Bella is a 4 year old double merle sheltie. A double merle sheltie happens when two merled shelties are bred together. Often, the puppies can be deaf or blind or both.

Bella is completely deaf and can only see out of one eye. However, that does not prevent her from living life to the fullest! She plays quite well with the other shelties in her foster home and loves attention from all people.

Due to her eyesight, though, Bella does not do well on stairs. In fact, she does not do them at all. Her foster home is working on helping her to learn to use a ramp.

Bella is spayed and up to date on her shots. She is completely housetrained and crate trained. She is a very quiet girl and has only barked once in her foster home.

Because she can not hear, Bella will need to go to a home with a fenced in yard. She does walk well on leash, but is still young and likes to get her exercise by wandering and sniffing.

Deaf dogs are quite easy to own, especially one like Bella. Having a deaf dog is like owning a TV without a remote - you just have to get up and move across the room to do what you want (get the dog's attention or change the channel on the TV). Bella does respond to feet stomping on the floor, too, not just to touches.