The first time I saw Stella over a video call, she seemed unaware of the fact that a camera was on her. Then I met her in person, and she lived in a world where I did not exist. Did I take it personally? A little, yeah! Therapy and all is great but for a dog not to even ackwnoedlge you/. Not sure how to recover from that.
The third time I met her was when her parents dropped her off with me for a month long stay. Nobody was ready to part - parents saying loving goodbyes, Stella stressing about what the fuck is happening - why am I HERE?
And when her parents left, she sat in a corner and cried. With her small growls she made it abundantly clear that she wanted to be left alone. So we let her be - treats, invitations to pet her (or for her to pet us - #TwoWayZoo) all failed. We knew that she's a shy girl and will take days to warm up. Anyway, this is her on my lap the same night:
Apparently, she needed to walk with me to ensure that I am worthy of her love- and that's a pretty small price to pay for all the love Stella has to offer. She is the perfect dog (don't tell other dogs) - gentle, curious, and just so frikkin funny. Tell me why she thinks it's belly rub time when I am standing by the door with her harness. Or why she must wedge herself in the tiniest spot available on the sofa coz it's next to me. Or, and this truly is a brain teaser, why she gets all excited to go out and then wants to come back home within 2 minutes. I will never know because Stella doesn't speak English.
Over the course of her 26 something day stay she basically became "our dog". While walking Stella around, I'd bump into potential customers, and they'd ask me about Stella. I often joked that I probably have some legal rights over Stella considering the length of her stay. I don't think dog owners found it funny.
I was told that Stella might take a break from food fort a couple of days. She did not eat her food for at least four days, and when I asked her mom about it, I realized that my giving her treats created an endless treat dream for her and she just kept waiting for more to come. So we had to put a stop to that, which I think I took to a new extreme - because I did not want to give her a treat, I felt like I could not leave her alone at home, and so I took her with me for running errands with a new friend who's not much of a dog person. It was kind of insane to do it because I carried her on my back for SO LONG in this backpack thing which I know she hated. Then the hook in the backpack broke and that was the first and last time Stella got into it. Going to a store with dogs is just not worth the stress for any of the parties involved.
Stella decided on day one that the sofa is her bed. By day 5 she had decided that my neighbour's bed was her bed. But what she really wanted was to sleep in our bed which is a non-negotiable no for us. So she did the next best thing - peeking into our bedroom with her little face, using those puppy eyes to melt us to stay fine, come inside. Dogs can be so sneaky. They know which buttons to push. I almost pulled an old bedsheet to put on the bed so she could sleep in bed with us. But I knew doing that once would mean doing that forever and I am not going to send a dog back with worse habits (she is not allowed on the bed in her home either). So she started sleeping on the floor next to us and that's just the saddest thing to see. We moved her bed in. She'd stay out with us in the living room until I went in, and then she'd follow me with sleep eyes. One attempt to get on my bed before finally turning into a fur ball and nestling cozily in her bed.
I love watching dogs roll in grass - I cannot fathom the amount of joy it brings them. I feel so much joy looking at them so it must be an insane experience for the roller. Stella would find the muddiest parts of the park and try to roll in it. I was told to watch out for it and stop it from happening but Stella still sneaked in a few rolls here and there. All it took was me looking at my watch or saying hi to a friend. She also decided to love or hate walking on grass depending on her mood, and usually the hatred was directly proportional to my need of getting back to my apartment. Why do things quickly when in rush when taking more time make life harder?
The day after she left I woke up from an afternoon nap wondering if it's time to take Stella out. Like she was still there with us. It felt pretty dramatic in the moment. I just missed her. 10/10 would watch again.