TWO Little Monkeys

I haven't mentioned Bella here for a while.  Reminder:  Bella is dog.  She's a lab mutt, very sweet, obedient, and quiet.  She's also extremely athletic.  I've never seen a dog accelerate as quickly as she can, or jump as high.  The other day, she went to the back door to ask to be let out.  Normally, she'll sit by the door and stare at the handle, willing us to turn it.  This time, she was really excited about something she smelled or heard in the back yard.  She sat down like normal, but then she jumped straight up, and her back feet were on level with my chest.  I'm 5'9". 

Before we finished our fence, we had developed a coming home routine for Daddy (that's what Bella "calls" Pat, too).  Madi and I would open the front door and wave hello, and Bella would sprint out through the door, turn a tight corner around Patrick (almost like he was a barrel and Bella was a horse), then loop into the back yard where she would do her potty business and wait for Pat to come through the house and play with her.

Fast forwarding to last night, I had to run to the store for a few things we're out of.  When I got back, Patrick opened the door so I could bring in the groceries without fumbling for my keys.  Bella charged, did a quick turn around my ankles, then sprinted for the back of the house.  Pat and I instantly knew what was going to happen, and called for her to come back, to come inside. 

She didn't listen.

CLANG-A-SHING...WROH!

Yep.  She hit her head on the chain link at full speed, which for her is pretty dang fast.  After an eerily quiet few seconds, she slowly trotted back to us and into the house.  I think she was trying to figure out how we managed to spank her from so far away. 

I managed to convince her to sit still long enough to examine the knot on her head.  Surprisingly, she didn't draw blood, but it looks like she shaved off a lock of hair.  Doggy portraits are hard, especially with a sissy point and shoot, so this is the best I could do to share it with you:

This was really bad timing for me.  Between Madison's and Bella's head injuries, I'm starting to worry that if Patrick turns up with a bo-bo in the next couple of weeks, people will think I've got violent tendencies!

-Kelli