Ella
Everyone has a story about how or why they have their particular dog.
You may have chosen a certain breed because of special characteristics that dog has, maybe he/she just “looked cute” in the pet store or maybe someone moved away and they gave their pet to you. Maybe it’s a combination of different reasons.
The reason that we have our Husky, Ella, is because I grew up on a farm with a Husky – who was a very special part of our family for a very long time – and I always knew that if I ever had a dog of my own, that it would be the same breed. My siblings and I were so very original with our dog’s name – we called him “Husky.” (But don’t be too quick to judge that, because we also had a particular cat on the farm for well over 20 years and her name was “Mother Cat.”) Apparently, my siblings and I liked to keep it simple!
Husky was a great dog for the large family that we had. He was very good around people, including small children, yet he also had quite an independent spirit.
Forward 20 some years or so…
One weekend while my husband and I were on a camping trip with our three young children. There was a stray dog at the camp who followed our kids around the entire weekend. The kids wanted so badly to bring this dog back home with us, but he/she seemed so well-behaved and groomed that I could not imagine that this dog was a stray, rather than someone’s special pet. We did not take that dog home, but the very next morning after that canoe trip, we decided that it was time to get the family dog that my husband and I had previously discussed.
We named this puppy, who was a male, “Camper” in honor of the dog who had followed the kids around on the camping trip because if it wasn’t for that dog who had been a camper with us the past weekend, we would not even be looking for a dog at that particular time.
Camper was a beautiful dog. He looked rather fierce with his big size and sharp blue eyes, but he loved to be around people. He was also a “runner,” taking off every time that someone was neglectful enough to leave the gate open even one inch!
Over the years our family talked often about getting a playmate for Camper, which we knew would be another Husky. Finally, at the beginning of Camper’s tenth year, we surprised the kids with the new puppy.
My husband thought we should name this girl dog “RV” since we already had a Camper. Har har. I would have gone with that, but Luke said that since this puppy had already had the name “Ella” for six weeks, he didn’t want her getting confused about her name. So Ella it was.
Camper and Ella
Ella pestered Camper like crazy and Camper tolerated Ella. That was their relationship. When Ella was almost a year old, Camper suddenly slowed way down and got very sick. When we took him in to see the vet, we were told that he had a fast-progressing cancer and that he would not be around too much longer.
Camper passed away the day of my daughter’s high school graduation and we missed him terribly. Almost immediately, the dog who had been such a little pest, Ella, became a sort of lifeline to help us take our minds off losing Camper. She has turned out to be such a gift.
Ella is the goofiest dog that I could ever imagine having, but has been a great blessing and source of entertainment for our entire family.
*** Note: Other than being extremely timid of people that are not in our family, we have been lucky and have not had significant behavior problems with Ella. However, as much as we adored Camper, we had lots of issues with him. The most important thing that we should have done with Camper was some dog training, which we did not. I did some research and I found the product below that received alot of good reviews. It also comes with a ton of extras that deal with things other than training your Husky. Also, we had to get a good strong collar for both of our huskies or they will pull you everywhere! (I will write a future article about that).
http://ellathedoggy.com/train your dog!
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