Bella has started playing a little. But only a little. I hadn't mentioned this before, but I think she is more comfortable with my wife and step-daughter. We have a couple theories as to why. Either she was abused or neglected or both by a man or she was not raised around men. So, the first time she played - which was only a few days after we adopted her - it was with my wife in the backyard whilst I was in the house. She has been a little playful around me, mostly with a little plush fox/squirrel thing that my wife bought and a little with the tennis balls that I bought.

When we first adopted her, I bought a large Kong ball, but she didn't seem to want to play with it. Granted, she won't chase a tennis ball, she just kinda bats it around a few times and then walks away. She acted like she was trying to eat it once, but I think that was her way of telling me she was hungry. I'm interested to know if she might play with the Kong ball now that she seems to be a little more comfortable with us, but I left it in the backyard and can't find it after a storm rolled through last weekend.

Something else we tried when we first adopted her was to see if she would sleep on a dog bed, but she didn't seem to like it. We also picked up a crate the first time she peed on the carpet whilst we were at work, but she didn't like it either. I couldn't even coax her into with a treat. We also tried a harness instead of a standard collar - I don't really like collars, plus the harness I picked up has a restraining handle which I planned on feeding the seat belt through it to restrain her when we take her somewhere in the car - but she didn't like it either. She let me put it on her and get it adjusted, even though she kept trying to lay down. She seemed very uncomfortable walking around in it and when I tried to get her to jump onto the bed, she acted like her back legs were broken and she would only put her front legs on the on the bed. Instead of trying to adjust it better, I just took it off and decided to try again later. We need to take her to the vet to make sure she's been spayed - according to her foster "mother" the vet thinks she's been spayed, but we need to make sure. Apparently, "Sterilization of the animal is required by Texas law (Chapter 828, Health and Safety Code)" within 30 days of adopting an animal. Plus, we need to register her with the city and they offer chipping for an additional fee, so we'll need to take her in for that.

I've always liked closeups