Bella – 1 year old female Collie Cross

Meet Bella, a 1 year old female Collie Cross who is medium in size and gently learning how wonderful home life can be.

Bella has improved greatly in her current home; she enjoys interactions with the foster and will even interact with regular guests.

She did start off initially nervous and she still likes the use of a safe space, especially a crate. She will likely have a slow start and will need an adopter willing to give her sufficient time to acclimatise to a new home.

Bella does not currently live with children but met children in Romania who she was good with.

Due to her anxious behaviours, it is felt that children that are old enough and dog-savvy enough to understand that Bella will need her own time and space would be best.

Therefore, children aged 12+ would be recommended, or slightly younger children for the right home.

Bella has done better in homes which have had other dogs and ideally another calm dog would benefit her. However, for the right home, a dog-free adopter would be considered as her current foster believes that she prefers people once confident enough.

Bella would prefer a cat-free home as she has shown some chase drive towards the cat in her home. She has shown no prey drive whilst on walks.

She is toilet trained but, due to not wanting to leave her crate initially, this may regress slightly; however, she does use puppy pads. She now enjoys walks which will need to be built up gradually and should be double leaded.

She has been loose in a secure field and done well, but due to her nerves, she should remain on the lead during walks. She travels well in a crate and copes well on her own and during the night.

Her foster says, “Being a street dog, she isn’t fussy. She tends to prefer dry food over wet. She is getting more playful but hasn’t played with a toy yet. I think she’s absolutely fabulous. She was a very slow burn at the start, but she’s an amazing dog now.

It will take time, which is expected with rescues, but she will make someone a wonderful companion for a long time to come. She likes routine and her bed, so I will send her away with her comfy bed.

She communicates with little whines. Once you spend enough time with her, you’ll be able to interpret them. So far, she’s only done them when she wants to go back inside or back to her crate where she feels safest.

I am working on it every day, but she still needs the lead put over her head to come out of the crate. She understands ‘come’ when she’s out of the crate, but it hasn’t translated from within yet.

She doesn’t need to be forced out; she just needs the lead on and will willingly stand up and leave the crate.”