My Bailey

Written and photography by Yvonne Jansen

Professional photography by Blissful Tails Photography  

“I don’t want her anymore” – and just like that, Nova’s owner left her at the vet. The next day, he brought her three puppies and left them too.

Somewhere in October 2021, Bailey and his two brothers had been born in Cape Town. Mom and her puppies went into a foster home organised by the founder, Ingrid Liberté, of Australian Shepherd South Africa Rescue Organisation (ASSARO). One puppy was homed in Cape Town and Nova and her remaining two pups came to ASSARO in Rustenburg.

A pup with potential

Ingrid and I are good friends and she told me that mom and her pups had arrived. The next day, I went to see them and brought them puppy food. Always having agility in mind, I thought one of these fluff balls might be good at it.

I gave it a thought – puppies are hard work. Of course I had to think about the dogs I already had and if a puppy would fit in. We agreed that Ingrid would come in the morning with both puppies and see how the meet-and-greet would go.

Turned out that one puppy stayed under the bed and she couldn’t get him, so she only brought one pup. All went well with the meet-and-greet and he stayed on the 21^st of November at more or less 7-8 weeks old. I named him Bailey.

Sam was so in love with his new brother and Bailey followed him everywhere. They became the best of friends. He taught him the ropes, good and bad.

Bailey goes to school

First stop, I enrolled Bailey in puppy class. He was the cutest little fluff ball. In one of the exercises with recall, we had to give the pups a nickname of a fruit or vegetable. Bean crossed my mind – it was the best because he’s such a Bailey Bean. I still call him that once in a while.

I worked abroad, but for most of the puppy class I was home. My helper was always at his side in case I was called back to work – he’d already done puppy class two years previously, along with Canine Good Citizen (CGC) with my other dog, Sam, and started agility with him at the end of 2020. He’s a very good handler.

Ingrid asked me if I could do a home check for a potential home for Bailey’s mom, Nova. I did and it was a lovely home very suitable for Nova and approved. Sometime later, when Bailey was around six months old, I was with my helper at dog school for Bailey’s second training after puppy class – CGC Elementary. As we walked towards the place for the class, a lady and her dog came towards us and I wondered out loud how big Bailey would be and pointed at the dog. “I think something like that… uhm, hold on, I think that’s Bailey’s mom!”

I followed the lady to her car and she recognised me instantly from the home check. She’d renamed Nova as Yrsa and they’d just finished her class at CGC – the same as Bailey’s but in a group earlier. What are the odds? We said we should go to the dog park and see how they are together.

But when he saw his mom, he jumped back into the car – there was no recognition from either side. Nonetheless, we went for a walk, and at some point he warmed up to her. They started running together and playing in the water. It was absolutely lovely to see them together.

Bailey grew and grew. I don’t know where the little fluff ball went to – to a height I wasn’t expecting. His paws were big for a puppy and friends that visited made jokes, hoping that his dad wasn’t a Great Dane. Well, he came close. He’s really tall and hardly fits in a tunnel at agility.

Bailey went on with training, completing foundation agility and finished CGC bronze and silver. But then he began having an obsession with shadows. He frantically ran and jumped on bird, insect and small shadows on the ground. I can’t tell where it came from. Every time he did, I called him inside and distracted him, and slowly this mad behaviour occurred less. But, as a result, it was very difficult to continue with agility shows and we eventually stopped.

Diagnosed with a rare condition

Then, a year ago, Bailey’s face developed pink patches around his eyes, nose and jaws. He scratched all the time and bit his paws. He was diagnosed with pemphigus, which is a rare auto immune disease.

At first, he received medication, but this condition won’t heal – he’ll have it his entire life. I found it difficult having to give him such strong medication – mainly cortisone – as he’s so young.

In July 2024, I put him on a raw diet, Pawsome Raw, and stopped giving him chicken, and that helped – the pink patches disappeared, leaving only a last bit on his nose, like a Collie nose. But although the pink faded away slowly, the scratching and biting of his paws didn’t stop. Recently, I met Retha from Pawsome Raw and she designed a strict diet for him.

He’s now been on this diet for three weeks and, fortunately, I think we’re on the right track. He hardly scratches and the biting at his paws is completely gone. It’s extremely hard but I’m hopeful, although he’ll never heal and it’s a long road. But, hopefully, he’ll remain like this and will be comfortable.

A water-loving lapdog

But, despite this, Bailey is such a goofball. Every day he makes me laugh – he always looks surprised. He’s very needy, needs constant attention, and thinks he’s the size of a Chihuahua; according to him, he fits in everywhere – sitting on another dog, lying on my lap, it doesn’t matter….

He’s also water crazy. Going to the dog park, he runs around – he’s so fast and jumps into the water. When he realises we’re going to the car to go home, he runs back and jumps straight into the water again.

I love him so much. I can’t think of my life without him!