growl at her, and she immediately backed away, and looked at me as if to say, "Now was that really necessary?"  

Though she is usually a little angel, even Bella apparently has a mischievous streak.  In the three days that I was visiting, Bella managed to chew a pair of tevas, scratch the top of the kitchen table, poop in the house 4 times, eat a hand lotion, and then puke it up.  Quite a busy schedule for a little pup!  Even though this was completely out of character for her, my sister and her boyfriend scolded Bella each time she misbehaved.  Aww, just looking at her, you could tell the poor thing felt badly about what she had done.  She turned those apologetic puppy eyes on us and despite the poop and puke we just wanted to love her and hug her and... bake her puppy treats!  Because really, could you say no to this face?