&uot;All right, Bessie, I’m coming,&uot; Shirley Bader says as she reaches to unlock the door to her patio.

&uot;You’ll see something now,&uot; she says to a visitor, laughing as she steps aside and the blur of brown races past her.

&uot;OK, Bessie, now just calm down, girl.&uot;

As Bessie, a &uot;half dachshund, half ‘what’s it?,’&uot; bounds into the room, Bader continues to laugh.

&uot;See what I mean?&uot;

Bader &uot;adopted&uot;&160;the 1-year-old Bessie earlier this year after her son’s friend found the abandonded puppy.

&uot;The dog had been thrown out on the curb,&uot; Bader said.&160;&uot;When a friend of Charles’ found the dog, she was dehydrated and weighed only about 4 pounds …

&uot;Charles sat her in his lap and said, ‘she’s so sad&160;I can’t bring this dog to the humane society, they’ll put her to sleep.’&uot;

So Bessie went to a local veterinarian and, two weeks later, came home to Bader’s son. But housebreaking the dog proved a bit difficult, so Bader stepped in.

&uot;I told him, ‘you give me that dog’ and I brought her home and started working with her,&uot; the 74-year-old Natchez woman said.

That’s not always an easy task, considering Bessie’s apparently unlimited energy.

&uot;To cut her toenails, you have to give her a pill (to calm her down),&uot; Bader said. &uot;And when she screams, she can hit a high C …

&uot;And when she runs in the yard? She never hits a bush — just jumps right over them.&160;I think she’s part kangaroo.&uot;

But Bessie has her quieter moments, too, Bader said.

&uot;My son started rocking her each night (when she was a puppy),&uot; she said. &uot;Now I still rock her.&uot;

Bader, who is legally blind, said she had sworn off dogs after her guidedog of 11 years, Tinker, died.

&uot;I said I never wanted another dog … here it is … and this one,&uot; Bader said with a shrug of her shoulders. &uot;Well …&uot;

After Bessie came to live with Bader on Ashburn Avenue, Bader’s &uot;very lady-like and sedate&uot; dachshund Lyga developed a new-founded energy.

&uot;They just play and play and play,&uot; Bader said as the two dogs wrestled at her feet.

&uot;Charles couldn’t get her back now. I couldn’t let her go … and I don’t know what Lyga would do without her.&uot;

The Dart is a weekly feature in which a reporter throws a dart at a map and finds a story where it lands.