Cindy Scarlett, lovingly known as Cinderella Bella and Bella, will be forever in our hearts.  Read her touching story written by her loving mom and caregiver.  You will shed a tear and have a heart filled with love and sharing about a dog with little hope that found her glass slipper in our GRRMF Sanctuary program with her forever adoring family.

January 4, 2025

In September 2016, I received an amazing birthday gift by being asked to be the Foster Mom to Cindy Scarlett.  This little bit of sweetness had been saved from a breeder situation and had some undetermined health issues that needed to be investigated. My tri-pod Hazel and I welcomed her with open arms!  Okay, that’s not true! Hazel was having none of it, but I was smitten and instantly her protector.  It took about a week of keeping them separate but sisterly love prevailed and once they went nose to nose through the baby gate, they were inseparable.

Unfortunately, during this time Cindy was hungry 24/7 and her bravest moments for this shy girl was leaping through the air to grab whatever food was in my hand.  Because she was severely underweight, you’d think she should eat whatever was safe!  But, the other side of her weight was that everything (!) that entered her mouth, exited her backside tenfold.  I won’t elaborate, but trust me when I tell you that the effects of EPI (Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency) are not for the faint of heart, and it was a major hallelujah moment when the specialists hired by GRRMF who were put on her case were able to diagnose her illness. Cindy was entered into the Sanctuary program and I was blessed to be her permanent foster.  Cindy entered the rescue with the name Cinderella, which became Cindy Scarlett as her GRRMF name.  I had a couple of good friends named Cindy and honestly it was too confusing, so Cinderella kept flowing off my tongue and eventually her sing-song name became “my little Cinderella Bella Burke” and finally, Bella!

For months after the diagnosis, we began to see weight on her body and her personality to blossom!  She trusted me and Hazel and we were her family.  I can’t say that she ever grew to want to socialize with other dogs or really a lot of people, she had her home and she was keeping it.  One of my favorite memories is stopping to speak to a couple of elderly ladies in the neighborhood who wanted to say hi to her.  She was uninterested but patient for a moment until she laid down quietly and I chatted with them…the next thing I know little Cinderella Bella was proudly prancing down the street to her front porch and I was left standing there with a chewed -up leash blowing in the wind!

Walks were always (up to the very last day) at the fastest rate possible!  My job was to be behind her happy tail trying to keep up and she would keep turning around to ensure I was still there watching over her.  The neighbors eventually just laughed and waved because they knew she would not permit any conversation – we were on a mission!

Hazel had MAJOR anxiety that grew with age. For a girl with one front leg, she was able to dismantle the inside of my house until my living room, bedroom and dining room no longer had drywall. She also was able to break the French doors and get out — true to her devotion to her older sister, Bella was right there with her.  My neighbors said Hazel would lay down when she was spotted and wait until they called me to come home from work to pick her up.  Again, Bella would be in on the shenanigans for a while until she got tired of being “exposed and unprotected” and broke back INTO the fence and the house.  Little devil would be sitting at the front door when I brought Hazel home acting all innocent, like the neighbors didn’t tell me she was out with her!!  Little nutter thought she was so smart!

Once Hazel passed, I went back and forth on getting her a sister but it never felt right. Bella and I became a team and she owned every inch of this house (which makes this immediate time without her that much more painful – her hair, her paw prints, her toys and her memories are everywhere).  I miss her.

Every meal was a process.  Her medicine had to be mixed in and “steep” for 15 minutes.  She knew when it was time to fix it, and watched closely while I heated the broth and set the timer, she watched the opening to the kitchen to ensure no one came in to steal her food! As soon as the timer went off, if I wasn’t headed to the kitchen, she was on me to come get her bowl!  Bella would get me up around 2:30 am for breakfast, and I would brush her while her food steeped, then back to bed until 4 – 4:30 when her cute self would wake me again to a wagging tail and paw asking for us to take a walk, then she would nap again until 6 am, when she insisted on a car ride to greet the world each morning. I don’t know if I was more impressed with her ability to tell time or the way she established her own habits and trained me to abide by them.  I’d say that I can’t remember having a normal night’s sleep, but actually, she got me to believe our nights were normal!

I miss walking through my living room without tripping over shoes.  She didn’t chew on them, she just grabbed them and laid with them near her face.  I would try to hide them but within an hour of coming home from work, she would sneak past me with side eyes while she found them and brought one out to show me- she knew where it was.  I miss her being my co-pilot in the car making sure she saw what I was seeing at the same time, and would turn her face to look at me like “hey, did you see that?” I miss her waking me up whining with a toy just because she wanted to be sure I knew she had her toy.  I miss her.

I want to thank everyone who contributed to her health care.  Please know that you saved a special soul that deserved to be saved and to know nothing but love.  Please continue to support the Golden Retriever Rescue of Mid Florida, God’s purest souls depend on you to save them.

Finally, thank you to GRRMF and all the volunteers who do the hard work bringing these babies to safety and making the best decision for each one.  I am so blessed to be associated with this organization and look forward to providing unending love and security to the next golden they determine is right for me.