Now named Bailey, and previously known as Kayseeboo by her doting foster mom, the dog was given a second chance earlier this year when her owners finally realized that they couldn’t give her the right kind of life.
Bailey was surrendered to a shelter, and then taken in by Fur Friends in Need, an animal rescue organization in New Jersey.
Her rescuers taught Bailey how to play fetch for the first time in her life.
And Millie Acosta, her foster mom, gave Bailey her first dog bed.
Acosta took Bailey everywhere — even her yoga class, to show off how sweet she was and to help her hopefully find a forever home.
“You can do anything with a foster dog!” Acosta told The Dodo.
Life was already a far cry from the concrete lot she was used to. But then it got so much better.
While Bailey was learning to love life, a nearby couple, Nicole Greene and her husband, Jamie, were recovering from the passing of their beloved dog, Ellie.
“She was a pit bull mix we adopted when we were volunteering at an animal shelter,” Greene told The Dodo. “Pit bulls have such a bad reputation and her demeanor was so amazing that we just knew she was meant to be ours. She changed a lot of lives and opinions that people have about pit bulls.”
After Ellie passed away, Greene, her husband and their other dog, Charlie, grieved the loss. Then they started thinking of giving another rescue dog a forever home. “Jamie and I were searching for a member to add to our family. We were fairly insistent on adopting a pit bull because we love them so much and believe that they are fantastic dogs.”
They searched and searched and finally came across the 5-year-old black pit bull who spent her life outside. “Her description seemed too good to be true, as they were all the qualities my husband and I were looking for in a dog (cuddly, loves giving kisses, follows you around),” Greene said. “Once we spoke with Millie, her foster mom, for about 45 minutes and heard her horrible life story so far, we knew we had to meet Kayseeboo.”
It would be an understatement to say the meeting went well. “When we did meet her, we both fell instantly in love with her personality and her kisses! She is so sweet and nurturing despite what she’s been through,” Greene said. “Jamie and I knew then and there that she was meant to be a part of our family.”
Fur Friends in Need does home visits to make sure adopters are the right fit for the rescue dogs. “When we had to wait a week for the home visit, it was torture!” Greene said. “Neither of us slept because we couldn’t wait for her to be ours.”
Luckily, they didn’t have to wait much longer — Greene was approved and Kayseeboo, renamed Bailey, came home just in time to celebrate the holiday season with her new family.
“She met Charlie,” Greene said. “Once that went well, she sniffed around, played in her new yard and got comfortable in her new home.”
Acosta said goodbye to the dog she helped prepare for a whole new life — and she couldn’t be happier with the home Bailey ended up with, especially since black dogs and pit bulls are both kinds of canines that tend to be overlooked or avoided by adopters. “Pit bulls are always so hard to adopt,” Acosta said. “She is truly wonderful, this pup.”
So far, Bailey is getting acquainted with all her new toys, going on walks to see the new neighborhood and happily receiving many, many treats.
“She loves sleeping right between Jamie and me every night so far,” Greene said. They even got her Christmas pajamas.
