Friday was a very difficult day for my wife Cindi and me, heartbreaking is a better word. 

Most of you know, we are both serious dog lovers. Have been since we met (married 45 years, have never been without at least one except the first 6 weeks). Friday marked the end of a “Doggy Era” for us. We had the privilege of loving and being radically loved by 2 of the best dogs we ever had. 

Bailey and Darcy. Sister and Brother team. Mini Aussies. Amazing dogs in every way.

We got them as puppies back in the summer of 2007. The first pic is them at 7 weeks old, a week before they were released to us by the breeder. Bailey is the black and white one. Darcy was the runt of the litter. He acted like the boss but was totally dependent on her. They were incredibly fun to raise, and we made so many great memories with them.

Here they are at our house at 3 months old.

One of my favorite memories happened during the years my wife was training dogs at the Humane Society. Had the whole house to myself. Just me and them. So, I could write my books out in the living room. They’d often try to distract me, get me to stop and play with them. Usually, I had to ignore those appeals unless I was breaking for lunch.

This one time, they weren’t having it. I’m right in the middle of crafting a chapter, and
they come running through the doggy door, stopped right in front of me, and wouldn’t stop barking till I looked up. As soon as I did, they took off back through the doggy door into our large backyard. I tried to go back to my writing, but they were just barking their heads off.

I get up, look out the window. As soon as they see me watching, one of them picks up a frisbee, the other one a tennis ball. As excited as they could be. Of course, I stopped and went out there, and they just went nuts. We played together till we all ran out of steam.

Sadly, Darcy’s life was cut way too short. We lost him in the summer of 2015 to congenital heart failure. It was SO hard. For the longest time, Bailey seemed lost without him. They had never NOT been together since birth.

But she (and we) pressed on, and continued to have a wonderful life with Bailey for many more years. She was just the sweetest thing ever. Nothing but love and devotion from her, every single day. She would follow me everywhere, even into the bathroom (even if she was sound asleep…I got up, she got up). Until the last 2 years, she loved playing fetch, especially with her green tennis ball. Here she is the year after Darcy passed, waiting for me to throw the ball.

One time a friend who was dog sitting for us tossed the ball just to see how many times she’d bring it back. She finally petered out after the 45th time. But when she hit the age of 12 (2.5 years ago), she began to slow down quite a bit. It was difficult to watch the aging process unfold. Seems to come on so quickly. Too fast, for sure. But even still, though we played less and less and, eventually, not at all, her love and joy at just being with us never waned. 

Two years ago, I was inspired by her to write another dog novel for my bestselling Forever Home Series. Called the book, Keeping Bailey. She is on the cover. The book is not really her story, per say. It’s more about an appeal for dog owners to stay as true to your dogs as they age, as they’ve been to you their entire lives. 

It was a major hit with fans. As of this writing, it’s received over 1,000 Amazon reviews (4.7 avg) and it hasn’t been out for a year yet. But even as the book was coming out last year, we could see something besides mere aging was happening to Bailey. She often seemed confused, would start pacing and panting, would sometimes just stand there with her face in the corner (and quite a few other things).

We did some research and she had all the symptoms of Doggy Dementia. A vet confirmed the diagnosis. That was about 10 months ago. We knew, based on the info we received, that this would get progressively worse, and at some point, it would get serious enough that we’d have to put her to sleep.

Don’t want to belabor the details but, sadly, over the last several days we got to that point. We couldn’t bear to see how much Bailey was suffering with this, and it really would have been wrong for us to ignore any longer the obvious decision we had to make.  

So on Friday, after having one last wonderful morning with her, we had to bring her down to the vets and say goodbye. I was with her till her last moments, hugging her, stroking her brow, telling her what an amazing dog she had been, and thanking her for all the love she brought into our lives.

The pic on the right is Bailey on Friday, standing at the top of the ramp leading to our front door. Her last day with us.

And yes, we were both an absolute wreck Friday and yesterday (why I couldn’t write this tribute sooner). But we know it was the right thing to do, so that helped. Bailey was just the sweetest thing ever. And gave us so many wonderful memories, especially during those first 8 years when we had the both of them together. But even in the years after Darcy passed, she couldn’t have been a better companion. We loved her almost as much as our grandkids.

That’s the hardest thing about loving a dog, isn’t it? Saying goodbye. But even in my grief, when I put on the scale how I’m feeling right now against the thousands of great moments we shared with her, I have no regrets keeping Bailey with us through it all. 

She was just the best.

Dan Walsh
March 20th, 2022