Hi, pet buddies! Wow! I thought I had lots of enthusiasm, (which I totally DO) but my interviewee this week, Bailey Schmitt, definitely takes the Blue Ribbon. When Bailey and her human Mom, Jessica, met me at their (really cool blue) front door, I would’ve thought she was still a pupster, except I already knew she’d just had her 5th birthday party.
The wag-and-sniff was only part of Bailey’s greeting. She bumped noses, smooched my assistant’s hand, did little pirouettes around all of us, jumped up on her couch and back down a coupla times, and made lots of little jumps-in-place. She was so cute and sweet and silly. And SMILEY. I’ve never seen such a big grin on a pooch. I was woof-laughing, my assistant was laughing. Bailey’s Mom was laughing.
“Oh, Mr. Bonzo. I was SO-O excited when Mom said you were gonna interview ME! I couldn’t even finish my kibbles! I MEAN, my PICture and EVERYthing. I hope I look OK. I’m usually pretty shiny, SEE? And dontcha LOVE my coat? It’s called brindle, which means black and brown splotches. Mom says I look like DESSERT! Light chocolate and dark chocolate all stirred up together! Isn’t that NEAT? Mom says I’m 5 going on 6 months! Isn’t that FUNNY? C’mon IN. You can sit on the People Couch if you want. THIS is MY couch!”
Bailey jumped up onto her couch and, finally out of breath, began panting, her tongue lolling out of her mouth, still smiling happily. It was dark and rainy outside, but Bailey’s big, happy personality made it sunny inside, I thought.
Bailey’s Mom reminded her that she was s’posed to tell me about her life and stuff.
“Tell me about your beach birthday party, Miss Bailey,” I suggested.
“OK! Ready!,” she said, crossing her big paws. If she’d just been sitting quietly, not yapping (which I couldn’t even imagine) she could be mistaken for a boy pooch. She’s a sturdy Boxer-Hound mix, 55 pounds, very short hair (that brindle color is really cool!), big paws, strong face that could look like she means Serious Business (if she weren’t always smiling). She’s got dark, happy eyes and expressive folded-over-in-front ears, which she can make go every-which-way.
“My party was at Walton Rock Beach, ‘cuz pooches are allowed there. I invited my three Besties: Lacey, she’s a Dalmatian; Puggles, a pug, of course; and Gabe, he’s sorta my big brother – he’s a Golden Retriever. I stay with him when Mom has to go away. Anyway, we had the BEST time playing in the water – just the white, soapsudsy part – and running in the sand, which is sorta tickly on your paws. PLUS, Mom (she’s the best baker EVER) made us Peanut Butter Pumpkin Biscuits.
“I got PRESENTS, too! A fuzzy purple squeaky ball with eyes, and a squeaky chicken. And Mom and Sydney baked me two special just-for-pooches CAKES – carrot and peanut butter and frosted with peanut butter, one for my party and one for home.”
“Who’s Sydney?” I asked.
“I love her! She’s a human pupster, 11 people years, Mom is her, um, lemme think, oh, yeah – mentor. That’s like a special, older friend who helps you learn stuff and understand stuff. Mom met me and Sydney in the same week! I was living at the Humane Society. I was only 7 months old then.”
“I bet you get a lot of exercise,” I told her.
“Oh, yeah! We go to the Dog Park a lot. Once, before it got a fence, I caught this wonderful smell on the wind and took off running, under the bridge, all the way to where some Humans were cleaning fish. Oh, man, that dead fish smell was AMAZING. I couldn’t HELP myself. So I rolled in it. Mom wasn’t happy about that, specially riding home in the car. I liked it, but you know Humans – hard to figure out sometimes.”
“I hear ya!”
“Another time I accidently got into a bunch of tar. Wow, was THAT hard to get off! Mom washed me with vinegar and dish soap and mayonnaise but that didn’t work, so she had to take me to a professional at Paw Prints.
“My most favorite exercise is when I’m Mom’s Running Buddy. She’s a Serious Runner. I can do 5 to 6 miles! We leash-run over to Charles Park and back, and around Rosewood School. And, Mom’s the Chairperson (that means Top Dog) of Girls on the Run, for human pupsters, 8 to 13 people years. I’m an honorary member. We get together and RUN. It helps us girls be Healthy, Joyful and Confident! Isn’t that cool?”
“Very cool,” I said. “And you sure are all of those!” Boy, was she!
“Mom does this funny thing where she scratches the side of my face, and, I can’t help it, my lip just sort of droops and twitches on one side and she says it reminds her of Elvis. Everybody knows about him right?”
“Totes!” I said. What pooch could forget “You Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hounddog?”
“Since I look sort of like a boy dog, Mom puts my pink flowered bow on when we go out.” Her Mom got it and put it on her collar. It was very pretty and I told her so.
“I specially love road trips with Mom. Just us girls. That’s when we really bond. We visit family in Atlanta at Christmas, 15 hours on the road. It’s great! And I get to see my cousin, Angus, he’s a Great Pyrenees.”
It was time to go. “Thank you, Miss Bailey. It was a pleasure yapping with you!”
“I can’t wait to see the story!” she grinned. “I know I yapped your ears off, Mr. Bonzo!”
Heading home, I thought about Bailey and her Mom – happy, healthy, independent ladies sharing a fun and rewarding life. Not to mention the homemade peanut butter treats. Can’t get much better than that.
