Tag: Bailey

Update and Bailey’s Reaction to Fireworks

On July 6, 2021

In my blog, I try for a conversational tone to let the readers feel like I am sharing part of my life. I don’t think this is necessarily the ideal way to build readership, but that’s just me. I am happy with the progress that has been made on my novel. When I retired on April 2nd, I had about 40,000 words written though I had been stalled there for several years. I actually started writing in April of 2014. Since April of this year, I have added more than 20,000 words, edited several chapters, and submitted several for critiques. I mentioned in a previous blog, Like an Old Man In a High School English Class, that I am just learning to write, and getting critiques from other writers really helps me see where I need to make improvements. Initially, it was hard because I had so many grammatical errors it was hard to get to the real writing issues. Now that I have software to help me with those it is easier to understand the issues that occur regularly in my writing. The major plotline is nearly complete with the current 60,000 words. I still need to flesh out a couple of sub-plots and rewrite the entire novel based on the input I have received. My goal is to have a submittable first draft completed this year. I also hope to post the prologue on this site once I completed the rewrite to get some feedback from my followers so be sure to subscribe so you can be notified when it is posted.

Bailey anxious about fireworkset — Bailey lying at my feet

Since Bailey is still the most popular topic in my blog, I thought I would let you know how she handles the fourth of July and all of the fireworks. As I mentioned she is a fearful dog. (Bailey Becomes My Dog) She does not like the noise from the fireworks and tries to hide. This year has been especially hard since she reacts the same way to thunder and we are in a typical summer pattern of regular afternoon and evening thunderstorms. We bought a thunder shirt which does help a little but does not keep her calm. When she is home we put the shirt on her and if the thunder or fireworks are not too loud, she will lay at my feet while I sit on the sofa. When the fireworks or thunder is louder she will hide either under the kitchen table or in the back bedroom. Her anxiety causes her to breathe rapidly and stay alert not relaxing. She won’t even go outside to go to the bathroom. If I do get her outside, she is okay until she hears the bang. Then she will turn and go immediately to the door and inside through the dog door if the main door is opened.

Yesterday, we took her to the park during the afternoon, hoping we would avoid the fireworks and she could get some exercise. We made it not quite halfway around the park when someone in the neighborhood sent up a rocket that exploded with a loud bang. I was glad I had left her on the leash because she would have bolted at the noise. As it was, we turned around and headed back to the truck. Her leash manners were not good. She pulled trying to hurry back to a safe place. She spent the entire afternoon either at my feet or under the kitchen table and all evening hiding in the back bedroom where my wife had put the portable kennel we use on vacations. She stayed in there until late last night before coming to her regular kennel where she usually sleeps.

I don’t think people without fearful dogs know the anxiety they cause setting off fireworks, especially in our city where fireworks are illegal within the city limits. I understand the need for the celebration and am participated myself when I was younger. However, I don’t really understand the need for the fireworks to last for the two weeks around the holiday. Maybe I am just old and don’t like seeing Baily stressed. If you have an opinion on this or other of my blogs please fill out the comment form and subscribe to get updates.

Wiley Coyote

By doesbuck

On May 24, 2021

In Uncategorized

One thing I looked forward to doing when I retired was going fishing in the middle of the week. However, in the seven weeks since I retired, I have only gone fishing once. I do not know if this says more about my priorities or about how busy I am. It is probably both. My priority when I retired was to write, hoping to finish my novel. I am making progress, but I have also been extremely busy with other things. One of the other things was having cataract surgery. This consumed two to three weeks with the surgery and time for my vision to clear. Then it was time to put in the garden. I had to replace two of my raised beds and hoped to add a third. I replaced the two beds, but I did not have enough dirt to fill the third, though I placed it. I finished planting last week. Now that those things are complete, I should have time to go fishing. But I promised another Bailey story.

After Bailey broke my wife’s leg, I walked her, and took her to obedience classes. Bailey usually gets at least two walks each day, morning, and afternoon. While I worked from home, this was easy to do much like my current routine. I would take her to a park a few blocks from the house where we would walk around it. When I went back to work, I needed to walk her before I left the house at 6:30 in the morning. This meant I was walking her at around 5:30 AM. During the summer this is not an issue because it is light out. But later in the year it is dark.

The park is next to a floodway that runs North of our house. To the East, the floodway runs by a large open space, Austin Bluffs. It runs down and empties into Monument creek. This is a highway for wildlife like deer and coyotes, and occasionally a bear or moose.

