Hello, Internet friends!
I was lucky enough to take a little trip to Brooklyn this past weekend to visit my sister, and the Brooklyn dogs did not disappoint :)
But before I hit up the dog parks in Williamsburg, I was lucky enough to find a little time to meet up with Kiersten, a long time friend of me and my sis! Kiersten has always loved dogs as much as I do (she was wearing a Pit Bull rescue zip up when I met up with her) so it was definitely fun to chat with her!
Kiersten and her boyfriend Kevin have a spotted Pibble named Bella!
Bella is a 5 year old Pit Bull (potentially Dalmatian mix). Kiersten and Kevin got her from a foster family that had taken her from the Trenton ASPCA:
"She was actually about to be put down. They brought her in—it was a really hot day, and there were a bunch of people huddling around her. She snapped at someone because she was scared and confused, which any dog would have done in that situation. Thankfully, a woman who rescues dogs from death row saw this unfold, and said, 'I'll take her right now!' So she got out by the skin of her teeth. After that, the woman placed Bella with Kevin's friend, and Kevin's friend had a cat that Bella was torturing. So they basically were like, 'We're going away for the weekend, if you want to watch this dog we are fostering.' But we just ended up taking her. She's been wonderful, it kind of worked out perfectly."
Kiersten explained that while she was a bit challenging in the beginning with all of her energy, her and Kevin got a trainer for a few sessions to help with the basics. They got her when she was around 9 months, but as she started growing up, she began to mellow out. She is still a very energetic pup, but her crazy, "spurts" are fewer and farer between.
This is clearly evident when Kiersten talks about Bella and her toys:
"She used to destroy her toys the minute you gave her anything—she would just eat it. But now that she's older, I think she outgrew it. She has two toys that she LOVES—they're delicate stuffed animals that she sleeps with at night. One is a monkey from Duane Reade that we bought her randomly, and the other is a stuffed beaver with a hat that my brother got her. She took all the stuffing out...but she still sleeps with the shell of it!"
Bella also apparently was not always named, "Bella". When she was picked up from the Trenton SPCA, her name was, "Snooki" (YES, like the Jersey Shore Snooki) and so Kiersten and Kevin decided to change that name pretty quickly!
At the end of our chat, I even got to give Bella one of my NEW Dog Park Diaries tennis balls, and I'm glad to say that she loved it!
Full Name: Bella
Favorite Foods: Bella is actually allergic to poultry. Kiersten and Kevin went to a few different vets who gave her meds for her skin rash, but it wasn't until they removed poultry from her diet that it got better. Apparently this is a common allergy with Pitts. They try not to give Bella anything processed, but she does love baby carrots and Greek yogurt! Tricks: She knows a few tricks, but because she was so excited at the part I didn't get to see them all. "If you say, 'sit!' in the house, she will go through her whole thing: sit, lay down, roll over…it's so cute!"
