I wrote this piece a few years ago now for use on my rescue site and took the liberty of writing it from Baylea’s point of view, but the message it conveys is still just as important today. Rescue dogs are so often dismissed as broken or seen as somehow unredeemable. Everyone wants the pretty new puppy without any baggage, and as a result overbreeding is a constant issue and countless dogs are killed in shelters across the world every single day. So please take the time to read Baylea’s story and if you find it’s time to welcome a new four-legged member to your family, adopt and don’t shop. You won’t regret it; rescues are some of the most loving, loyal, and affectionate pups on the planet.
Hello! My name is Baylea and I am just over 6 years old now… or at least that’s what my human mommy tells me. I don’t actually know when my birthday really was as I was taken away from my doggie mommy when I was too young to remember and left all alone. I missed my doggy mommy sooo much and I was very, very scared of everything as I didn’t have a mommy or nice humans to show me that I didn’t need to be afraid.
The next humans that kept me seemed to be nice but they made me sleep outside of the house and the storms and night-time noises used to frighten me. I wasn’t really getting enough to eat there either even though my bowl was full as there were other dogs there and I was too shy. Also, I felt very poorly in my kidneys and it hurt me every time I went to the bathroom, but I lived outside so nobody noticed. I taught myself not to drink as much to try and stop the pain, but this only made it worse, not better.
One day my humans put me in the car and we drove what seemed like a really long way to another house up on top of a big hill, and there were other humans there who I didn’t recognize. I was so scared of the stairs (I’d never seen so many all together like that before) that even though I had grown a lot in the last 5 months and was quite heavy, one of the new humans, who smelled like fresh sawdust, chickens, and berries, had to pick me up and carry me slowly up to the door of the house. When she put me down, she opened the door and went inside and there were lots of interesting food smells in there, but I’d always been told off for trying to go inside before, so I just stood still and tried very hard to stop from shaking. She turned back around, looked at me and smiled. Then she got down on the floor making herself smaller and more like a dog and held out her hand for me to sniff. I still wasn’t sure, but then she helped me be brave and walk into the house. There waiting for me was the softest bed I had ever felt and a whole box of toys! After a while, my humans left and I felt sad again, as I thought this meant I would be alone but then the new human told me that this was my new home now, that she was going to be my human mommy, and help me to play with all my toys and that the other humans in this house were my new family too!
I was so happy that I was warm and comfortable, and I loved all of my new toys although I didn’t know what they were for yet. Later that day, though, I really needed the bathroom. My new human mommy had shown me that the bathroom was still outside in the yard but I hadn’t found my voice yet as the other places I lived didn’t like me talking. The pain in my kidneys got really bad and to my shame, I had an accident as I was trying to get to the front door. I cowered and ran into the corner of the room waiting for the humans to get angry because I had made a mess in their house. Instead, my new mommy came and gave me a cuddle and a kiss and told me it was okay, but that I would need to go and see the nice vet man because my wee was the wrong colour and had lots of blood in it. I don’t remember it ever being a different colour, but my new mommy seemed worried so I sat down next to her to try and make her feel better.
She gave me a shower next with foamy stuff which I didn’t really like much, but it washed away some of the nasty biting things that made my skin itch so badly. I felt a bit better afterwards, especially when she put the magic cream on my tummy to soothe my red itchy skin. That first night I didn’t sleep much (it took me a long time to feel safe enough to sleep), but my mommy made her bed on the floor next to mine and stroked me lots which made me feel better. The next day we went to the vets and it was true – he was a very nice man! He smiled and stroked my back, and then gave my mommy some pills and injections to give to me.
It took a lot of weeks and a lot of different types of pills and injections before I started to feel better again, but my new mommy said that I was very good and brave. That helped her a lot as she was really afraid of the big needles too, and was so scared of hurting me by accident. The vet told my mommy that one of my kidneys was badly damaged by the infection because I’d had it for so long and that it wouldn’t ever work properly again, and my mommy was very sad. But I didn’t really understand why as I don’t remember ever feeling so well before. I licked her and told her it would be okay and wagged my tail a lot.
For a long time, every time we went in the car I was scared that my new mommy would leave me, just like all the other humans had done, but every time we came back up the hill and I saw my new house I would get sooo excited that I would jump up and down and howl. This used to make my mommy laugh, which made me happy too! I’m a big boy now and I don’t do that anymore because I know now that my new mommy will never leave me alone again, and that this house is my home which no one can take away from me. Nowadays if I am feeling poorly, I tell my mommy and she and the nice vet man make me feel all better again. Sometimes, I get to wear my magic pyjamas which make me feel all snugly warm and safe (sometimes I even beg for my magic pyjamas when I don’t feel poorly because I just love them so much!) I love my new home and I hope that all of the other poor doggies who get left all alone can be just as lucky as me, and find human mommies and loving families of their own… and biscuits… yeah lots of biscuits!