Bye Bye, Bailey

We said goodbye to our loyal dog, Bailey last week.  We took her in for her 'goodbye shot' as the girls call it.  It was a very sad day.

Mat and I have been talking about this for weeks now.  It just seemed the right thing to do. 

Bailey is more than 13 years old.  We got her from the pound a few weeks after we got married.  At the time, she was already more than 3 years old and came from a family who had to give her up because one of their children was allergic.  In her file at the pound was a lengthy note from the family telling us all of Bailey's quirks - like only eating on carpet; and telling us that she was very good with children - which was more than true.  She loved being outside - which was hard living in an apartment for the past 3 years and we knew it was not fair to her to not have a yard to run around in any more.  She loved the girls and was so good to them.  Emma loved to love on Bailey and I know that will be missed.  Bailey never went to the bathroom in the house and was very well trained.

The past few years we have seen Bailey getting older and sicker.  Part of it, we think, was moving and living in a smaller space than she needed.  We knew that this wasn't fair to her, but when we moved we didn't have anyone to take her and knew taking her to the pound would most likely cost her her life.  Bailey had tumors all over in her body and we weren't sure how far it had spread.  She was getting more lethargic and never really wanted to do anything any more.  She couldn't see very well; she wouldn't bark at things outside anymore because she couldn't see them.  She was also having random barking fits and just acting weird lately.  We knew she was slowly leaving us and we didn't want her to be in pain anymore.  The thing that finally convinced us to take her in was that we think Lucy is allergic to her. 

It was not an easy decision, nor one that we took lightly.  We did it to help her be at peace.  We hope she is up in Heaven running around again.

We miss her everyday and sometimes forget she is gone.

Rest Peacefully, Bailey.