我在2021年9月领养了Bailee，那时她两岁。我一开始在考虑购买一只幼犬，但是我无法决定想要哪个品种。仅仅基于个人喜好来选择“最好的”狗对我来说似乎有些残忍。Bailee在领养机构非常受欢迎，许多人申请领养她。但在见到她之后，他们都放弃了这个机会。我不能责怪他们。第一次见到Bailee时，她有皮屑和眼屎。她过度活跃，几乎没有给我任何眼神接触。感觉她几乎想逃跑。但我的想法已经定了，我决定带她回家。结果证明这是我做过的最好的决定之一。令人惊讶的是，Bailee在室内非常温顺。由于疫情，所有的领养前见面都是在室外安排的，在那里Bailee很难控制自己的精力。但一旦她进了我的公寓，她嗅了一下周围的环境，然后直接爬上我的床睡了一个大觉。就像她已经在这里生活了多年一样。美好的生活开始了。我们从DNA测试中发现Bailee是17个品种的混合。这解释了她许多特征：来自巧克力拉布拉多的光滑毛皮，来自斗牛犬的白色标记和来自牧羊犬的捕猎本能。在狗训练师的帮助下，她的室外礼仪得到了很大的改善，只是偶尔会追逐松鼠和跳跃在吵闹的青少年身上。在所有这些过程中，她甜美友好的个性从未改变。她向任何给她眼神接触的人打招呼，为他们坐下，靠在他们身上让他们抓痒。她也喜欢在狗公园里和她的狗朋友摔跤。但人类是她最喜欢的，她也是她众多人类朋友最喜欢的狗。

在过去的一年半里，贝利一直是伴随我进行许多徒步旅行和公路旅行的热情伴侣，在许多曼哈顿公寓里表现良好，无论在任何地方独自留下时都是一位耐心的等待者，当她感知到威胁时，她会是妈妈勇敢的守护者。贝利不仅是一只好狗狗，她让我的心充满了温暖，让我的日子更加明亮。

即使她啃坏了一只老鼠，造成了700美元的兽医费用，并通过滚动在粪便中弄脏了一件漂亮的狗衣服。

I adopted (领养lǐng yǎng) Bailee in September 2021 when she was two years old. I was contemplating buying (购买gòu mǎi) a puppy (幼犬yòu quǎn) but I couldn’t decided on the breed (品种pǐn zhǒng). And the process of picking a “best” dog solely based on personal preferences (偏好piān hào) seems borderline cruel to me. 

Bailee was popular at the adoption (领养lǐng yǎng) agency (机构jī gòu) and many applied to adopt her. Yet they all passed on the opportunity after meeating her. I couldn’t blame them. First time I met Bailee, she had dander (皮屑pí xìe) and eye boogers (眼屎yǎn shǐ). She was hyperactive (过度活跃, guò dù huó yuè) and barely gave me any eye contact (眼神接触yǎn shén jīe chù). It almost felt like she wanted to escape (逃跑táo pǎo). But my mind was set to take her home. It turned out to be one of the best decisions (决定jué dìng) I ever made.

Surprisingly Bailee was very docile (温顺wēn shùn) indoors (室内shì nèi). Due to the pandemic all meetings before adoption were arranged outdoors (室外shì wài), where Bailee struggled to contain her energy. But once she was in my apartment, she sniffed (闻wén) around and familiarized (熟悉shú xī) herself with the surroundings (环境huán jìng), then went straight onto my bed and took a big nap. It was like she had been living here for years. 

The good life started. We found out from the DNA test that Bailee was a mix (混合hùn hé) of 17 breeds. It explained a lot of her traits (特征tè zhēng): sleek fur (皮毛pí máo) from a chocolate Labrador, white marks (标记biāo jì) from a bulldog, and hunting (捕猎bǔ liè) drives from a shepherd. Her outdoor manners improved a lot with the help of dog trainers (训狗师xùn gǒu shī), barring the occasional chase (追逐zhuī zhú) of squirrels and jumping (跳跃tiào yuè) on rowdy teenagers. Through it all what never changed is her sweet (甜美的tián měi de) and friendly (友好的yǒu hǎo de) personality. She says “Hi” to anyone who gives her eye contact. She sits (坐zuò) for them, and leans (靠kào) on them for scratches (抓痒zhuā yǎng). She also enjoys wrestling (摔跤shuaī jiāo) with her dog friends in dog parks (狗公园 gǒu gōng yúan). But humans are her favorite and so is she to her many human friends. 

For the past year and half, Bailee has been a passionate companion (伴侣bàn lǚ) on numerous hikes and road trips, a well behaved guest in many Manhattan apartments, a patient waiter when left alone anywhere, and a brave guardian (守护者shǒu hù zhě) to mommy whenever she senses threat. Bailee is more than a good dog. She makes my heart full and my days brighter. 

Even when she chewed (嚼jiáo) up a mouse that racked up a $700 bill at the vet (兽医shòu yī) and ruined a nice doggy jacket by rolling (滚gǔn) in the poop. 

She deserves the best.