Bailey
Bailey showed up at Grandma's house in Texas a few years ago and became a family member immediately. When Grandma's health started to fail, we were offered a chance to bring him home to South Dakota and join our household.
The first week we had him, one of the children left the gate open and he ended up taking off. He was recovered later from the Humane Society on Lacrosse Street. That was the first and last time he decided to go exploring. Afterwards, he never left the yard, even when the gates were accidentally left open.
He was a big dog and full of love, and whenever he wanted your attention he would walk up to you and just start breathing so heavy, he could be heard across the house. When he was excited, his tail would wag and hit things with such power we would think someone was knocking on the front door.
He did have one concerning vice that we couldn't always prevent; when dead animals were present in our yard, he would eat them! It was a constant chore to pick up anything that died in our yard or was brought into our yard from our cats before he could get to them!
At the end of May (2026), I noticed a dead rabbit on my front porch. This was a typical day when one of my cats found something they had to share with the family. I grabbed a plastic bag and collected the poor rabbit and disposed of it.
In June I had noticed something weird, Bailey was not eating as he normally did. I could get him to eat his teeth cleaning treat and maybe one bowl in the evening, but nothing in the morning. I had another incident with a rabbit on my front porch, however it had disappeared when I went to go get a plastic bag. Clearly my cats were not ready for me to get rid of it.
Later, my kids tell me of a rabbit laying in our yard. The dogs were already outside by this time and they advised the rabbit was gone when they went to it a second time. Through process of elimination, either the cats moved it or Bailey ate it. Gross!
Bailey's health continued to fail at a surprisingly fast pace! He wasn't walking around much, he would pick a spot in the house and lay there for hours. He would then move to a new spot and continue this pattern.
He also stopped eating! He stayed near the water bowl frequently and seemed to drink water, but he wouldn't accept anything else. Sometimes he would want to go outside and watching him walk was heart breaking as his joints were locking up.
On June 9th (2026), he went to the back porch and refused to move from there for hours. I brought him water and he would drink from it, and thankfully the weather wasn't too hot and he had shade to rest under.
I checked on him multiple times throughout the evening and spent a lot of time with him. I was working late that day and when I was ready to turn in for the night, I went to check on him and he had moved himself over into the grass. I called out to him multiple times but he just lay there and looked at me.
When the sun came up a few hours later, he had passed on. (June 10th, 2026)
If poison kills wildlife, it kills pets.
There are better and safer ways to handle wildlife pests to protect your residential crops and foundation.
No one deserves a neighbor who poisons pets.