Jeremy and Kathy Clement of Nashville, TN, had their arms full—and their faces wet—as soon as they met twelve-week-old Anatolian mix Ella at the Humane Association of Wilson County. “When we opened her kennel door, she jumped into my arms and licked my face in a frenzy,” recalls Jeremy.
Apparently, the pup’s kisses were not administered simply to charm these potential adopters. She ran full speed toward a two-year-old girl, slowed down, crawled gently to the toddler’s feet and kissed her on the knee. “That was it!” claims Jeremy, who had only one thing to say to the shelter staff: “Where do we sign?”
Ella was all puppy when she arrived at home, darting under the couch, stealing socks and leaping up into the Clements’ arms, giving kisses all the while. Even after recovering from a near-fatal case of kennel cough, she hadn’t lost any of her drive to smooch.
“She puts a smile on everyone’s face with her tendency to shower people with kisses,” says Jeremy. “One day she saw a little boy crash his Big Wheel and she wouldn’t stop kissing his teary cheeks until he was laughing. And on vacation in the Smoky Mountains, when two preschool girls in pigtails wrapped their arms around Ella, she just kissed and kissed their cheeks.”
The Clements treasure Ella’s capacity to love and, it seems, her capacity for directness. “Ella doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to affection,” says Jeremy. “She just kisses me right in the ear!”
Check out Ella’s page on the ASPCA Online Community!
