Bailey turns five!

Last Friday was Bailey’s fifth birthday so I thought that a post about my energetic four-legged friend might be in order.

Matt and I first met Bailey when she was four weeks old. She had nine litter mates but choosing her was easy because, unlike her brothers and sisters who were only interested in eating and sleeping, Bailey was constantly bouncing around exploring her surroundings. Bailey still continues to be an, ahem, “independent” dog (which is a nice way of saying that she’ll completely ignore us if she’s doing something that she deems more interesting) and that bounce in her four-week-old step has translated into a spring-loaded “pop” off the dock when she jumps at Dockdogs competitions.

Bailey at 7 weeks on her first day home with us.

By the time Bailey was eight months old she was jumping the fence in and out of my mom’s garden. I thought this was great fun and spent many a lunch hour playing fetch with Bailey over the garden fence. Bailey loved jumping the fence so much that she made the garden part of her standard path around the yard and she’d jump in one side and out the other every time she did a lap around the yard (and she did a LOT of laps!). Needless to say, my mom was thrilled to have all of this activity going on over her perennials!

Leaping the garden fence with ease.

Bailey’s career as a Dockdog began just after she turned two years old. Below are a few of my favorite photos of Bailey flying through the air. You can read more about our Dockdogs adventures in my Addicted to Dockdogs post if you’re interested!

(click to enlarge)

One of the best things about Dockdogs events is that Bailey is allowed to sleep on the bed with us when we’re in a hotel. (At home she sleeps on her own bed on the floor.) Bailey takes up a surprisingly large amount of bed space for such a little dog which can make sharing a bed with her a bit challenging, but it’s worth it to get to snuggle with her.

Bailey snoozing in a hotel room after a long day of Dockdogs.

When Bailey’s not sailing through the air, she’s usually stalking small animals in our backyard. We’ve noticed that Bailey becomes fixated on certain areas of the yard for long periods of time. For several weeks last summer it seemed like she did nothing but stare at a wild overgrown hedge, waiting for a groundhog to make a mistake and venture out too far into the lawn. Then she had another spell where she spent every evening with her head and front legs in our basement window well harassing toads (her back legs remained at ground level so her butt and tail nub made for a funny sight sticking up out of the ground). Bailey’s current obsession is a huge beech tree at the very edge of our property. She sits at the base of the tree all day monitoring the activity of the grey and black squirrels above. A few weeks ago she actually caught a squirrel but that has only helped to make her more determined to guard the beech tree.

Bailey guarding the lawn against the groundhogs in the hedge last summer.

All in all, I’d say that five-year-old Bailey has had a pretty awesome life so far. Here’s to another five years (and another five after that!) of jumping, snuggling, and fun!