Today is Bailey's twelfth birthday! Happy birthday, my baby! It is so hard to believe that 12 years have passed since the night my friend called and told me that the long-anticipated puppies had been born! When I first went to see the puppies, I chose one that was black with white spots and was going to call him Colby. Later, my friend told me that they had mixed up the genders on all of the puppies so the one I had chosen was actually a girl. My mom had said I could only have a boy, so I went back and chose the cutest little chocolate brown fur ball. They were calling him "Fudge" then but he was destined to be my Bailey. And what an amazing twelve years it has been!I decided to come up with 12 of my favorite Bailey memories in honor of his 12th birthday, so here they are in no particular order. I was going to find and scan pictures to go with some of this but didn't get to it yet. Hopefully I will add them next week.
1. Bringing him home. He was the first to leave his litter and cried all the way home. I kept calling his name, trying to reassure him, and then realized that he didn't know his name yet!
2. While eating his first meal at his new home, he stood with his back legs stretched way out behind him. It looked like he was still expecting the other puppies to be crawling all around and trying to eat at the same time.
3. Snuggle time. When he was younger and still allowed on the furniture, sometimes he would sit next to me and press his face against mine and snuggle. Those were such sweet, loving moments!
4. His tennis ball trick. He will lie in the floor and play with his ball for a minute. Then he rolls over on his back, holds the ball in his raised front paws, lets the ball slide down his legs, onto his chest, and turns his head sideways and catches the ball as it rolls off his chest. It is absolutely one of the most adorable things he does and he gets so excited when he does it perfectly.
5. One night I was watching Deal or No Deal and playing the Lucky Case Game. I was trying to decide which case of the six to guess. Bailey was lying in the floor and I facetiously asked him which case I should choose. His response: Woof! It amazed me because I had not told him to speak and hadn't done anything to provoke a bark from him. So I asked him again which case I should play. His response: Woof woof! Again I asked and his response was Woof woof woof! By now I was very amused and asked him again. His response: Woof woof woof woof! When I asked him the next time, he barked 4 times again but the last time I asked him, he barked 6 times!!! He basically counted to six but left off one bark for the #5! My mom was there so we have a witness! The dog is too smart...
6. When he was on the home-cooked diet and I jokingly asked him if he wanted to change back to dry food, he stood up, looked right at me, barked three times, and left the room. He made his point! "NO DRY FOOD!" (He's back on the dry food now because we were scared a food allergy might be causing the sores on his face.)
7. When I bought him a new toy and tested the theory that dogs can use process of elimination. I had read an article and wanted to try it myself. I gave Bailey the new toy without telling him its name and allowed him to play with it until he lost interest and left it. It is a Blue's Clues plush toy so I named him Blue. Later, I lined up 5 or 6 toys, all with names he knew well except for the new one. I had him sit a few feet in front of the toys and told him, "Go get Blue!" He walked over to the toys, sniffed down the line until he got to Blue, then grabbed it and brought it back to me. Brilliant!
8. For a long time, he hated for anyone to clip their nails. If he heard someone cutting their nails, he would bark, run to them and whine and try to take the clippers away. I guess he figured if he hated to have his nails clipped, we must hate it also. He still does not like to be around if I am clipping my nails but he does not react so strongly now.
9. Bailey loves to play hide and seek! He will run all around the house looking frantically for the hider and then run away when he finds you, like he is waiting for you to hide again.
10. Once on America's Funniest Home Videos, I saw a clip of a man and his dog outside and the dog was doing the craziest thing. He would jump up, grab a tree branch in his mouth, and slide his mouth down the limb, stripping the leaves off of it. He did this over and over again and was just going wild! Well, once again, I used my dog as a guinea pig. When we were outside later, I pulled a limb down and shook it and Bailey ran across the yard to me and did exactly the same thing, jumping up and grabbing the limb and stripping the leaves off. He absolutely loved this new game! One time when we were doing this, he grabbed more than the limb and I still have a scar on my right index finger as a reminder! Needless to say, that was the end of that game.
He also loved playing in the leaves when we would rake them and make big piles.
11. A couple years ago, Bailey thought one of his new toys was named Happy Birthday! I gave him either Turtle or Lady Bug that year, and I told him "Happy Birthday!" over and over again throughout the day. By the end of the day, anytime I said it, he would go and get his new toy and bring it to me. That was pretty cute.
12. I guess he has always been demanding. He would jump up on the bed with a toy and play with it for a while. When he enevitably dropped it off the bed, he would bark for someone to hand it to him. What can I say? I know he's spoiled, but I also think he should be!
Tonight he will get his birthday "cake" and presents and mommy will take lots of pictures and video which I will share next week.
And by the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!
