A Girl I'll Never Get Over!

More Than a Pet

Almost 12 years ago a dog was born from unknown parents, to unknown owners who decided they couldn’t care for this puppy. So, like a lot of unwanted pets she found herself left with an animal sanctuary in the Austin, TX area….best know for housing a colony of monkeys.

After almost a year when the shelter became overwhelmed with dropped off animals this year old dog was taken to the downtown Dallas branch of the SPCA. There she waited patiently week after week for the right family come along and adopt her….and a wait of months it eventually became, as most perspective dog owners…it seems…were more drawn to the ample supply of puppies available, rather then the more mature dogs.

With her time at the shelter coming preciously close to when she’d be euthanized, in August of 2001 a family in search of a new companion to replace a dog they recently lost to old age was touring the facility. They already had went the route of trying a puppy, with disastrous results (since it was discovered within weeks to be very sick and only lived a couple months) so now they were open to the possibility of adopting a more mature dog…one that was proven to already be in good health.

Walking through the isles our family was struck by the one particular dog who just stared at us with the most piercing and beautiful bronze eyes. After taking her out on the dog walk area of the facility it quickly became apparent that this sort of odd mix of who-knows-what kind of parents was the dog for us. Lacy she was named and Lacy she stayed!

After trying for months to figure out just exactly what kind of dog Lacy was, we more or less settled on the fact that she appeared to be mostly some sort of border collie/sheep dog mix. Incredibly smart, she quickly took to our family and new environment and before you knew it became a member of our household.

Lacy passed away today, after wrestling with arthritis for many months.

She was more than just a pet to us, she WAS like one of our children!
In a long lifetime of having dogs, I never met one that was so gentle! You literally couldn’t make her angry or get her to growl, let alone bite anybody or anything (a watchdog she was not)! The closest thing I ever saw to her being pissed off, is when Sandy tried to move her over in our bed (where she slept her whole life) to make room for her feet…and even then, it was just sort of a low moan deep insider her chest as she did her “dead dog” routine…which is where when you tried to move her when lying down, she’d go limp like a possum and you’d have to literally push her to move her 50 lbs over!

She loved taking car rides where she's hang her head out the window to get the maximum number of smells and taking walks at the local parks and lake Grapevine and chasing rabbits was always on the back of her mind. I loved to watch her hunt and chase them, but fortunately she only ever caught one!

All of our family spent time with her today, loving on her, holding her and giving her her fill of her favorite bacon flavored dog treats! Sandy and I were with her right to the end and held her and she gave her one last breath…a big peaceful sigh.

I’ve lost dogs before my life, but I just cannot remember one being so hard to now live without. She was there for me during the last 12 years…which was some of the hardest of my/our life and was a constant for me. She could always be counted on to give me a wiggle of her tail to cheer me up even when things seemed the blackest and let me hug and kiss on her big black soft ears, with never a complaint. Amazing as it may seem I think I can count on one hand times when I had to ever give her a slap on her behind or yell at her in 12 years…’cause she was just…that good….that smart…that well behaved!

As with all dog owners I hope there is a place for them in heaven and if so they surely welcomed Lacy this afternoon and she will be waiting for me to show up with her “saddle” (which is what we’d call her body collar) and take her for a walk!

"Lacy, riding in the car with her 'saddle' on, headin' for the lake".

Rest in Peace Lacy-girl…we will never forget you!
R.J. Luedke

11/14/11