bella

these days we're babysitting a maltese for a friend who's out of the country for three weeks. her name is bella.

she is kain's polar opposite. this dog is small, calm, exceedingly friendly, and will fall asleep happily on my lap and stay there for hours. she does not smell. she does not shed (a feature of the maltese breed) and the dirt on her paws that accumulates after she goes outside magically disappears after about 30 minutes. she barks minimally, usually only when someone is opening the door or when there are dogs or kids outside. she is also disturbingly uninterested in food; she does not wolf down her meals but rather nibbles at them slowly (sometimes leaving things uneaten) and also likes to hoard her dog treats but does not ever show any interest in eating them.

she enjoys walking around park la brea quite a lot; when she sees me pick up her leash, she gets extremely excited and starts jumping and licking everything. on the road, she is a determined walker with an agenda, having already mapped out points of interest in the few days she's been here. she has a strange habit of peeing just about every minute she's outside, and cleans her paws fastidiously in the grass afterwards. she can also walk on her two front feet only, which i've witnessed several times.