Stella
Stella
My name is: Stella
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: Portsmouth
My favourite things are: Sunshine, human cuddles, chasing squirrels & food, food, FOOD.
Stella’s story
We initially fell in love with Stella after seeing her on the Underdog website in June 2021 but were told she’d been super popular and had already been reserved. Thankfully, in a twist of fate, she became available again in July 2021 after her initial adoption fell through. We picked her up on 6th August 2021 and what an adventure we have had ever since!
Truth be told though, the first 48 hours were particularly stressful…
Being the stubborn and loveable little lady that she is, Stella had always slept wherever she wanted – which was usually in bed with the humans! So we had the mammoth task of crate training her, which she initially wasn’t a fan of. At all. Thankfully with lots of patience, persistence (and dental chews!) we got into a good bed-time routine and she now loves her crate.
Unfortunately, on the second day she suffered from what we believe was stress-induced colitis, potentially the result of realising she’d left her wonderful foster family (shout out to the amazing Anna and Dougal!). Although this was a short-lived illness, it did cause us a bit of worry and the poor little lass did feel very sorry for herself for a day or two.
Since then though, Stella has well and truly become part of the family and absolutely everyone who meets her falls head over heels for her. She is an adventurous little lady and loves walks and exploring. For a pup with such little legs, she is pretty unstoppable. She even managed to sneak out of a garden and down to the local pub on one occasion!
She’s very food orientated, which has meant she’s been easy to train. This does come with the caveat that absolutely nothing edible can be left within her reach – she has been known to sneak into very well wrapped bags and devour whatever she finds. On one occasion it was croissants, on the other an ENTIRE chocolate orange! Needless to say, lessons have been learnt – by us and by her!
Sometimes we do wonder if she may be part cat though, as she purrs when stroked, hates getting wet and is very fond of delivering us little gifts from the garden, including birds and frogs.
Stella now lives the life of luxury; she loves cuddles on the sofa, running wild in the garden and going on big adventures with her pals. It’s hard to imagine the life she had before, and it always upsets us to think she was ever treated badly or neglected in any way. When Stella was initially taken in by Underdog she had been found with a tight chain around her neck, and it’s evident that she still remembers the pain as she can sometimes shy away when we’re trying to put her harness on. It hurts my heart to think of this, but it makes us even more committed to showing her how amazing life can and should be.
We could never have imagined just how loving, loyal and entertaining our Stella would end up being. Every single day she brings us SO much joy, whether she’s being silly, cute or just plain weird. Her tail never stops wagging, to the point that her hind legs sometimes look like they’re about to take off, especially when she is excited to see you. It’s such wonderful proof of her love and trust.
Our favourite thing about Stella is her sassiness and confidence; she’s not afraid of much (bar fireworks and thunder) and she makes sure everyone knows that she deserves to be number one. She’ll make herself at home in any and all situations, especially if there is a human that she can (and will…) woo.
It’s easy to argue that Stella is lucky to have found us, but we definitely feel like the lucky ones – she has changed our lives immeasurably and we’re so grateful to have her.