Sunday, November 14, 2010

Bailey

AKA Bailey Boo Boo, or BayBoo, or Boo, or Boo Bear, or Bear


Bailey adopted us about 11 years ago.  We live in the country.  When we moved here 28 years ago it was a lot more rural than it is now, but it's still somewhat bucolic.  Of course, being outside the city means we are adjacent to the Great Mid-Atlantic Stray Animal Superhighway.  Whenever some imbecile is too irresponsible, egocentric, callous or mindless to care for the poor animal they thought they wanted as a pet, they bring them out to the country and set them loose.  I cannot even begin to tell you how thoroughly enraged this makes me, but fortunately I've never actually witnessed anyone do this, so I haven't been jailed for felonious assault, yet.


When Bailey found us, she was about 9 months old.  We came home from work one day (whenever possible, Bud and I carpooled to our jobs), and there she was outside our fence making friends with the three dogs who were inside the fence.  She was a little shy and would not approach us, but while she kept her distance, she was wagging her entire back end.  We tried to get her to go away, but every time she left, she came back again.  So we called the animal control people and reported a stray at our house.  We went to work the next day; she was still there when we got home.  I gave her some water, but we decided not to feed her, hoping she would leave in search of something to eat.  We called animal control, again.  They said they had come to our house but didn't see any stray dog.  She was keeping underneath Bud's pickup truck most of the time, so I told the people at animal control to look under the truck.  We went to work the next day; she was still there when we got home.  I couldn't stand the idea of the poor baby starving to death, so I gave her some food and water. It was Friday and we were leaving early Saturday morning and wouldn't be back until late Sunday.  We had a friend coming over to take care of our three dogs, so in the note I always leave for our pet sitters, I explained about the dog under the truck and asked that he please make sure she had food and water.  She was still with us when we got home late Sunday night.  By now our dogs had quit barking at her and they were all the best of friends, though still separated by our fence.  We went to work on Monday and I called animal control from my office, again.  They again said they couldn't find a stray dog at our house but they would go out once more.  When Bud picked me up after work and we started home, I started telling him about calling animal control again, but then I started crying.  Bud hates it when I cry.  I had decided sometime during the day that I didn't want animal control to find her; I wanted to keep her.  I was terrified because now that I had decided to keep her, I was sure the idiots at animal control would finally have found her.  But, my prayers were answered, and there she was in our driveway wriggling her entire backside.  By now, she was accustomed to me, so when she finally came up to me to be petted I just grabbed her and we took her in the house with us.  We brought the other dogs in to see her, and since everyone already knew each other, there was no posturing or attitude.  She's been here since.


We don't know what varieties of dogs she might be.  Someone who knows a lot about breeds said she seems to have a lot of Portuguese Water dog in her. She is mostly black but has the cutest white feet with black polka dots.  She is a very hairy dog.  In the winter, her coat is thick and woolly almost like a bear.  We have her shaved in the spring and then she looks a bit like a standard poodle.  She's pretty laid-back and usually just goes about her business without much trouble.  As soon as she goes out the back door she barks a lot, usually at the air, because seldom is there anything really there for her to bark about.  But once she has made her presence known to the great outdoors, she settles down to whatever it is that dogs settle down to when they are out roaming the back yard.  I know she gets smushed into the ground a lot when she plays with the other dogs.  Right now her hair has pretty much grown back from her spring shaving, and she constantly carries around the equivalent of a small tree's worth of dead leaves.  She hates to be combed (which is one of the reasons we must have her shaved each spring) and will not stand still long enough for us to deleaf her.   She is also currently masquerading as a porcupine, which I believe comes from rolling around under the white pine that is in the process of shedding needles before winter.


My Boo Bear is getting up in age.  She's getting grayer (aren't we all) and she's slowed down quite a bit.  She's never given us a moment's trouble.  She's never sick.  She's a really good eater so we had to put her on a diet and get her a special diet maintenance food.  She's always gotten along with all the other dogs, although Abby pushes her luck every once in awhile.  She never tries to run away; after all she picked this place to live and since she's discovered how good life is here, I don't think we could chase her away.  We couldn't chase her away 11 years ago, I know she's not going anywhere now.



1 comment:

  1. What a cutie pie!. Sometime things are just meant to be. Wendy

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