Beau is our golden retriever, and we were ready to surrender him. Barking incessantly at our new nanny (Claire), this had become intolerable. We believed he was only of cupidity or had a hard time adapting to the baby. However, all this is shifted as of the night that I told myself to look back at the footage of our security camera and what I found out made my blood run cold.
Our lives were dominated with immense joy when our daughter Zoey was born. My wife Rose and I had been struggling to have a child since many years. Zoey was our miracle following numerous trips to different doctors and disappointments. And, unbelievably, I accepted being a father full of my heart. I was prepared to have sleepless nights and diaper change. I was all in it.
Such a nice, silly dog had Beau ever been–the sort that would lick burglars and wag his tail at thunder. He was rescued, our first baby before Zoey and we had all the trust in him. However, once Zoey joined our household, Beau had turned into a different kind of dog. He turned on the hyper-alert mode, followed Rose everywhere in the house and camped himself besides the crib like a furry bouncer. Initially, we considered it to be nice- perhaps even instinctive.
Then did Claire appear. People said great things about her, she was pleasant and immediately welcoming to Zoey. Beau knew something we had not known. Ever since she had entered the doorway he had growled. He stood in front of her on the way to the crib, barked when she approached Zoey and once even showed his teeth. It frightened us. We feared he would lose his temper, beat Claire, or even worse beat our daughter. We started talking about the agonized rehoming likelihood.
Then it was the night Rose and I went out to dinner and were feverish to have a rest. Claire was left with Zoey as she insisted that Beau be locked up in the laundry room. Once we had settled down halfway through our dinner, I received a frantic call by Claire who told me that when she went to pick up Zoey, Beau had attempted to attack her. The voice was shaken. In the backdrop, there was crying Zoey.
We hurried home seeing Claire holding Zoey in her arms and her face pale. Beau was at the gate, patiently watching. Claire has said that he pounced on her. However, it was the feeling that something was wrong. Beau was protective all right, but not aggressive. I thought I knew him all too well. I chose to review the videos.
Everything came up in the camera feed.
Claire opened the door of the house, and as fast as she could, she placed a gray bag behind the couch. She took out a tablet, inserted it on the coffee table and started livestreaming. Red hearts, smileys and remarks filled the screen and she was speaking to an invisible audience. The caption across the stream was, Nanny Nights; Part 12. She wrote about sleep patterns and routines of Zoey in a way it was the parenting blog. The strangers had turned our daughter (our baby) into entertainment.
At that, Zoey started coughing and wheezing in her crib as the stream went on. Claire was oblivious Care was on–She was stuck on her tablet. It was at that time that Beau started up. He touched the crib, barked, would even jump on the carpet, all trying to attract her attention. and he opened his jaws at last in the air over her leg–not to bite but to start her into action. It worked. Claire wrenched out her earphones, pulled Zoey and reassured her. Then, quite mysteriously, she shut Beau in the nursery.
He was attempting to resuscitate our daughter. And we were almost getting rid of him.
Claire came the following morning with her customary smile and the notorious gray backpack. Rose opened the door with a printed screenshot on the footage. Claire glanced, turned white and walked away.
We reported it, closed her stream and made a complaint to her agency. We were not sure whether there would be legal consequences or not, but we are sure about one thing… Beau was never the problem. He acted as a hero.
I was able to get him a silver tag with the words, ZoeyGuardian on it. And he falls asleep each night in her crib–not merely because his father compels him to but simply because he would like to. Due to the fact he loves her. He defended her even when we could not see what could happen.
The decision to hire Claire was quite wrong, yet it made us understand what Beau should be in our family. He is not a pet. He is father figure, our sense of security, and he reminds me that you know, that every now and then the only someone who really looks out after you… is a four legs.