Bae-Li
After losing Buddha and Bam so close together
I wasn't sure if I wanted to try again.
But when I contacted the rescue group
to let them know about Bam they told me about Bae-Li.

He was a stray who was starving and losing his hair when he got to the rescue people. After I decided that I wanted him they discovered that he had entropion and would need surgery on his eyes. They gave me the option of waiting and they would do the surgery or I could bring him home and let my vet do the surgery. I brought him home.

At his first visit to his new doctor we discovered that he
had entropion for so long that his corneas were almost
entirely pigmented over, he was going blind.

When I tried to take pictures of him he would run away
from me, so he doesn't like flashing light, he's not fond of
lightening either. I thought that maybe the light was
hurting his eyes so after that first night I only took
pictures from behind him until after his surgery 12 days
after he arrived at his new forever home. As you can see
by the pictures once his lashes were out of his eyes and the pain was gone he had no trouble opening his eyes. We started putting drops in his eyes right away and after about a month he barked at his reflection in a glass door, so he can see. Not as good as new, but enough that he won't get himself into trouble.









Since he was here in time for Christmas I made a new bed for him. He wasn't sure he wanted to get on it at first, but once he knew it was his he hardly got off of it.

He also got some new toys. For a while I       
tried to keep all of his toys in a box but he      
quickly learned that he wasn't going to get      
yelled at if he took them out. And now we      
have an empty box and toys all over the      
but his favorite toy is still my slippers.     
Not for chewing, just for stealing. 
  
He is a very sweet little guy, with just a little devil in him when he decides he wants to play.
First picture from
the rescue group
How he looks today
Once I was a lonely dog, just looking for a home.
I had no place to go, no one to call my own.

I wandered up and down the streets, in rain in heat and snow.
I ate what ever I could find, I was always on the go.

My skin would itch, my feet were sore, my body ached with pain.
And no one stopped to give a pat or to gently say my name.

I never saw a loving glance, I was always on the run.
For people thought that hurting me was really lots of fun.

And then one day I heard a voice so gentle, kind and sweet,
And arms so soft reached down to me and took me off my feet.

"No one again will hurt you"
was whispered in my ear.
"You'll have a home to call your own
where you will know no fear."

"You will be dry, you will be warm,
you'll have enough to eat
And rest assured that when you sleep,
your dreams will all be sweet."

I was afraid I must admit, I've lived so long in fear.
I can't remember when I let a human come so near.

And as she tended to my wounds and bathed and brushed my fur
She told me 'bout the rescue group and what it meant to her.

She said, "We are a circle, a line that never ends.
And in the center there is you protected by new friends."

"And all around you are the ones that check the pounds,
And those that share their home after you've been found."

"And all the other folk are searching near and far.
To find the perfect home for you, where you can be a star."

She said, "There is a family,
that's waiting patiently,
And pretty soon we'll find them,
just you wait and see."

"And then they'll join our circle,
they'll help to make it grow,
So there'll be room for more like you,
who have no plave to go."

I waited very patiently, the days they came and went.
Today's the day I thought, my family will be sent.

Then just when I began to think it wasn't meant to be,
There were people standing there just gazing down at me.

I knew them in a heartbeat, I could tell they felt it too.
They said, "We have been waiting for a special dog like you."

Now every night I say a prayer to all the gods that be.
"Thank you for the life I live and all you've given me.

But most of all protect the dogs in the pound and on the street.
And send a Rescue Person to lift them off their feet."
by Arlene Pace
I decided to call him Bae-Li
because Bae in Japanese means
Inspiration and Li in Chinese means Strength and I thought we could both use a lot of those.