4 years with Bella
post in collaboration with Argos Dog Insurance*
Last month I realised that my family and I have owned Bella for four years now, I'm not sure where the time has gone but boy have we learnt some important lessons in that time. Making a decision to get a dog is a big one and not something that should be taken lightly, so many people do this and that is why dogs get abandoned. There are a lot of factors that come into it like cost, practicality, health and many more and as easy as it might look it isn't all cuddles and editing party hats onto them.
Lifestyle
If you are thinking about getting a dog then do your research, look at your lifestyle and then think realistically does a dog fit into it? If you work a busy and demanding schedule and your out the house for 9 hours + a dog probably isn't for you. For us as my dad is retired this was never an issue as Bella very rarely gets left but on the rare occasion we do boy does she make us feel bad about it, I mean look at that face?
Cost
I never ever realised such a small dog could come with so many expenses, things you don't even think about most of the time. Of course the most obvious is food as you can cut costs with this with only feeding your dog dry food which is the better for their health most of the time too. Then there is other things like insurance, denture sticks, vets bills, flea and worm treatments and she has to have a regular trip to the doggy hairdressers as she has to keep her coat in check doesn't she?
Health
This is a big one especially if you have a pedigree pup like Bella, most pedigrees do come with health conditions. Luckily for us hers are only small things like her skin can get itchy and sore so she bites her paws but something which we had a scare with a little while back is her joints. Her back leg popped out and it made her walk lame, luckily it eased itself back in but it involved a emergency trip to the vet and could have ended in an expensive operation. This is why I cannot stress the importance of getting your pet insured, it helps ease the stress if anything does happen to your furry friend.
Then everything else:
I realise that this post has sounded quite serious but I just hate that people don't think about these things and then the poor little doggy's have to be re-homed or even worse put down. I couldn't write a post without mentioning all the fun and love she has brought into our lives, she really is the number one love of my life. Day to day I would be a little lost without her running around and waking me up every morning and always stealing my warm spot in bed. So here are some of my favourite moments with her from the past 4 years:
This months gold sponsor is Živa who runs the blog Nothing Fancy Really, this months silver sponsors are Sarah from SarahLuvsFiona and Amy from A Little Boat Sailing, you can advertise with me here.
Lifestyle
If you are thinking about getting a dog then do your research, look at your lifestyle and then think realistically does a dog fit into it? If you work a busy and demanding schedule and your out the house for 9 hours + a dog probably isn't for you. For us as my dad is retired this was never an issue as Bella very rarely gets left but on the rare occasion we do boy does she make us feel bad about it, I mean look at that face?
Cost
I never ever realised such a small dog could come with so many expenses, things you don't even think about most of the time. Of course the most obvious is food as you can cut costs with this with only feeding your dog dry food which is the better for their health most of the time too. Then there is other things like insurance, denture sticks, vets bills, flea and worm treatments and she has to have a regular trip to the doggy hairdressers as she has to keep her coat in check doesn't she?
Health
This is a big one especially if you have a pedigree pup like Bella, most pedigrees do come with health conditions. Luckily for us hers are only small things like her skin can get itchy and sore so she bites her paws but something which we had a scare with a little while back is her joints. Her back leg popped out and it made her walk lame, luckily it eased itself back in but it involved a emergency trip to the vet and could have ended in an expensive operation. This is why I cannot stress the importance of getting your pet insured, it helps ease the stress if anything does happen to your furry friend.
Then everything else:
I realise that this post has sounded quite serious but I just hate that people don't think about these things and then the poor little doggy's have to be re-homed or even worse put down. I couldn't write a post without mentioning all the fun and love she has brought into our lives, she really is the number one love of my life. Day to day I would be a little lost without her running around and waking me up every morning and always stealing my warm spot in bed. So here are some of my favourite moments with her from the past 4 years:
- When she accidentally fell in a canal.
- Her on going battle chasing flies.
- The ridiculously excitable greetings that I get every single day when I come home.
- Lifting her above my head and re-enacting that scene from The Lion King.
- Our daily salsa dances.
- Playing teddy tug-of-war.
- Her chasing a teddy which was attached to a remote control car.
- When she hides under my bed and then scares me in the middle of the night when she surfaces.
- Taking her to the seaside when she decided to try to bury my feet.
- When she runs around in really small circles over and over again.
- The love affair between her and my boyfriend or maybe I should say Bella's boyfriend at this point?
- How she sits with all her paws tucked under and it makes her look like she is floating.
- Dedicating 80% of my Instagram to her.
