The Misadventures of Mr. Bailey Nguyen

Bailey loves going on trips. He always knows when he gets to go somewhere and hurriedly hops in his carrier, impatiently waiting to be picked up and packed in the car. Bailey has a major fear of missing out, so he often runs and dives into his carrier even if he has been told he needs to stay home. Also, if he feels that you are dawdling and he has been sitting in his carrier too long (anything over a minute seems long to Baybay), he will bark and yell at you to hustle your bustle. I know I say this far too often, but Bailey has the biggest and funniest personality. He makes me laugh every day and I love it.

Let's go, Mama!
Let’s go, Mama!

Last Friday we took Bailey to San Francisco. One of his favorite activities in the city is walking around Golden Gate Park. Although he is a little fellow, he can walk for miles on end with limitless enthusiasm. His only dislike is when I stop to take pictures and interrupt his flow. As I mentioned before, Bailey possesses only limited amounts of patience. Friday was no different, except I made more stops than usual. I was shooting with my 105mm with the goal of creating a backlog of macro shots for my Macro Monday project. Little did I know that I would not be getting very many shots!

Waiting for mama to hurry up so we can keep walking.
Waiting for mama to hurry up so we can keep walking.

About half an hour into our walk, we crossed this unique path:

Bailey taking care to not step in the cracks.
Bailey taking care not to step in the cracks.

You can’t see it, but there is a small man-made waterfall to the left and the entire area is pretty interesting. After snapping a few shots of Bailey walking across, I made my way over to the water’s edge to see if I could take macro shots of the foamy bubbles created by the waterfall. I don’t recall taking more than a few steps before I heard a strange commotion that included a big splash, followed by what sounded like frantic paddling.

When I turned around, I saw Bailey swimming for dear life, the BF still holding onto and tugging the leash, and then I doubled over with laughter. Bailey had fallen into the pond! I knew exactly what happened–my dear, silly little dog didn’t realize the bubbles were not solid ground and had trotted right over them and subsequently plopped right into the water. A good thing to note right about here is that Bailey HATES water. He hates it with all his heart and soul. He hates baths, he hates the groomer, he hates anything that gets him wet, period. He even dislikes playing on the beach if it’s too close to the ocean. The situation had me in stitches. The fact that Bailey can be such a prissy little diva made everything that much more hilarious. Yes, I know, I am a terrible mom. 😉

Actually, this is a few moments after what happened.
Poor frightened Bailey.

Not long after he flopped into the pond, Bailey made his way out of the nasty, muddy, slimy water and looked pretty darn miserable. We quickly decided to walk the poor guy back to the Stow Lake boathouse, which was only a few blocks away, and bought two water bottles in an attempt to wash him off. I must have refilled those bottles about 10 times before I got most of the dirt and slime off him. Bailey was shaking and shivering, and didn’t understand why I was dousing him with even more water when he was obviously wet enough. To dry him off, we used the paper towels provided in the public restroom. They weren’t very absorbent, but we did our best and the BF took off to get the car. Bailey was too cold to walk back, plus the dirt paths would have gotten him dirty all over again.

Once we got back in the car, I wrapped him in his carrier blanket, and we blasted warm air on him. He stopped shaking soon after and all was well again. For the most part, anyway. 😉 I think we’re going to have to take Bay on another trip soon to make up for the misfortunes of this one!

A side view.
More wet Bailey. My newest nickname for him is Michael Phelps. Hehe.
Cell phone pic after yet another bath. This one with warm water at least. And half a bottle of doggie shampoo.
Cell phone pic after yet another bath. This one with warm water at least. And about half a bottle of doggie shampoo.

55 comments

  1. The last photo is priceless. A great story for all dog lovers. Where have you been hiding Patty? I am waiting for you to post some food extravaganza. Please stop by and see my photos from Kauai.

  2. Bailey is adorable! Being a recent discoverer of your blog, this is my first introduction of your pint-sized cutie. Great story with a handsome leading man!

  3. Too funny! That picture of him wet is so precious. He was like … what just happened here? I’m so not trusting my humans, again! Lol…sorry Bailey, didn’t mean to laugh at you, but this was funny. I’m sure you’re fine now. Next time look where you’re going, boy! 🙂

      • By the way guess what Patty, in September I’m going to LA for the 1st time ever (so exciting), and I’ve contacted Sue from Birgerbird and will meet her because I have a day free. double excitement!

      • I arrive on the 15th at midnight. Then on the 19th is when I have the day off and will meet Sue 🙂 Then after that I’m going off to New York (also my first time there), so I don’t think I’ll have much more time around there. I’m staying at a hotel in Hollywood, apparently it’s really iconic and what not. Sounds like it will be a fun work trip 🙂

      • Bailey probably wouldn’t travel well! 😉 I will check my work calendar and see if I can make something work! How much fun would that be??

      • Hi Patty! Sorry I disappeared, I had to go to bed, (time differences). It would be so amazing if you could! xxx

      • Haha, no worries! I’m off to bed soon myself. 🙂 So I checked my calendar and I am already taking that following Monday off because I’m the photographer for a Fallen Heroes charity event. Which means I can’t take that Friday off…BUT…if I leave right after my last class at 12:15, I can make a 2 o’clock flight and get into LA by 3ish. I talked to Sue and she says I should really consider it. What do you think??

      • Wow, if you can get there by 3ish thats pretty great. My flight leaves the next day at 8:30am so I have the whole of the 19th free and it would be incredible. Wow you already spoke to Sue about it 🙂

      • Oh wow, there is a flight on the 19th at 2:10, getting into LA at 3:30. My return trip on Saturday is crazy cheap–only $57! That’s nothing! Less than a tank of gas for my car! My boyfriend says I should definitely do it. I will check in with Sue again in the morning and I think we’ll be good to go!! OMG I AM SO EXCITED.

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