Bailey's story

[3ringcircus]

First of all, I'm a new member here, so hello fellow BC lovers. I just had to share my story with you all. I've had my border collie/aussie mix since he was about six weeks old, I picked him up at a horse show in Alabama. I was in the military at the time, so Boomer has travelled quite a bit(which is probably why he doesn't like car rides!), he's moved with me from Florida to Michigan for a while, then Louisiana, San Diego, Denver, and now back to Michigan. He's been an amazing companion and friend over the years, and I wouldn't give him up for anything. He had a brother, Rocky the mini Schnauzer, but Rocky couldn't be trusted around the baby so regretably had to find a new home. Since then, Boomer's been an only dog, and has been admirably patient with my daughter! I've tried to find him a friend a few times(non-BC's, I always said one was enough!), but they never seemed to click.
I'd about given up when one cold snowy day I stopped by an estate sale. After wandering through the house admiring all the beautiful furniture and equally beautiful prices(lol), I was making my way back to my car when I heard the strangest sound behind me. I turned around, and through the falling snow I could see a small furry black shape tied to the corner of the garage. I walked over, and low and behold there was a young border collie, skinny and shivering. She was overjoyed to receive some attention, and was obviously very affectionate. She looked at me with those pleading eyes and I was helpless to resist. I marched back inside, found the proprietor of the sale and started asking questions. Turns out, the dog had been a Christmas gift to the owner, who had since passed away. Never mind that someone gave a young border collie to an(as it turned out) incapacitated elderly person, what were they going to do with her? He(the son of the deceased) had no idea what to do with her, so I started asking the basic questions, how old is she, has she had her shots, is she fixed? His response to the last question was, "well she's had her shots so she should be." Long story short, I wound up taking her home =)
Boomer's initial reaction was typical; ignore the dog and go for the toy. Now here is where the problems arose with the previous attempted 'friends'... they all wanted to share Boomer's toys. So with some trepidation I threw his toy for him, and Bailey(as she came to be called), to my delight, chased HIM and not the toy! For the first few days, Boomer would pretend to despise her, but when my back was turned, I could hear them wrestling with each other =). It didn't take long for him to drop all pretenses, and now he and his new sister are best buds. So ends the quest for a new friend for Boomer =)
Bailey did have an extreme infestation of worms, which was quickly taken care of, and has since put on a few pounds despite her high energy level! She also is very tolerant of my daughter, and stands very patiently for hugs and kisses. We did have some problems with 'accidents', but more frequent trips outdoors seems to have solved that problem. We're spending the remainder of winter working on basic obedience, but I'm looking forward to springtime, as I plan to enroll her in agility classes. She's quicker than Boomer(much to his chagrin), and that's something I never thought I'd see!
Well I didn't intend to write this much, but it is a subject that is very near and dear to me. I was thrilled to find this website, and if anyone needs any help in Michigan, I will do everything in my power to help out. I volunteer at the local shelter taking pictures of the animals to put on petfinder, which so far has worked wonderfully. I do plan on someday opening a shelter of my own for abused and neglected animals of all shapes and sizes, but for now two border collies and a two year old are plenty, hence the name three ring circus =) The dog in my picture is Boomer, I'll hopefully have some of Bailey to post soon.

[Samismom]

Wonderful story. Welcome to the Board.

[ajones]

Wow! Both Boomer and Bailey are pretty lucky you found them and adopted them!

Best of luck continuing to be ringmaster to your circus. The one thing I remember about Kate's youth was that she was constantly in motion, so I'm sure you have your hands full with Bailey's enthusiasm. Good luck with her training!

[3ringcircus]

Update on Bailey:

Well... where to start. I'm forced to admit that I took on more than I could chew with her. It didn't start out that way, in fact everything was going very well for us, she was finding her niche in the family. Then I had to switch shifts at my job. Working nights with children in the home is NOT a good thing. Add a very spaztic puppy to the mix... chaos! So, I was talking to my parents one day when they were down for a visit, and I told them I'd decided to see about a better home for Bailey. Let me back up a bit here and add that my parents have had goldens for the last 18 years or so, and their current golden (creatively named Goldie ) is on a downhill slide, healthwise. I'd been trying and trying to convince them to get another dog, but they said that Goldie would be the last dog they ever had. Unless of course I someday fell off my rocker and decided to give up Boomer . Enter Bailey. As if on cue, while I was telling them that I was looking for a home for her, she wriggled and writhed her way up into my stepmom's lap and stared up at her with pure adoration in her eyes...

I'll give them credit, they resisted. They didn't take her home that trip. A week later they came back with a bigger vehicle for her and all her things to fit in comfortably . Now Bailey gets to go to work with my dad every day, and is the office mascot. She is also doing agility with my stepmom, and every night before bed my dad takes her outside and drives her crazy with a lazer pointer

So all in all, even though things didn't work out so well with my gang, Bailey found herself a home where she will be loved dearly and her energy put to better use than destroying my house and eating my kid's crayons . And the best part is, she gets to come visit at least once a month!