My sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone who left messages and sent me PMs after I posted my message. My wife was astonished at the amount of messages and the kindness shown from so many people from here in the UK and the USA.
It's now a few weeks after Bella died and we still continue to miss her. We still "see" her but after 17 years it's hard to break old habbits! The most recent was my slippers being confused for her!!
She was buried in our back garden and through a great deal of tears, I managed to read "Rainbow Bridge" which I had kept from my wife and children until the burial. Needless to say the tears rolled.
At the moment there are no intentions of getting another dog as Bella would be a hard act to follow. I got a photo of her next to my computer so she is "looking" at me as I type.
Once again, many thanks to everyone.
David & family.