OyChicago blog

“Bialy…is that Italian?” Um…not so much. “Bialy…that’s like a bagel without a whole in it, right?” Yes, random girl on the street, that’s close enough.

Bialy is also the name of my 13-week-old five-pounds-big Bichon poodle puppy. She is the cutest dog to ever walk the earth (move over, Boo) so these days I spend a lot of my time talking to random people on the street as they ooh and aah over my puppy, while she assaults her new best friend with puppy kisses and love. Bialy gives freely of her love to pretty much anyone who’ll have it, especially to humans under two-feet tall. And don’t you dare walk by without stopping to admire her cuteness. She’ll stop in her tracks and look longingly at you like the crazy, heartless person you are, because, well, look at her!

 Bialy Bregman, a regular Cindy Pawford.

Bialy Bregman came home with us a mere three weeks ago, and already she has changed our lives for good. Suddenly, my living room is covered in toys, I pop out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and most of what my husband Mike and I talk about is when Bialy last went potty. Much to Mike’s simultaneous surprise, joy and dismay, it turns out she is, in fact, the great love of my life. (Just kidding, Mike. I love you both equally.)

Most people who’ve known me my whole life were shocked to hear we’d gotten a dog. You see, I was never really a dog person. As a kid, I was the girl who couldn’t come to your birthday party if you had a dog. I was t-e-r-r-i-f-i-e-d of dogs. Don’t come near me—I don’t want to pet you, I don’t want you to lick me, and I definitely don’t want you to pee on me. As I grew older, I grew out of this a bit, but I never really thought a dog was in the cards for me. Plus, big dogs still scare me.

It was Mike’s dream to have a dog—he always wanted one as a kid—and it became our dream to raise one together. We had been talking about it for years, but the timing just wasn’t quite right. Then, about a month ago, Mike decided to contact the puppy website we had been visiting/stalking for the past four years. He explained our situation, and we learned that a bichon poo would be the best fit for us—I have asthma, we work full-time and live in the city, and bichon poos are sweet, smart, small-ish dogs that are completely hypoallergenic.

That Saturday, as we drove to the outer burbs to meet two bichon poodle sisters, I defiantly said to Mike, “Under no circumstances are we to come home with a puppy today. We are just here to look.”

But then we met Bialy, who immediately crawled into Mike’s lap to take a nap, and it was all over. She was our little girl.

We are all still getting used to each other, but Bialy has already brought so much happiness into our lives. Like any good Jewish mother, I worry she’s not eating enough, I watch her every move, and I spoil her rotten with toys. And Bialy fit right in to her new role as a Jewish puppy, aiming to please her parents and already at the top of her class at puppy school.

The day Bialy came home.

Now don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t all been puppy kisses and roses. We had a very challenging first few days—potty training a puppy is no fun at all. But Bialy brought out a maternal instinct in me I didn’t even know I had. And Mike, he has turned out to be the amazing, loving and dedicated puppy daddy I always knew he would be. It took a lot of teamwork, patience and very little sleep, but after only a few days, Bialy got used to things around the Bregman household and all was right with the world.

So if you see us walking on the street, be sure to stop and say hello. You might just meet your new best friend.