Bella is a stray dog who spent her early years living in an abandoned building. In that building, Bella lived with other stray dogs and cats. While people would expect cats and dogs to not get along, the cats and dogs in the building were like one family.
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One day, the building was raided by animal control officers. They caught and took away the dogs. Bella was just a mere puppy and felt helpless when an animal control officer approached her. But as he did, one of the cats attacked the officer. So Bella was able to stay free.
Rescuing Bella
The strays were able to survive thanks to two animal lovers in the neighborhood – Lucas, and Olivia. The couple showed kindness to stray animals in their community and when they found out about the strays in the demolished building, they visit often to give them food.
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Every time Lucas and Olivia came over, Bella would often run out to meet them enthusiastically. It did not take long for Lucas and Olivia to fall in love with the friendly and energetic dog. It came to the point that Lucas decided to take Bella home.
A happy home
Lucas thought that Bella’s friendliness and energy would make her a good companion for his mother. You see, Lucas was an only child but he is barely at home because of work and his mother often ends up feeling lonely.
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Bella thrived under the care of Lucas and his mother. She was just a puppy when Lucas rescued her so she spent all day playing. Even when she misbehaved, Lucas or his mother barely got mad at her. Bella grew up to be a big and happy dog.
Trouble in paradise
One day, Lucas received a notice from their landlord. He would be visiting soon to inspect the house and it turns out, the landlord had a no-pet policy. So, Lucas and his mom had no choice but to temporarily hide Bella.
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They decided to keep Bella in the veteran’s association office where Lucas works. The thing is, Bella was not exactly allowed in the veteran’s association office either. He had to lock her up in the storage closet. Not used to being alone, Bella started to bark.
A favorable solution
As a big dog, her barking was quite loud and people in the building could hear her. One of the employees in the veteran’s association office eventually found Bella. But instead of kicking her out, he brought her to a group therapy session as an experiment.
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During the therapy session, Bella used her friendliness and charm to comfort the veterans. Everyone loved Bella immediately. Lucas was advised to get Bella licensed as a therapy dog so that she can hang around the office legally.
Bella’s old home
So, Bella was able to stay with the veterans whenever a house inspection comes up. While things were going great for Bella, things were not okay with her cat’s family. Lucas and Olivia discovered that Bella’s old home was being demolished.
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This means the stray cats that were living there were in danger. Lucas immediately rushed over to stop the demolition and this angered the owner of the property. He did not care about the lives of some stray cats but Lucas had caused a scene that forced them to stop.
A fishy coincidence
That same night, an animal control officer came knocking at Lucas’s door. The officer wanted to take away Bella because they have received reports that she was a dangerous dog. The timing was a bit fishy. Could the landlord be behind all this?
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Lucas refused to give up Bella to the animal control officer. Lucas showed the documents that Bella was a licensed therapy dog so there was no way that she was a dangerous one. The officer had no choice but to back off. It was clear that he was not so happy about it.
Caught on the street
One day, a cheeky squirrel caught Bella’s attention during one of their walks. The squirrel seemed to be taunting her so naturally, Bella gave it a chase. Lucas tried to run after her but it was too late – Bella was out in the streets.
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Animal control was out in the streets and they spotted Bella running loose. Unfortunately, they caught Bella. Lucas had no choice but to watch helplessly as they took her to the pound. Lucas was told that he could claim her the next morning.
They had to give her up
The first thing the next morning, Lucas went to the pound to get Bella. The animal control officer in charge gave him a strict warning about what could happen if Bella would be caught again. It was a very cruel consequence.
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Unable to risk it, Lucas made the difficult decision of giving Bella to Olivia’s relatives who lived out of the city. Bella did not understand why she had to go so far away and stop living with Lucas. Lucas promised her that he would visit soon.
The great escape
Olivia’s relatives were good people. They played with Bella as often as they can and gave her good food. Bella tried to enjoy her new surroundings but it was not the same. One day, she hopped over the fence with the mission to find her way back home.
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Bella was a long way from home. It did not help that Bella was domesticated and had no experience out in the woods. Bella tried to hunt rabbits but she had no luck. Fortunately, she found herself soon in another town.
