It is not unusual for one to not like the neighbor’s dog. Which is why I was somewhat surprised to pick up my phone last week and find Dunlap resident Jayne Miller asking me to print the story of a neighbor’s dog.
The letter arrived the next day. It became clear from Miller’s words this was not considered the neighbor’s dog. Miller said this was the neighborhood’s dog.
“Belle would greet us on our walks, visited as she patrolled our yards and would greet all the grandchildren with a big kiss as they petted her,” Miller wrote.
She said the story written by Stephanie Collier Chaney, one of Belle’s owners, put into words many of the emotions felt by those in Dunlap who knew this dog. It’s a very nice story, one many will be able to relate too.
I’m going to get out of the way and let Stephanie tell the story of Belle.
In every dog lover’s life, one special dog comes along that somehow brings a friendship, loyalty and love that is as precious as gold. 
Belle was that dog for my family.
Born on Aug. 18, 1995, Summers Graceful Belle was special from the start. Out of a litter of 10 German Shepherd puppies, little Belle won our hearts with her beautiful dark eyes and wiggly puppy body that somehow caught the hiccups every time she got excited.
Over the next 13 years, seven months and five days she charmed us with her playful puppy antics, incredible intelligence, obedience and unwavering desire to be near and love her family. Belle was a true member of our family and shared every aspect of our lives.
She loved to roll around in the grass and play ball, tag and hide-and-seek. She always kept an eye on the grill when steaks were involved and enjoyed her special birthday trip to Dairy Queen for ice cream every year.
Belle was also a constant companion at the barn, where she would help me and Mom clean stalls and turn out the horses. I remember very few rides where she wasn’t right there next to me, stride for stride.
And, at the end of the day, her favorite thing was a really good brushing followed by TV time lying on the bed next to Mom or me.
 As Belle got older she started slowing down, and at about 11 she started showing the first signs of Degenerative Myelopathy, a neurological disease, fairly common in German Shepherds with very few effective treatments.
Over the next couple of years a lot of things changed — including my wedding and moving into my husband’s house. Not having Belle there to greet me every time I came home was very hard to get used to. All too soon the time came to help our beautiful girl to heaven.
We put Belle to sleep on the evening of March 23. It was incredibly difficult.
Mom and I decided that day was the right time, not because Belle was in pain, but because we didn’t want her to get to that point. Belle was getting frustrated with not being able to move her back end. She knew what she wanted to do — be near her family and go outside on her own — but she could just no longer do it.
That day, it was simply time to accept the kindest thing to do was let our Belle go peacefully, instead of waiting for her to become completely miserable. Mom just couldn’t make the call to the vet, so I phoned Dr. Malcolm that morning asking him to come over after office hours to help us put her to sleep.
I left work at noon and spent the afternoon with Mom and Belle.
We combed her, talked to her, watched her sleep and just tried to show her how much we loved her. Then we grilled a rib eye steak and gave it to Belle for dinner. She really enjoyed that.
She had almost lost all interest in her food, but that steak sparked her desire to eat. It was absolutely wonderful to see her enjoy something in life again as much as she did that steak.
After dinner we went outside and let her lay in the sunshine for a little while. It was supposed to rain, but God gave us a sunny afternoon instead. Belle even tried to roll over in the grass like she used to love to do.
Mom and I went back and forth a lot on whether we were doing the right thing. We were both tempted to call it off more than once, but neither of us said it out loud. Deep down we knew it was time and that the most love we could show Belle was to let her go on a good day, before she was in pain or lost even more mobility. We could never have forgiven ourselves if her life became that bad simply because we didn’t want to lose her.
The day went by far too quickly, but beautiful Belle did give us one final gift of love before she passed.
When the vet arrived Belle actually met him at the door — with Mom holding up her hind end as had become the norm.
Belle hadn’t wanted to get up to greet visitors that way in many months. When she reached Dr. Malcolm, Belle just kept licking his hand, wanting him to pet her.
It was truly as if she knew he was there to help her. I think she also knew we didn’t want to let her go on. By licking his hand and laying down right next to him in the family room it was like she was making the decision for us. Belle was always trying to help us and make us happy and, I think this was her final gift to us. She took that burden away and was saying in her own way that she was ready. It was OK for us to say goodbye.
When the vet gave her the first shot, a sedative, Belle was sitting right next to me and Mom. Right then Belle gave me two kisses on the face. It was like she was saying ‘Goodbye, I love you.”
Then she lay down next to us while we stroked her, talked to her and gave her kisses.
The vet gave her the final shot and within just a few seconds Belle took three big breaths — more like big sighs — laid her head down gently between her paws and fell asleep.
Our puppy lived a long and wonderful life.
Mom gave her the best care and more love in her final months than anyone could have asked for. It may sound strange, but in a way the tears and heartache are good ... the loss of a heart as great as Belle’s deserves to be mourned and remembered in a great way.     
After reading the story I called Donna Collier. I had only one question. Why did her daughter Stephanie write this?
“It was hard for her to talk about this. She wrote it down because she knew a lot of people have dealt with this,” Donna said.
The story, Donna said, has been a comfort as she moves one with life without her companion.
“You know Belle kept the deer out of my hostas. She’d bark at them and they’d run away,” she said.
“The other day I went outside and found a deer eating one of my new hostas. I looked up and heaven and said, ‘Belle, I wish you were here to chase these deer away. But, then I realized she was in a much better place.”