For Grey Dog

Bailey and Trigger at Boomer Lake taking their last swim before vet school graduation, 2006
Bailey was always convinced she was going to catch a duck, she almost swam across the length of the entire lake on this day!

She had the softest floppiest ears

She could play fetch for hours

It has been a crazy two weeks, so I think I will break this up into a couple of posts because most of what I have to say doesn't really go together.... So I left Whitesboro on Aug. 1st and drove the 4 hours south the College Station. Reunited with Trent, the dogs and the cat and then packed my bag for Mexico. We drove to the airport in Houston the next day and eagerly awaited to meet up with our friends, who flew from OKC to Houston so we could all arrive in Mexico together.

We found them and headed to our first stop, the airport in Cancun! We got our luggage and then loaded on a van to our resort in Playa del Carmen. Everyone arrived safely and we had a lot of catching up to do. Our resort, The Royal, was really nice and had a beautiful beach. The rooms were awesome and even had a two seater jacuzzi tub! We had a great dinner and then all loaded into one of the prior mentioned hot tubs (in our bathing suits of course!) and had some laughs before turning in for the night.

The next morning was not so happy. Trent's phone kept ringing and he finally answered it. It was the dog sitter calling to say that when she came to check on things, Bailey was weak and pale and could barely walk. She took her into the vet school and they were running fluids and blood work and trying to figure out what was wrong. She had been completely normal the night before. Trent told her to keep us updated and I got in the shower. Five minutes later Trent came in and told me that Bailey was arresting and they were trying to revive her. He told them to let her go and not put her through all of that.

Our Bailey Grace Bliss passed away on August 3rd 2009. It is still so hard to believe that she is really gone. It seems like I am going to go in the bedroom and find her curled up in the middle of our bed. Bailey was only 8 years old. She was Trent's dog. He got her about a year before we met and for a tough period in his life, Bailey was his constant. For me, Bailey is part of Trent, I have never known one with out the other. Also, the two of them pretty much have the same personality: either spastic, happy and every one's friend or completely immobile and lazy, no where in between.

When we started dating, Bailey was always there: cuddled up on the couch, at vet school parties and cook outs, being a distraction while trying to study....trying to shove me out of the bed. Literally, she used to worm her way in between me and Trent until she was wedged in between and then she would start stretching her legs until she had shoved me all the way to the edge of the bed and I was about to fall off. Eventually, she decided to share her dad with me but in the beginning she was really jealous of me! We used to take her and Trigger with us all the time during our Stillwater days, some of my favorite Stillwater memories are when we used to take them to swim in Boomer Lake. She was the cuddliest dog I have ever met and even though she was a Weimaraner, she was convinced she was about the size of a tea cup poodle and should be able to curl into a ball and fit anywhere. She wasn't supposed to get on the furniture but she always found a way to sneak up. She would start with getting you to pet her head, then one front paw would be on the couch and she would wait. Then the other front paw and then she would wait. The back legs were the most hysterical to watch her "sneak" up one at a time. Pretty soon you had a whole dog curled up next to you and you didn't even know how it happened. Bailey loved people and was the nosiest dog ever. She would follow me from room to room in the house and I was always tripping over her when I was trying to do something. Prompting me to threaten to beat the grey off of her quite often : )

Trent requested a necropsy and they found two large tumors on her liver and mets all over her abdomen. One of the tumors had ruptured and caused her abdomen to fill with blood. For our vet friends, they said it was likely hemangiosarcoma but we still don't have the histology report back.

I am so grateful that she waited until I came home from my 6 months away before she died. Even if it was just one night, I am so grateful I got to have one last night of spooning with her. Grey dog, we love you so much and we thank you for all of the wonderful memories we have with you.