Bailey

Two years ago, in Bend, OR, I saw a photo in the paper of a beautiful 5 year old male Akita who was at the humane society as was looking for a home. We had lost our lovely little dog a year before and were ready to have another dog. Well, you never know who you'll find, but what a lucky day it was when we took him. It was an adjustment for us, because Akita's are large dogs. Bailey went from 85lbs to 111 lbs after we got him. He's undoubtably the most intelligent animal I've ever been around and the most adaptable.

We worried about trying to take him to Belize. We finally decided that the breed originated in Japan which gets very hot and humid, so hopefully, he be able to adapt. Our big worry was putting him on a plane as "freight". I imagined him being sent to some place in Europe or ??. He had also bonded to us and we imagined all sorts of things happening, SO, we bo't a used Toyota Tundra, with 4 doors (sort of), found a fantastic seat cover especially for transporting dogs and away we went.

Bailey immediately bonded with the truck. He loves to travel! Our main problem was finding motels that allow pets, especially large dogs. Bailey rarely barks, doesn't make a mess and only goes outside. Most don't even realize he's around unless they happen to see him. He is a little intimidating because of his size.

We actually found that he was a real asset, especially in Mexico. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of the "wolf" in our car. He didn't mind the attention and probably got us thru most spots quite smoothly.

He keeps surprising us with his intelligence. Once again, today, we left him in the car for a few minutes to buy paint. We'd rolled down the windows and made sure that he wasn't too hot. I guess he felt we'd been gone long enough because we heard the horn honk. We looked out and he was sitting in the driver's seat, honking the horn with his nose, and looked up as to say, "get your backsides out here and lets get going". Guess you know who's boss!

He's settling in ok here in our new home, altho' it's pretty primitive right now. Our house isn't complete and our shipment isn't here yet, so we don't have fans or even electricity most of the time. What really makes it still seem like home, is the three of us getting thru it together.