Bo and Ms. Beanz

To Heather

To our friend Heather who, at age 7, insisted on coming with us to pick up Bo and bring him to his forever home. It was a fourteen hour round trip car ride and Heather said that it would be best if we brought “a kid to help the dog feel less afraid”.

All the way home Heather kept her arms around Bo. He was so afraid to go with strangers in a strange car that he vomited on her! Even that didn't stop Heather from holding him and showing him love and affection.

Heather was the first person in Bo's new life that he trusted. Thank you for your help, Heather, and for being so darn insightful. We love you always.

Jane and Rob

Bo and Ms. Beanz, Best Friends Forever

ISBN 9780970975485

Copyright 2011 Stillwater Publishing

Published by Stillwater Publishing

PO Box 500

Lionville PA 19353

610-458-4000

Written by Jane Kirkland

Contributing Editor Rob Kirkland

Photographs by Jane and Rob Kirkland

Cover By Jane Kirkland

Printed in the United States of America

This book may be purchased for education, business or sales promotion purposes at discounted rates. For more information contact Stillwater Publishing.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in whole, in part, or in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from Stillwater Publishing.

Educators, please visit BoandMsBeanz.com for information on using this book in your classroom.

Flesch-Kincaid Reading level: 2.0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011932613

This is Bo. He is adopted. We don't know much about his past, but he must have had a very hard life. After we adopted him, we noticed that he limps. So we took him to the vet.

The vet took x-rays. He saw pieces of bullets in Bo's leg and in his chest, too. He said Bo's leg didn't heal properly, so it is shorter than the others. That's why Bo limps.

Bo was shot long before we adopted him. We don't know who shot him or why. The doctor said Bo is not in pain.

The vet thinks that Bo was about three years old when we adopted him. No one knows for sure.

Bo was very afraid of us when we brought him home. He was afraid of every human. We knew we had to help Bo to get over his fear of people and we knew it might not be easy.

Why do you think Bo was so afraid?

During the first week at our house, Bo wouldn't look at us. He wouldn't eat, play, or come to us when we called.

Bo was sad and afraid. He didn't know that we would never be mean to an animal.

We knew that Bo didn't trust us. He didn't know us well enough to trust us. We didn't try to make him trust us. We didn't try to make him like us. In fact, we didn't try to make him do anything. We just let him have the time and space he needed until he felt safe.

We even tried to speak quietly in the house and were careful not to make any loud noises. We didn't want to frighten Bo.

Every day he became a little less afraid.

One day we took Bo to the dog park. He played with the other dogs and had a lot of fun. We could see he was happy. On that day, he smiled.

We think Bo is a beautiful dog. He has brown eyes. He has some pink on his nose. The bottoms of his paws are pink, too. One of his top front teeth is missing but you can't see it. He has beautiful golden fur with white on his face and his paws. His tail has a white tip just like a fox!

Bo's smile is my favorite part of him. Today Bo smiles more than any dog I ever met. He smiles all the time.

Have you ever seen a dog smile?

Do you have a dog? If you do, what's your favorite thing about your dog?

We live at a lake. We took Bo to the water. We discovered he likes to swim. When Bo swims, he smiles!

Bo has webbed feet. His webbed feet help him to be a very good swimmer. Webbed feet have skin between the toes. Ducks and geese have webbed feet, too. Animals with webbed feet are good swimmers.

Have you ever seen a dog swim?

Have you ever seen other animals swim? Which ones?

Bo loves to climb. His bad leg doesn't stop him from climbing. He likes to be up high. Maybe he feels safe when he is up high because he can see farther. Wherever we go, if there is something Bo can climb, he will.