Our Dog Stella

We are sad today. I took Stella to be euthanized.

Stella was a beautiful dog, and a smart one. When we went for walks, she pulled a little even on her Gentle Lead, but she always stopped at corners before we crossed streets. I trained her to do that so she wouldn't run into the street if she escaped from her leash. When we turned, I could tell her left or right (once I figured it out) and she would turn the proper direction. At home, if we told her "Lie down," she would find a corner and curl up. She would chase a ball, but never retrieve it. And she loved to go to the Indiana Dunes State Park and run on the beach for hours.

When we got her, Stella had never seen or used stairs. But she learned quickly. At Agility - Obedience class, she hated to be off the floor. She wouldn't cross the little bridges or climb on a platform with a two by four base. The time the teacher tried to get her to cross one of the bridges, Stella just peed all over. The teacher cleaned it up, tried again, and Stella peed again. The trainer works at our vet's and every time Stella saw her, she peed. We figured Stella was afraid the trainer would make her walk the plank once more.

When it came time for me to take her to the bridge, I let go of her leash and she took off across the room to the fabric tunnel. She ran through it, turned to me and smiled, and then headed for the door. We got one of those tunnels and she loved to show off for company in our back yard by running through it.

At the dog park here in Homewood, she acted like she was the Empress Bitch of the World. She would chase Brando, her nominal brother, up and down the park lickety split with one of his rear legs in her mouth. I never could figure out how he could run that way. Or how she never let go and covered two hundred yards and back at a full-out gallop. She was good friends with most dog park dogs, but she always asserted herself with new ones.

Recently though, Stella began to exhibit fear problems. If I crossed my legs when I was sitting on the couch, she always jumped, and lately she skittered across the room to the farthest corner. When she met a new dog, she was likely to growl and bare her teeth instead of sniffing, and last month she bit the end of a Weimaraner's ear off. It bled like mad, as ears do, and we paid the vet bill.

More recently, she started lunging at people and snapping at them. She nipped the man who shovels our driveway, and I was thankful he wore gloves. When I reached down to her on a walk recently, she nipped at me. A couple weeks ago a visitor walked calmly up the driveway with Ann and held out her hand to Stella. Stella snapped at her, bit her hand and punctured the skin.

We have a lot of people come to the house, and in the past Stella wasn't so fear-aggressive. Her behavior, however, escalated in recent months. We have liability insurance. But I could never live with the guilt if she maimed anyone, especially a child.

After lengthy consultation with our vet and the trainer, after discussion with Derek, who is also a veterinarian, and after much conversation and thought, we realized we couldn't continue. This morning, after the period of time required by law after a bite, I took Stella in to have her put down.

I held her head and petted her as the vet found a vein in her rear leg and injected her. Stella relaxed, closed her eyes and slept briefly, and then she was dead. She died peacefully and without pain in my arms.

Stella was a beautiful, wonderful dog in many ways. But because of her temperament and because she was probably abused as a puppy before we got her from the Humane Society, she never learned to trust us. We can't trust a dog that doesn't trust us.

We will miss Stella. We hope she is herding heavenly sheep.

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