Learning to scavenge
In the new town, Bella made friends with a pack of stray dogs there and through them, Bella learned to scavenge for food. Although she had fun with her new friends, she knew she had to leave to look for Lucas. So she left town to continue her journey.
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Bella found herself once more in the wild when she smelled blood. She decided to track it down and found the corpse of a mountain lion. Nearby, she found a mountain lion cub. It looked like the dead mountain lion was her mother and she had nowhere to go now.
Rescuing a mountain lion
The cub reminded Bella of her cat family. Bella decided to adopt the cub and took it under her wing. She kept it warm at night and tried to feed her anything that she could find. The mountain lion cub accompanied her in her quest to return to Lucas.
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Throughout their time together in the wilderness, the mountain lion cub grew to be as big as Bella. One day, they ran into a group of coyotes who saw them as prey. But luckily, three men chased the coyotes off.
The mountain lion scared them
Bella was happy to see the humans. She was hoping they could help her reach Lucas. Unfortunately, the men saw the mountain lion by her side. This scared them and made them run off. Bella had no choice but to find her own way and continue the journey.
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It was in the middle of winter when Bella saw another human again. This man was skiing with his dog. He noticed Bella and the mountain lion cub. Excited, Bella started barking at them. The dogs started barking loudly at each other and the noise caused an avalanche.
Getting separated
In the chaos, the mountain lion cub ran away. The human was badly hurt because of the avalanche. He was still able to radio for help and later, two other skiers came to his rescue. While the man was in the hospital, the two skiers adopted Bella and the other dog.
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Bella had no choice but to go with the two skiers. Her life with them was not so bad – she was warm and she was fed well. But she knew she had to move on and find Lucas. So, she ran away once more.
Getting tied down
Bella found her way into a new town once more. There, she made friends with an old homeless man. This man may have nothing but the clothes he had on but he made sure Bella was never hungry. Together, they scavenged the streets for food.
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But there was a problem. The old man loved Bella so much that he feared the day that she would leave him – just like most of his family and friends did. So, he decided to do some drastic. The old man chose to chain Bella up so that she would not escape.
Facing an old enemy
The sad thing about it was that the old man ended up dying in the streets after a few days. With Bella left chained up, she was unable to find food and she weakened with hunger and thirst. Luckily enough, two kids found and released her.
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Bella found herself in the woods once more. There, she ran into an old enemy – the coyotes from before. Bella tried to run away as fast as she could but they were just too many. Soon, the coyotes surrounded her. Bella was trapped.
Reunited with an old friend
And just when it looked like all hope was lost, there was a loud roar. A mountain lion jumped out of nowhere and landed in front of Bella. Bella could not believe it. It was the mountain lion cub she took care of – only she was now all grown up.
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The now huge mountain lion scared off the coyotes. Bella and the mountain lion were happy to be reunited and spent the rest of the day together. Seeing each other gave Bella hope. If she could find a member of her family again, she indeed can find Lucas too.
She was back
They reached another town but before Bella could step out of the woods, the mountain lion held back. She knew that she could not go into town with Bella. So, the two parted ways once more. As Bella walked into town, she realized that her surroundings were starting to look familiar.
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At last, after two long years, Bella was able to find her way back home. Bella ran inside the house but to her surprise, everything was different. The people living there were not her family and her sudden intrusion scared them. They called animal control.
Her last chance
The animal control officer was the same one who caught Bella before. He immediately recognized Bella. But Bella was able to escape through an open window. Bella headed for her last hope in finding Lucas – the veteran’s association office.
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Luckily, one of the veterans was able to recognize Bella and welcomed her home. The veteran started looking for Lucas to tell him the good news that Bella was back. Lucas could not believe it. But their tearful reunion was interrupted when animal control arrived.
A safe and happy ending
It turned out the animal control officer asked for backup to take Bella in. Lucas knew that if they took Bella to the pound, she would die. Fortunately, the Veteran’s Association was federal property – animal control had no jurisdiction there.
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Lucas was able to take Bella home. He and Olivia had their own house now and Lucas’ mom was staying with them! Bella’s two-year journey home ended on a happy note. She never forgot about her family despite all the hardships and new friends she met along the way.