We really had no intentions of getting another puppy in July of 2006 when my dear friend Melissa sent me an email asking me to call her. She had a litter out of Savvy mid-June - 8 girls and one boy! I had commented on several of the pictures she had emailed me of the litter. They were a very cute bunch. Anyway, Melissa emailed me that day asking me to call her. I had no idea what about. Turns out she wanted to offer me a puppy. We talked about the details and I talked to Steve that night and surprisingly he said YES! The next day I was on the phone making airline reservations to go to Florida to look at the puppies. I still wasn't sure I was going to come home with one.... I knew I had 4th pick of the girls and was worried that there wouldn't be anything left after the others made their picks. Becky Martin, who co-bred the litter with Melissa assured me that there were several very nice bitches in the litter and that I would have no problems, even with fourth pick.

Becky and I flew down to Florida the first weekend of August, 2006. When I took my first look at the puppies, Bailey immediately stood out to me. Melissa had taken all their ribbons off so I had no idea which pup was which from the pictures. After having Becky guess which was which (she was there when they were born), Melissa started telling us which was which. Bailey was not the one I liked from the pictures! Anyway, I kept picking her up and asking Melissa which one she was. I think Melissa got tired of telling me "that's the dark blue girl". I figured it was fate but kept my feeling to myself until Becky made her picks and Kara made her pick for Gwen (the stud dog's owner). Surprisingly I ended up with exactly the puppy who had stolen my heart. She picked me, really. Every time I went in the puppy room that weekend she would come running over to me.

Our flight home was very interesting. The airline had told Becky on the phone that she could put two puppies in one carrier as long as the total weight didn't exceed 25 pounds. Well, she had her puppy, Reese, and Bailey in her carrier. I had Becky's second pick pup, Anna in my carrier since she was the heaviest. We went through security, took all the puppies out of carriers, etc. As we were boarding the plane one of the stewardesses (and I have no idea how she could tell) noticed that Becky had two puppies in her carrier. She immediately told Becky she was not allowed to have two in one bag. Getting another bag somewhere in the airport was out of the question too, as you couldn't have more than one bag per person. They pulled Becky and the puppies off the plane, while I sat there with Anna wondering what was going to happen to MY puppy! Well, I don't know what Becky ended up doing, but after holding up the flight for about 15 minutes we finally took off headed for home with all three pups! Whew!

Bailey has grown up to be a stunning fawn girl. She has a funny, playful personality and is also sweet and cuddly. She finished her Championship in October of 2008 almost entirely owner handled (thank you to Jenny McClintock for handling her to her second major!) and completed her Rally Novice title in December of 2008. She got two legs towards her Rally Advanced title in 2009 and then took some time off to have a litter of puppies. We will finish her RA this Spring and start working on the RE and her CD.