Bailey the Dog

This is one of the last pictures that I took of my beloved dog, Bailey.  We found out last week that she had a rather large cancer on her liver.  She was gone within  4 days.  I am heartbroken.  Bailey was the tipping point whether or not we came to Munich...the first question that I asked the hub when he told me about the opportunity to come here was "can Bailey come? Because if not, the answer is no..."

While I have been here in Munich, BTD has been my constant companion.  We walked, went to the bakery, the bookstore and restaurants together.  She slept on the couch as I read and welcomed visitors into our home.  We danced in the living room when we thought no one was watching. Bailey was a great ambassador, making friends canine and human alike.

I thought that I would take a moment here to honor her and jot down some of the wonderful things that made her, well, her.

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  Bailey and I became family almost 12 years ago.  Her mother was a stray found in Detroit, a Black Lab that they named Lucky...who had 8 puppies.  Bailey was one of the 4 girls in the litter.  When we went to "just look" at the puppies, my X and I were looking at the boys...but she caught our eye and rolled over and went to sleep in my arms.  If we had chosen a boy puppy her name was going to be Brutus-after the Ohio State Buckeye's mascot...thank goodness that didn't happen...the name was the X's idea as he was a fan and I would have been left with a dog named after the enemy.
  
  
  
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  She and I forged a life together on our own after my divorce...she weighed in on whether or not she liked my dates and was always spot on.
  
  
  

• Sometimes her upper lip would get caught up and it would look like she was smiling.  I called her "Smilin' Hank"...see the pic at the end of the post for illustrative purposes.

• Bailey was great with kids and other dogs.

• She loved to lay on the deck outside my office in Atlanta-she would put her chin between the rails and lay out there all day.

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  She was a bit of a Houdini and could open the back door of my old house in Grosse Pointe on her own. She could get into any cabinet, my nightstand drawer and also the trash compactor at my parents' house. I swear she had a retractable thumb that came out when I left her.
  
  
  
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  She had a comb-over down her back-her fur grew from right to left.
  
  
  
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  She had ears that were plagued with yeast, but were the softest part of her.
  
  
  
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  Bailey loved peanut butter, people food, the garbage, and had a certain penchant for licking the oatmeal or ice cream bowls. She was a terrible beggar when it came to food.
  
  
  
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  She could catch pieces of popcorn in the air-it was one of her favorite treats.
  
  
  
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  She did this full on, in-the-air spin when I was putting her food in her bowl-a sign of super-joy. She ate faster than anyone I have ever seen.
  
  
  
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  She hated when the mail carrier would put the mail in the door slot-and taught my parents' dog to look up into the slot to scare the mailman.
  
  
  
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  She knew the sucker in the room who would scratch and pet her-and would plant herself next to them.
  
  
  
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  She would spontaneously stop, drop, and roll around on her back, getting a good scratch on her head and back.  She also loved a good chin scratching.
  
  
  
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  She ate so many things that she shouldn't have...a cookie jar full of chocolate treats meant for one of my managers, a loaf of bread stolen from the grocery bag before I knew it, a can that had dog food in it while she was staying at my friend's house, cereal-Easy Mac-Swiss Miss cocoa mix at that same friend's house from her lower cabinets.
  
  
  
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  She didn't like being contained...broke out of a screened-in porch, the horse barn up north and was so happy to get out of that crate at the Munich Airport.
  
  
  

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  When she was in trouble, she would stare up at you lovingly-wagging her tail. Like as if to say, don't be mad at me, look how cute I am.
  
  
  

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  When she was a puppy, she had a cute little white blaze on her chest-about 5 white hairs...so adorable.
  
  
  

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  She loved the snow-rolling around in it, eating it, chasing down snowballs.
  
  
  

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  She could flip her toys in the air and catch them.
  
  
  
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  She had a "wubby" that she loved to chew on and would curl up with it every day and mouth it-if she caught you looking at her while she was with her wubby, she would stop and look at you out of the corner of her eye until she thought you weren't looking and then carry on.
  
  
  
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  She had beautiful brown eyes and a tail that curled up at the end.
  
  
  
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  She woke me up in the mornings by either thumping her tail against the bed or by sticking her nose next to my face. When I would play possum, she would always know and make a little "HAARRRR" noise to let me know I wasn't fooling anyone.
  
  
  
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  When the hub got up in the morning, she would hop up on the bed and take over his spot that was warm. 
  
  
  
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  She wore different collars that coordinated with the seasons-but mostly liked the ones that were pink.
  
  
  
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  She slept on my bed when I was away from the apartment and slept up-side-down on the couch, spread eagle. She snored something fierce.
  
  
  
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  She could back up and walk in reverse.
  
  
  
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  When the hub came home after work, she barked and wiggled and demanded he pet her immediately after coming through the door.
  
  
  
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  When you gave her a treat, she offered you both paws to shake, one after the other, like a sort of can-can canine dance. She could hear the treat jar from a mile away.
  
  
  
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  Even as sick as she was, she licked the tears from my face during her final days. She hated to see me upset.
  
  
  
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  She was, without a doubt the best $25 I ever spent.
  
  
  

She was full of personality. I miss her more than I can say...this is just a quick list off of the top of my head...there are so many other things that I could tell you about my girl.  I really thought that she would return to the states with us when our assignment here is finished. I am eternally grateful that I got to spend this past year with her, concentrating on forging our life in Munich.  I am heartsick and I miss her very much.

The hub has a meeting in Amsterdam tomorrow, so I am going to join him and we will stay the weekend.  The apartment is just too quiet.  I now know what the phrase "the silence is deafening" means.  A change of venue will be the best for us.  I can't pack up her things yet, although seeing them makes me weepy. So it is best to just get away.

Bailey the Dog 3/1998-1/2010