I am not sure if many of you know the story of how we acquired Bayley, so I thought I'd share it here. When we got Bayley, I had been wanting a dog for some time. My sweet hubby had told me that once we got a house, we could consider getting a dog. Both of us have always enjoyed beagles and we knew that's the kind of dog we would like to get. However, when Bayley came along, we definitely weren't looking for a dog. We had only been in our house one month when one day at work, a co-worker randomly asked, "Hey, does anyone want a beagle?" I automatically perked up and began to ask some questions. Turned out my coworker had gotten a beagle off of Craig's list the week prior and her daughter was severely allergic. I got the information about Bayley and came home to ask my hubby. After discussing it briefly, we decided we could meet the dog over the coming weekend and decide if she would be a good fit for us. We went to meet Bayley and instantly fell in love with her friendliness and energy. The rest, of course, is history. So, we came home with our newly acquired beagle and began to learn many things about her. For starters, we learned that Bayley was terrified. Apparently, Bayley had an owner that abused her. Then, she was a stray for a time before being found by a family that took her in, got her healthy and then put her on Craig's list. We learned that Bayley would not play, that if we tried to touch her, she cowered, and if we walked toward her, she flinched as if we were going to kick her. We learned that in Bayley's short life (we estimate she was 9 months old when we got her), she had been through 4 owners. We learned that she was terrified of her crate and that she cried and whined any time we put her in there. We learned that Bayley had severe separation anxiety, to which the incident in which she ate our blinds when we left the house for an hour can attest. So, we began to read books by Cesar Milan and we started to watch his show, "The Dog Whisperer". We began puppy rehab. Soon, we had rehabilitated Bayley to respond to us without flinching and to go into her crate on command. She still cried when we left, she still tried to leave with us (including darting out the front door any time we opened it) and she still refused to leave our side when we were home. But most disturbingly, she still wouldn't play. Mostly, Bayley just curled into a little ball and hid in a corner. We'd throw balls, introduce toys, give her treats... the dog wouldn't play.
After about 1 month, we began to notice that Bayley would occasionally approach one of her toys if we weren't looking. Mostly, she still just laid around and tried to anticipate our every move. Slowly, though, with time and patience, she began to play. And then something miraculous happened. This dog became the most energetic, playful creature we had ever seen. It was like we couldn't get her to stop playing. It is hard to believe now that Bayley at one point in time did not play. So, after about 2 months of rehabilitation, we had a playful pup on our hands. The dog hardly laid down. She was just so energetic. And we started to notice something else- we couldn't keep up with her. She never got tired! We'd play with her for what seemed like ages and then she'd still want to play more. So, she started playing by herself. We began to wonder if Bayley was lonely. Beagles are naturally pack animals and Bayley had become quite social at the dog park by this point in time. We began to wonder if maybe Bayley needed a friend: a beagle for her very own.
And thus began the search for the perfect beagle for Bayley.
(To Be Continued...)
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