The lower parking lot is next to the floodway. There is a city owned swimming pool next to the lot. Above the pool is a large open field with a baseball field on one end and playground on the other. Up a hill from the field, are tennis courts and another parking lot. One fall morning I was walking Bailey at the park just before sunrise. It was just light enough to see large objects. Bailey was off leash and we were crossing the field. Suddenly, Bailey took off running, and I saw a coyote chasing her. I called Bailey, but she did not stop or come. I tried to run after them, but they were too fast. All I thought was, I have lost our dog. If the coyote did not get her, I would never find her in the dark. I continued to call for her as I walked back to the parking lot, but she did not respond. When I got to the lot, Bailey was at the car and the coyote was not in sight. Though thrilled to see me, she could hardly wait to get in the car and go home. Since then, we do not walk in that park early in the mornings. We go to a park with more lights, or we walk around the neighborhood.

It surprises me when I think about how smart Bailey was to go to the car and wait for me. She is highly intelligent. She is also very fast and just like the Roadrunner, she avoided the Wiley Coyote. If you enjoy stories about Bailey, leave a comment and sign up to receive updates on new posts.

Bailey Becomes My Dog

By doesbuck

On May 10, 2021

In Uncategorized

I would like to thank everyone who commented on my last post “Bring Home Bailey.” As a rescue dog, she was a challenge when we first brought her home. Especially, as I noted, house training her. But also in other interactions. She was afraid of everything. Initially, when we wanted to go to the park, we carried her to the car. She wouldn’t go out the door, and when she finally did, she wouldn’t jump into or out of the car. We spent a lot of time and money training her. She needed to behave on the leash so my wife to take her on walks. A few months after we brought her home that plan suffered a major setback. I got a call from my wife while I was at work. She told me she had fallen in the park and couldn’t walk. When I asked if we needed to call an ambulance, she said no that I needed to come to get her. So, I left work, went to the park, and took her and Bailey home. We called our orthopedic surgeon for an appointment. The x-ray showed she had a tibial plateau fracture. (The flat portion at the top of the tibia on the knee joint had a vertical fracture.) It didn’t require surgery, but she could not put any weight on her leg for weeks to allow it to heal. During their walk at the park, they met a man with another dog. When she tried to introduce Bailey to the other dog, Bailey shied hitting the outside of her knee forcing it in, and her femur down onto the tibial plateau causing the fracture. It turns out pets are a major cause of injuries for older adults.

As a result of my wife’s injury, I worked from home and took care of her, and Bailey became my dog. I took for walks at least twice a day and training classes. Though she is still skittish especially with dogs or people that approach too quickly, she is much better. She has learned to trust me and if she is uncomfortable, will often lean against me for reassurance. She is by far the most affectionate dog we have owned. Today my wife walks her on occasion, though it took a while for her to overcome her fear of falling.

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Bringing Home Bailey

By doesbuck

On May 4, 2021

In Uncategorized

Writing a blog turns out to be a lot of work. My original thought was to post every week to ten days, but I have actually posted about every two to four weeks. Everything gets in the way. In the last post, I talked about getting into a routine. Unfortunately, writing the blog is not yet part of that routine. I think I need to focus on a more specific topic. The original topic being my writing journey. I am progressing in that journey but I am not generating much interest in the blog. Even my family shows little interest, and they are the only ones who currently receive notifications of new posts. If you are reading this, I need help developing a focus until I actually become a published author. The comments I received indicate the two most popular posts are “Old Dogs” and the “Adventure Begins”. When I asked my wife what would be a good topic for this blog, she said to write about Bailey.

Bailey after we first brought her home in April 2017.

She is a German Shepherd and Australian Cattle Dog mix and looks like a miniature German Shepherd. We got her shortly after we put down our previous dog, Lizzie. We were out and my wife said, “Let’s go to Petco and see if they have any puppies.” I reluctantly agreed. I didn’t want a puppy, I wanted a two-year-old dog that was already housebroken and possibly trained. When we arrived at Petco, they had this litter of puppies. They told us the dogs were feral when they found them. My wife wanted a female, and when they showed Bailey to us, she fell in love. As soon as she held Bambi (as she was called at that time), I knew we were going to get her. We took her for a short walk and sat at a picnic table behind the store. We talked about the forgone decision that we would take her home. ‘Bambi’ was a very frightened puppy. When we walked her behind Petco, all she wanted was to get back to her littermates. When we brought her home with us, she was so frightened she would not go outside by herself. This made her house training a long and patience-building ordeal. Even after four years, she still wants one of us to go outside with her.

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