Me and Be, Bebe and Me.

Where do I start? The first time I heard her? The first time I held her? No I think I’ll start when I first wanted to help her.

Early April, 2022. Wailing and baying could be heard through out the valley. My name is Meela.

Me-La. I live in the mountains. Me and my family were having A pretty normal day, when we heard howling. We didn’t know what it was. For the next two-three days or so we heard this baying like a hunting dog on and off.

It would wake me up in the middle of the night sometimes.

One morning, everything came into focus. I woke up to the wailing again. I was so sad. I thought it was a poor dog that was stuck on a leash or, chain and was starving. After awhile I got up and got dressed. My mom had made sausage patties. I came outside and saw my siblings at the fence. They were soothing and beckoning to something beyond the fence. As I loomed closer my smallest sister ran to tell my parents.

Then my other sister threw down her patty in anger and stormed off. My brother was the only one left and he was trying hard to feed his patty to the….. dog! It was a dog! It had a large orange plastic collar on. It was very skittish and shy but very hungry. My heart grew heavy. I decided I would feed it. I ran to the kitchen and asked for two patties. I ate one then ran to give the other one to the dog. It wasn’t interested in eating out of my hand so I had to throw it.

It was glad to have something. It licked its lips and set off along the fence line. No! I wanted to stay with it. I followed it for a minute, it went deeper into the woods. Then in a tiny little clearing it laid down. I ran back to the house and grabbed a cup. I filled it with dog food and a few steak shaped dog treats.

Once I returned it looked to be sleeping. I climbed the fence and slowly walked towards it. All of the commotion made it open its eyes. I continued. It stood up once I was too close. I sat. I held out a treat. I beckoned to it. It slowly came nearer. But jerked away at the last moment. This was continued for awhile. Every now and then I would try something different.

Then once I was all out of food I decided I would make it a little place to stay. I ran to our junkyard.( a place for old bikes and other things) In it I found two old dog houses. I decided to pick the biggest one.

I grabbed it a dragged it, only stopping to talk to my mom a little, all the way to the corner of the fence. I pulled it over the assembled it. It was hard but I eventually got it. Then I grabbed an old door mat, a blue cushion, and two Tupperware containers. One full of water ,the other with food and two dog treats.

I laid the doormat down inside the doghouse, then the cushion on top. The dog had moved to a clearing a little closer and was watching me work. My siblings came to see what I was doing, then got bored and left.I set the water and food right at the edge of the fence. I sat and waited.

It slowly sniffed the doghouse. Then came to the food and water. It watched me cautiously. It only ate the treats. But it was really thirsty. It drank at least the whole thing. I slowly put my hand out. It didn’t flinch, it just watched me. I pet the top of its head. It didn’t mind. I slowly made my way down it’s ear. It just drank. Then moved away when it was done with the water.

I got up and refilled it. I bragged to my siblings that I got to pet it when they couldn’t even feed it. Honestly I see that was mean now but I got my karma. As I passed about ten-fifteen minutes later it was laying in the doghouse. This made me feel good. On that same day before lunch, I looked over and saw my siblings crowding the area. They had climbed the fence and my brother was freaking out about the dog laying in the middle of poison Ivy and briers . I came over and calmed him. The Ivy was to small to do anything. Plus how did it get in that spot if there were so many briers.

So I climbed the fence and walked over to the dog. My siblings just watched. I had to crawl around the briers. The dog made no movement to leave. I sat next to it. I pet its head and along its back. I see a dark spot under its arm. I thought this was a wound or infection. I told my two little sisters to go get a leash. My brother came over and pet the dog next to me. I asked him to go help our sisters.

Once I was alone I started petting the dogs stomach. It liked this and rolled over onto its back and laid its head in my lap. It was a girl. When I was calling her for the treats, I said” baby,” in a childish way, like baby talk. But when I said it, it sounded more like”Bebe,” and this caught the dogs attention. So I named her Bebe.

I sat there rubbing her belly. She enjoyed it very much, like she had never been loved on before. My siblings soon returned without a leash. I grunted in frustration. I got up and my brother took my place. I search in the last place I saw one, the truck. It was there.

I took it and ran back to my siblings. I clicked it on to the collar and brought her with me. She didn’t like it. She was mostly scared but we helped her. Eventually I brought her to my mom. She laid her down and gave her a quick look over. She was fine other than a few ticks here and there. What I thought was a wound was an old scar.

My cousin was staying with us at the time and got to meet her. I unfastened the leash and decided I wasn’t going to use it again.

That same day I brought the

Tupperware containers back. I left the dog house unassembled and brought the rug and cushion back. I got the smaller dog house and assembled it over near everyone. I set up the cushion and rug in the same place.

Also I put the food and water in it. It was hard at first to let her get used to it. But over time she got more and more used to us. I had to move her dog house a few times and the other dogs would eat her food. We took the collar off, and honestly she looked better without it.

We soon figured out that she was a beagle.

She’s a bright brown color on her face ,down along her belly, all the way to her back legs. She is black all along her back and when the brown and black meet they seem to fade. Each paw looks as if it was dipped in a bucket of white paint. The very tip of her tail ,muzzle,and one section under her neck that’s white along with a small part of the back of her neck.

Days pasted and our bond grew. She would often roam along the mountains wailing as if on a trail. When I would leave she would want to get in the truck with me.One night as we were waiting for my dad to get home, I was holding her and rubbing her belly.

Soon she fell asleep. Her snoring was loud. I slowly fell asleep holding her. I remember my head resting on top of hers as I dozed off. We learned over time that she was terrified of my mom and especially my dad. We assumed this was relevant to her past. My mom posted on Facebook a picture of Bebe, asking if anyone had lost her. No one claimed her.

When I told my friends about her , the story about her past went something like this. She was and hunting dog, then they bred her, and eventually when she was old, they dumped her in the mountains. It makes me so sad and angry. We know she’s old because her muzzle is white and her back teeth are rotting bad.

Her nose was all scarred from being on trails. Luckily it has healed. I see her once or more a day. You can always hear her in the valley. My Bebe girl. She has some sort off small growth on the side of her left eye. Sometimes It would scab or bleed. But it’s healed mostly now.

Not to long ago, in the middle of August,2022 we were out on a walk, me and my whole family. My dad was looking for trees he would cut down one day. Bebe had followed us and was limping. She was limping before and had a small but deep cut in her left rear leg. This healed in about a day. Now she was limping on the same leg. I lay her on her back and rub her belly.

That’s when I noticed a giant infection under that same leg. It was yellowish red with purple. It was big and looked painful. My mom and dad came over to inspect it. I focused on her face. I was brought to tears. She was my baby. I helped her.

My mom said we should put her on an anabiotic. After our walk she followed me to our house. She liked to lay under my mom and dads bed. Two days later we started her anabiotic. I broke the pill and mixed it with peanut butter. We had to do this twice a day,for seven days. Over time I saw it slowly heal, until it was a mere scab. I was so happy! Now she doesn’t limp anymore.

Middle September in 2022.( when I post this) Bebe is great. She is still wondering but is mostly here with me. She loves to be loved on. She wags her tall every time I call her. She has a small patch of dark skin where the infection was. She normally sleeps under a pile of branches next to the tree house. I recently bought a small pink sweater without realizing I did and it was a perfect size for her. She looks adorable with it on. She doesn’t nip at it or try to take it off. I’m glad she likes it.

And I think she will always be there to wail in the mountains. Even when she’s gone I will always know that I made the rest of her life enjoyable and full of love. No matter how horrible her beginning was, I’m glad to have given her a wonderful ending. She will always be my Bebe girl and I’ll always be her friend and lover.

Forever.