It was a Saturday night in September of 2003 and I was busy surfing the internet. On one of the rescue lists I was on an Urgent Plea came out for a Golden Retreiver Mix, impound number A597534 who needed help fast. I opened the email and read the story of a young, maybe 9 month old, female Golden mix who ended up in a high kill shelter in Los Angeles. She was injured and wearing a cast in the picture. Something about her picture just hit me and I responded to the plea. Not much was known about her, but the person who sent the email, Nikki, was going to go to the shelter on Sunday to get more information for me.

Nikki took this picture of A597534 and found out that her paw was missing. We didn't know what was under the bandage, but Nikki felt she was a doll and deserved a chance. I saw this picture and knew I had to help her. We also decided that A597534 would now be known as Bella as she was as beautiful as they come, inside and out.

Nikki pulled Bella from the shelter on Tuesday, it was closed on Mondays, and we immediately got her to Nikki's vet in Los Angeles.

The news wasn't great, Bella had a severed front limb. The wound had not been treated correctly and was badly infected. Bella spent the next 3 weeks at a veterinarian hospital in LA trying to save her front leg. She was on antibiotics and receiving daily wet/dry wraps on her limb. I decided to go and get her and have her visit my veterinarian to see where we needed to go from here. While at my vet's I was watching Bella walk and her gait was way off. I noticed a bump on her hip and we immediately did xrays. We were all so concerned with Bella's forleg that no one picked up on her hip being completely dislocated. The head of her hip bone was fused to the outside of the hip socket. We also discovered she had a shattered pelvis. None of this kept Bella down, she played and acted like a normal puppy with her brothers and sisters. It was determined that Bella would need hip surgery to repair the damage done. We were still working on saving her front leg.

Bella was carried out to the car and we then made the trip back home. While in the car an amazing thing happened to my sister who drove with me. Bella was crying and Andrea went to comfort her. When she touch Bella she felt this intense pain in her shoulder and hip. Bella was transfering her pain to my sister. Andrea couldn't let go, she was amazed at what was happening. Later that evening Bella did the same thing to my sister's husband Robert and my roomate David. Everyone was amazed at how she did that. I was fascinated and it further solidified just how special she is.

Bella continued to recouperate and appeared to be doing well. One week after her surgery Bella began to crash, her gums went pale, she became cold and something was terribly wrong. I had taken her to the vet and they said nothing was wrong, but I knew better. I immediately contacted a wonderful homeopath and dear friend Lita of www.pets4homeopathy.com and we went to work. Lita also contacted Pam, who I now understand is a Shaman, and she too went to work. Three hours later Bella was doing better and seemed to be bouncing back. The work Pam did was my introduction to Shamanism and I have been intrigued ever since. Through homeopathy and healing work Bella is here today and thriving. She is one of my greatest teachers and loves of my life. Through a conversation with an animal communicator I learned that Bella had been run over by a piece of heavy machinery. Her owner had her on a construction site and she was run over while she was sleeping. She wandered away from the site and ended up in the shelter. Her spirit to survive and thrive is an inspiration to everyone that meets her.

The work I do today is thanks to my Princess Bella. Love Ya BeBe!!!