Sad Farewell to My Beautiful Bailey

Last Christmas when my daughter Danielle said "I'm getting a dog" I was determined she was NOT. However she's just as determined as me, and sure enough 6 week old Bailey - a toy Pomeranian - arrived at our home a week later - here he is the day after he landed on my doorstep.

A tiny ball of fluff, - he could fit in one hand - he was hard not to like. I did my best not to get attached, after all I'd decided Danielle was either going to sell him, or move out with him as I did NOT want a dog. With my kids finally being quite independant, and all the travelling I love to do, he seemed like too much of a responsibility at this liberating time of my life.

Danielle's world consists of friends, working and Uni, so Bailey was usually with me all day every day. From the start, he decided to love me to bits. But I was going to be strong - I reminded myself he was going, and I was not going to fall in love with him.

But that little fluff ball persisted, he followed me around and just loved me and loved me and loved me until... I couldn't help but fall in love with that cute little bundle of fur with personality plus.



I miss him laying under my desk as I worked all day. Here he is beneath the fax machine - supposedly sleeping. However, the second I moved away, he'd be up - bright eyed and bushy tailed wanting to know where we were going and what we were doing!

He loved living on this island - in fact I think he thought he owned it. He'd run around on the vacant block opposite our house chasing butterflies, barking at nothing, getting covered in weird sticky grass, sticks and burrs and generally having a ball. You probably can't see them, but here he is COVERED in tiny green sticky seeds (which take ages to pull off!)


I used to get so annoyed at him following my every move (I swear he was ALWAYS 2 steps behind me bouncing around as if to say "What fun are we going to have now?).
But now every step I take I wish he was there annoying me again.

I used to hate him barking in the middle of the night for NO reason (giving me the fright of my life when I was fast asleep). Now I wish he was back sleeping on my bed and barking like the little maniac he was.

He was so cute when he was fluffy but SO ugly when wet! He looked like a drowned rat after we'd swum in the ocean, he was all fur, so after a swim there was NOTHING to him!

I miss him running along the beach beside me in the mornings. Everyone said "he's a lap dog, you won't be able to walk far with him" but he would run non stop for an hour, get back home and look at me as if to say "Where are we going to run to now?"

He may have been Danielle's dog (below), but he thought he was mine and wanted to spend every second of every day with me - he was SO devoted.

Danielle used to get mad and say "Why does he love YOU so much?" - well, only because I feed him and walk him and play with him and spend all my time with him! He was my shadow and I miss having him here with me.

Only in the last week he started chasing cars occastionally as they drove past our house (we only had 2 other houses on our end of the island, so cars were few and far between) - what on earth was he thinking?? Our front gate was broken and I'd phoned last week to get it fixed.

But he got too close to the neighbors car on Monday morning and died in my arms in seconds - it happened so quickly and was such a shock.


I've cried a river of tears in the last 3 days. I only had my beautiful little Bailey for a year, and even though he often annoyed me like crazy (like when he would start barking at NOTHING when I was in the middle of holding a teleconference!) , he bought so much joy into my life. He was highly intelligent with a very determined personality and incredibly cute - he was a bundle of mischief, fun, happiness, energy, enthusiasm and joy and I will always remember him with much love.

This photo was taken the day before he died - look how happy he looks snuggling up to me. I took him with me to Ray's Health Retreat where he ran riot chasing the bush turkey's and exploring the rainforest. He even went a little bit healthy - eating fresh watermelon with me for breakfast.

I buried him close by on the island - on the vacant block I'm planning on manifesting as my own some day. The one we'd spend hours on - me admiring the view and throwing his rope bone for him to fetch until it got too dark to see any more.


At least I feel he's nearby. In fact I woke up at 2.00am yesterday morning (around the time he'd usually do his insane middle of the night barking trick) and missed my little Bailey so much that I snuck out in my pj's, and went and lay by his grave under the stars talking to him and sobbing my heart out.

Someone once said "We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all."

I miss you and love you little Bailey.