Ms. Chandler was born and raised in Fort Wayne like her parents were. She used to be very nervous in high school and always imagined herself going to college in town or not too far away from her parents. Ms. Chandler chose Ball State University since it was only an hour away. It was far enough away to get away from her childhood home but close enough that she could return quickly and easily. Intending to major in Elementary Education, when first arriving at Ball State, Ms. Chandler changed her mind several times over the next few years. She experimented with being an Art Major, thinking she might want to teach art. Ultimately, her education classes forcing her to go out into the community and job shadow in unfamiliar schools was too much. She decided against teaching because of how bad her anxiety was, instead choosing to receive a Bachelor of Arts in English in 2006.

After graduating from college, Ms. Chandler worked for a year in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at a digital photography printing and packaging lab. Then, after working at a Girl Scout camp in the New Mexico Mountains for a few summers, she moved to Albuquerque. After ten years there, Ms. Chandler decided to return to school. She enrolled in the Alternative Teacher Licensure program of Central New Mexico Community College to learn how to be a teacher while working full-time as one. She took the day off from school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to visit every shelter in the Albuquerque area. Ms. Chandler had waited for a long time to adopt a dog. When she lived with roommates, she was very considerate about wanting her life to be in order, to make time for a dog, so she never had one. When she was looking for a dog in New Mexico, pit bulls and chihuahuas made up the majority of shelter dogs.

A scruffy, long-legged terrier mix from Animal Humane New Mexico caught her eye and captured her heart. Ms. Chandler placed her on a 48-hour hold, so she could take some time to think about the decision. On January 19th, 2014, she became The Beard’s Owner. But The Beard wasn’t known as The Beard yet. The shelter had named her Ambrosia, but when Ms. Chandler adopted her, Ms. Chandler decided on a new one. Indy – short for Indiana, for independent, maybe even short for indecisive – became her name. Her full name changed to Indecision Hurricane Chandler because she was so energetic when she was first brought home and never sat still. She earned the nickname The Bearded Lady, then Miss Beard, and finally The Beard.

Like many shelter pets, The Beard has some baggage. She had extreme separation anxiety when Ms. Chandler first brought her home, and she would scream loudly from her crate when Ms. Chandler would leave her behind. (Neighbors complained.) The Beard clawed frantically and tried to bite her way out of several of her crates. Ms. Chandler bought two of them that could not contain her. One of the reasons The Beard started crated when Ms. Chandler first took her in was that she was so destructive. The Beard could jump up from the kitchen floor to the countertop or the dining room table and chew on what she could get her paws on. The Beard punctured tea bags and chewed open bags of coffee, not to eat but to make a mess. She always did it where her handiwork was on display, too – she wanted Ms. Chandler to see what she’d done. The Beard always wanted her to know just how unhappy she was that her Owner had left her alone. The separation anxiety significantly lessened as The Beard grew up, and she and Ms. Chandler got used to one another. But The Beard hasn’t completely given up her old ways. Just two weeks ago, she counter-surfed a packet of spaghetti noodles from the kitchen and destroyed it in the living room. The worst offense has to be when she pulled a bottle of pancake syrup from inside the pantry and exploded it on Ms. Chandler’s living room carpet.

The Beard is choosy about what people she tolerates. Most of the time, she prefers females to males and doesn’t trust anyone tall easily. Her favorite place is the spare bedroom in her house, which has the guest bed pushed up to a window, so she can lay on it and look out. It’s called the belfry, and she spends a good amount of time up there people-watching and snoozing in the sun. The Beard is a well-loved individual by many of Ms. Chandler’s students and even has a shrine dedicated to her.