Chances are if you’re at the dog park Sunday mornings you have seen – and heard – Estrella.  Part treeing walker coon hound, part greyhound, Estrella is both loud and fast. Mom Jill explains that coon hounds are range hunters. “They range in the woods for two or three miles, treeing coons, and then the hunters have to follow their voice to find the tree. That’s why they are loud and why they have so much energy.” Long limbed and short haired, Estrella has intelligent brown eyes that look like they have been permanently ringed with kohl eyeliner.

Jill adopted Estrella from the North Shore Animal League, “the best no kill shelter in country,” when she was only three and a half months old. Now almost seven, Estrella still needs to run for at least a couple of hours a day to be relaxed in the house.

“We spend a lot of time in the dog park,” says Jill. “I like her being able to get her energy out. She can run around and bark and tire herself out. I’ve tried walking her for miles. It exhausts me, and doesn’t even take the edge off her . (Sound familiar? See Henry’s story).

Estrella’s energy even affected her tail. Jill explains that Estrella lost part of her tail to Happy Tail Syndrome. Happy tail happens when a dogs wags its tail so hard it becomes injured. This syndrome occurs more in larger, short haired dogs like Estella. “But her tail was so long, that even with half of it gone it looks normal,” says Jill.

Check out Estrella enjoying the dog park with her friends. Turn it up!

Jill admits that while Estrella is probably the loudest dog in the park, she swears she is completely quiet at home, not even barking when the doorbell rings. As for her beautiful name, Jill says it came to her in a dream. “The first night I had her I dreamed I was calling her name, and that’s what I was calling her. So I thought, why not?”

Dream on, Estrella.