We adore this dog! Her mother's name is Steena and her father's name is Moon. Trying to come up with a way to combine the names, we came up with Stellaluna, which I believe means "moon star," but it's also the name of a mouse from a children's book. Stella father is Moon, a poodle with a heart of gold and a bouncy personality. Steena is a lovely blonde retriever ~ the likes of which I have never seen before. Steena is very kind and gentle, but it's Moon's personality we fell in love with. Lucky for us, Stella is a strong combination of both her parents.

Stella started out looking very much like Moon ~ a pointy nose with a puff-ball body. As the summer got hotter, we took her in for a hair cut and discovered we weren't feeding her enough. She was so skinny without all that hair! Although Stella loves everyone, especially kids, she sticks to me like glue. Wherever I go, she goes. She did surprisingly little damage as a teething young pup ~ only one pair of shoes. Whenever she grabs something that is not hers, we show her something that is hers and then she moves on. She loves to play with her friend Molly, who is another one of Glenn's pups and belongs to Lori Peterson. When Molly comes over to play, our 11-year-old yellow lab (Frannie) supervises. Frannie is Stella's self-appointed protector and interferes if the play gets too rough. Frannie chases Olive away if ever she hears a yipe from Stella when the wrestling gets too rough. Stella is very smart too. At six months, she knows sit, shake, down, and roll over. She knows "come", but she's selective about her obedience to that command. If it's come for a treat, she comes instantaneously. If it's come for a bath, that's another story.