Bella really is a good dog. Seriously.

I can't imagine what some of you think of my crazy dog after last week's post. But let me assure you, Jan and I are not living in fear here in our house terrorized by our dog.

By almost every measure one uses to determine what makes a dog a good dog, Bella passes the test.

• She doesn't counter surf.
• She doesn't get into the garbage.
• She doesn't pull on the leash. (Well, at least she doesn't for me. She and Jan are still working on that.)
• She doesn't beg.
• She doesn't incessantly bark. (Understandably the postman would debate that point.)
• She doesn't chew stuff up. (Although she steals stuff, she does not ruin it.)
• She comes when 'chicken' is called. (It's our recall word. Don't laugh, it works.)
• She does not have accidents in the house.
• She doesn't jump up on people. (Although that may be changing. We'll work on it.)
• She's not destructive when left home alone.

She does dig but we've learned that as long as we give her a sanctioned place to do so, she doesn't dig where she's not supposed to.

She does sometimes resource guard but you might be surprised to discover that she does not resource guard her food. In fact, Jan and I often have to tempt Bella to eat her breakfast by hand-feeding her. I can take her bowl away from her while she's eating if I forget to put her medicine in her food without any hesitation at all. Does that surprise you?

Bella is a bright, curious and enthusiastic learner. Everyone who meets her from passersby to vet techs, trainers and interns absolutely falls in love with her. (They've even written comments on her intake/release notes telling us how charming she it. I kid you not.) She is a sweet and even sometimes cuddly dog. Who just happens to have some trust/fear issues.

When she attacked me in December, I admit it shook me up. She and I avoided each other for a few days.

It hurt, too. Emotionally, I mean. I thought she trusted me...

But the fact is, it's not personal. Bella isn't 'attacking' out of any emotion other than pure panic. In her mind, I believe, Bella thinks she is fighting for her life.

Over the coming weeks I intend to cover:

1. What happened the night she attacked me, and why what I did played a huge part in making it worse than it should have been,;
2. Our visit to Dr. Dodman, what we talked about and how he was the first person to hear what Jan and I were saying in the 2+ years we've been working through these issues with Bella,
3. The options we were given for possible treatment plans,
4. What plan we selected and what we've been doing to address Bella's issues since, and
5. How she's doing on the new protocol.

After that I'll go into why we decided to see a holistic vet and talk about what that has meant for Bella's physical health. And how and why we think it may help her mental health down the road as well.

I will tell you everything I think you should know. But let me know in the comments if you have specific questions and I will make an effort to answer them.