Stella

Stella has post-traumatic stress disorder. She does not understand this, so her actions cause her to feel shame. Post-traumatic stress disorder occurs after some people or animals experience a traumatic or dangerous event. When they are not able to properly process the event, they can have flashbacks and have strong reactions to anything that reminds them of the event. For Stella, the traumatic event was an explosion at the airport. Whenever she hears loud noises now, she remembers the explosion and panics, digging, whining, chewing, and causing other problems. Stella does not understand why she does these things that humans find naughty, which makes her question herself and doubt whether she is a good dog. Unlike Stella’s previous handlers, Esperanza understands the extent of Stella’s trauma, which means that she has a greater chance of successfully rehabilitating her. It also means she also knows how difficult it will be to help Stella.

Two points of tension arise during the conversation when Esperanza tells Cloe that Stella will not be staying in the house. The first point of tension is over whether Esperanza and Cloe will be able to help Stella. Because of the seriousness of Stella’s trauma, Esperanza knows she cannot guarantee that she can return Stella to a good quality of life, and she does not want her daughter to get too attached to the dog. Cloe, however, does not heed her mother’s warning and quickly becomes attached to Stella.

The second point of tension occurs between the mother and daughter’s attempts to help Stella. Esperanza knows a lot about dogs, and she does not want Stella in the house both because she thinks Stella needs to be with the other animals and because she does not want Cloe to get too attached. Cloe, on the other hand, understands Stella deeply and wants to shower her with affection. She recognizes The Importance of Overcoming Fears in healing from trauma, but she also understands that pushing Stella too far too fast will be counterproductive. This tug between Esperanza’s more distanced approach and Cloe’s more nurturing one continues throughout much of the novel as the mother and daughter disagree on the proper way to help Stella.

Because the novel is told from the perspective of a dog, everything is filtered through a dog’s way of seeing the world. Dogs see the world first and foremost through hierarchies. This can be seen when Esperanza and Stella first meet. Stella does not want to comply with what Esperanza tells her to do, but she does because she knows that Esperanza is the top human. Hierarchy also plays a role when Nando gently swats Stella to tell her to be quiet. Nando is respectful of Stella and does not try to hurt her, but Nando is in charge, and both dogs understand that. The world makes sense to Stella through this hierarchy. It does not make her feel bad that she is not the top dog because to her, that is just the way the world is. Hierarchies and dominance are important to dogs, and McCall Hoyle is able to demonstrate this reality through Stella’s narration.

Some dogs in the novel are working dogs, and these types of dogs take pride in their work. Stella in particular exemplifies this pride. When she sees Gus and Nando with the sheep, she believes she can do what they are doing and impress Esperanza. However, she does not understand the work they do, so when she tries to help, she just causes chaos. She is a working dog too, but her job—sniffing out explosives—is different. Over the course of the novel she will learn how to put these skills to use in her new environment.

A central tension in the novel is the difficulty of communication between humans and animals. This is not because either is unintelligent. Rather it is because they speak different languages. Stella uses smell to understand the world, and humans primarily use sound and sight. Because Stella has been trained, she understands some of what Esperanza and Cloe want her to do. Not all trainers work the same way, however, and problems arise when Stella unsuccessfully tries to use the skills she used with Connie to communicate with Cloe and Esperanza, for example, during the sniffing game. The only outcome of this miscommunication is that Stella feels uncomfortable playing without a vest. However, the sniffing game foreshadows other, more serious failures to communicate.

Stella is a highly intelligent dog with sophisticated smelling abilities, but sometimes she gets distracted and stops paying attention to what is going on around her, as when Cloe distracts her from Esperanza’s arrival with delicious treats. Stella is so engulfed in the world of taste and smell that her other senses, such as sound and sight, fall by the wayside. What is obvious to humans can be overlooked by dogs, just as what is obvious to dogs—scent—can be completely unrecognizable to humans. Although this difference in perception can lead to confusion and miscommunication, it also be harnessed for the good: For example, Stella’s ability to sniff out dangers that are imperceptible to humans saves lives. The Bond Between Humans and Animals is fraught with the potential for misunderstanding, but at its best it is mutually beneficial and even lifesaving.