We have some amazing news! Bella is in the running for the American Humane Hero Dog Awards! She is in the “Emerging Hero” category. Bella is the pup that started it all. We were originally known as Beautiful Bella the Blue Heeler, then expanded as we had more dogs coming through, then became the Cattle Aussies, and finally settled on the Diamond Dogs! I’m amazed at how far we’ve come and what we’ve learned together. Bella’s modeled for PetSmart, Wag, and KONG, has been featured in RedBarn’s advertising, was an extra in The Dog Wedding, and was on the cover of Fido Friendly Tongue Out Calendar to name a few. She’s done a lot of volunteer work for ACDR and Bella inspires me to pursue my dreams every day. She is so intelligent and you can see it in her eyes, which is why I call her my “Brighteyes.”

Here is our story as featured on the website:

Bella is a one in a million dog-my unsung hero. She is a Queensland Blue Heeler and is now 14. She is my first dog and came into my life shortly after I lost my first parent, saw me through some tough times, milestones, attended college with me, and she was by my side when news of my second parent’s death came. I am adopted and Bella helped me find and reconnect with my birth mother and siblings who I hadn’t seen since our separation years prior. Our love of animals was common grounds for us to become friends. Bella has been by my side through many things and is the reason behind most including finding and connecting with communities of dog lovers to pursuing my passion to work with animals. She has helped me lose over ten pounds and herself lost weight from us walking and exercising together. She inspires me to eat healthy and better myself as I’ve become more aware of the ingredients and quality in her food. Bella loves all people, has traveled cross country with me to attend a rescue benefit which helped dogs in need, donated food, toys, and treats to our local shelter, and she was the introduction to the community of Arizona Cattle Dog Rescue. We have volunteered extensively with ACDR by photographing fosters, fostering a few dogs, helping with multi-media production for grant applications, and attending adoption events as breed ambassadors. My youngest dog was then adopted from Arizona Cattle Dog Rescue. She loves playing Frisbee, Fetch, hiking, swimming, and car rides.

A few videos showing how amazing this little girl is (we’re also working on a most recent trick video for Bella):

This would be absolutely amazing! The top three dogs in each category are determined by Popular vote, so we’re asking everyone to band together to support us and help Bella! Please take a few seconds to vote: http://herodogawards.org/dog/bella-3/ and share. Voting can be done once daily until April 25th and we’ll be posting daily reminders on our Facebook page