Bailey, My Wild Child

She was the fifth puppy, born at 2:17AM and weighed 8 ounces. She was all black with a few white hairs on her chest and a milk chin. It didn't take long for me to realize that she was different from the others.

When she was seven days old, her eyes weren't open yet, she decided to leave the whelping box and go exploring. She managed to get both front legs up on the rail of the box but wasn't strong enough to push herself over the top. When her eyes opened on day ten, she did it. I found her crawling around the room exploring the big world. After putting her back in the box three times that day, we built the walls up higher.

When the pups were four weeks old we moved them to a pen in the kitchen. There was a three foot wire enclosure to contain them. Bailey could climb out of that pen before I could cross the room. When she was six months old I caught her half way up a ladder leaning against the fence in the yard. She was going to check out the world outside the yard.

She never liked water. When we turned on the hose the others came running but Bailey disappeared. We took her to the lake a few times but she preferred to stay on the boat and explore.

She caught a bird on the wing and brought me a live angry squirrel. She dug enormous holes. She loved her pack.

  She was smaller than her sisters and got beaten up a few times. One day they ran her into the fence, face first. We took her to the vet with the skin scraped off one side of her face and she spent a couple days there as they treated her scrapes and watched for infection. The sisterly abuse didn't change her sweet gentle temperament.

 

  

 

 

The girls slept in crates. Each had a couple blankets but Bailey's crate was stuffed full of her 'babies'. She loved her stuffed animals. Monkey was her first and her favorite, but she had dozens of others and loved them all.

Each morning I opened her crate first because she has to sort thru her babies to choose which one to bring with her and carry around all day. At bedtime if one was missing, she'd bark until I found it and it was safely back with her.

Bailey was tough and independent but sweet and loving. She was a hugger.

 She was special and I miss her terribly.