Bailey

 

Almost a year ago my family's Sheltie, Lucy passed away. Her death was sudden and it devastated my parents and I. After some time to mourn our loss my parents decided it was time to fill the void left in our lives by the loss of Lucy. We decided that our new potential dog would be a rescue dog, since they deserve a second chance. While searching through the Petfinder website we found a couple dogs that we thought might be a fit for our family, one of those dogs was Miss Bailey (pictured below) an Amstaff/Pit bull and Boxer mix who had had a rough start to her short life, if any dog was the definition of a "Diamond in the rough" she was it.  For those who aren't aware Miss Bailey was abused in her former home, she was timid and scared of humans and definitely had some trust issues as well. My heart broke as I read her story and I wanted to meet her immediately. 

After meeting the other dogs, Bailey was the last dog we were supposed to meet, we made the almost hour drive out to meet her and as predicted she was shy and not aggressive but apprehensive about these strange humans (my family) who were coming to meet her. It took a few minutes but eventually she got close enough to let me pet her, I knelt down and she came over and let me scratch her back as she leaned her body against my knee. It was a simple gesture but in that instant I knew I loved her and knew I wanted her to come home with us forever. I knew she had chosen me to be "her person."

We had a bit of a rocky start as Bailey became accustomed to our home and us to Bailey's "unique" personality quirks (she can't hold her licker haha) but flash forward almost a whole year and I can honestly say that Bailey is the best dog I've ever had and I'm proud to say that my baby girl is part Pit bull and that we are proud Pit bull mix parents! 

She makes me smile, laugh and be thankful everyday that my family and I have her. We needed her as much as she needed us (maybe we needed her a little more...) but without the dedicated and wonderful volunteers at Diamond in the Ruff I might never have adopted the best part of my life and for that I will thank you all every day. Honestly I saw so much of myself in this beautiful and somewhat "broken" animal when i met her almost a year ago. She had been dealt a bad first hand in life but thanks to DITR, my family and I are blessed to finally be whole again with Bailey as a part of our family. (And she's spoiled beyond all belief!)

I can't thank DITR enough for giving my family and I are smiles back at a time when we needed them the most and the name of our smile is Bailey.