Our “Farm Dog” Stella

As I was going through my archives the other day and I was adding stuff to our Farm/Animals page, I realized that a very important someone was missing. I decided to remedy that by sharing with you today a little about our girl, Stella.

Stella (short for Stellaluna) is 8 years old and she is a wonderful companion to our family. We got her when she was a puppy, only 9 weeks old, when our kids were still quite young (Gabe was only 1!) and she has grown up with them. She is our kids’ fierce protector, loyal companion, and willing playmate.

She is part Labrador, part Shepherd and a bunch of other stuff mixed in. She loves all the seasons, but we think she loves summer and fall the most. Fall because she loves to go get firewood in the forest with us. She will sit beside the truck and stare at us longingly until we let her come and if for some reason she can’t, she stares longingly down the driveway and lays on her bed with a dejected sulk until we come home.

And summer because she loves to go on hikes with us and she most definitely loves to go to the beach. This dog loves water! Probably due to her Lab genes 🙂 She does the usual dog things like swimming out to retrieve a stick or ball and then if no one is playing with her, she makes up her own game of collecting rocks from under the water (she goes completely under the water!) and bringing them up onto the beach. We have had so many people come over to us and exclaim, “that’s amazing! I’ve never seen a dog go under the water like that on their own!”

Since she has been with us the longest of all our animals, she has since had to put up with three cats, chickens and ducks, moving into her territory and she takes it all in stride. She is very patient with animals and humans alike and only hates  chases wild birds like ravens and Stellar Jays. Although I think sometimes she is a bit jealous of their ability to fly 😉

Last 2 fun facts for you.

First, Stella will not lick anyone. We aren’t sure why, but even if you put your face up close to hers, she will not lick you (which I have to say I’m pretty grateful for as I’m not a huge fan of slobbery dog kisses)

And second, when she was about a year old, Stella’s leg was run over by a truck (it was a hit and run) and so when she is tired or when it gets cold she only walks on three legs and lifts the other one up.

So that’s all I can think about our sweet homestead dog, Stella. If you have any questions about her or the rest of our animals, give me a shout in the comments.