Tara Belle
Ma Belle Amie
ASPCA: How did you first hear about Tara Belle? Patricia: We first heard about the “Bronx Beagles” after a feature on the news caught my husband John’s attention. Since John always wanted a Beagle, we made the trip to the ASPCA in Manhattan to fill out the necessary paperwork and were told the Beagles were just about ready for adoption.
ASPCA: When did you meet Tara Belle?
Patricia: We received a call approximately a week later to come down to the ASPCA to be matched up with a Beagle. When my husband and I first met Tara—as she was called by the ASPCA staff—she was so timid and sweet and just wanted affection. We were told she had been used as a puppy mill mom many times and was on the mend from what were probably very abusive conditions. We renamed her "Tara Belle," and call her “Belle.”
ASPCA: How has she settled into your home?
Patricia: It’s been almost five years since Belle joined our family, and she loves everything and everybody, including her two sisters, a Cocker Spaniel named Daisy and a Shih Tzu named Brownie.
ASPCA: Does she have any funny habits?
Patricia: Belle loves to sing or bay every morning. Sometimes she gathers up all of the dog toys and puts them on her bed like babies and lies down with them—I think this must be from all those years of giving up her puppies too soon.
ASPCA: What does Belle mean to you and your family?
Patricia: I was diagnosed with breast cancer approximately eight months ago, and Belle and her sisters have gotten me through the treatments with their love and affection. Sometimes animals and people come into your life for a reason, and the "girls" have kept me going. I cannot express how much she and her sisters mean to me. I guess it takes a survivor to help one, and since Belle made it, so can I
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