Goodbye Lucy

by Joe
(New Jersey)

One of the best dogs we have ever had. She was loyal, always there to greet us, and no matter how lousy of a day we had, she found a way to make us smile.

I remember picking her up twelve years ago on a cold night in February in Virginia and placing her on the floor in a cardboard box on the passenger side, covering her with a blanket. Driving home she struggled and clawed her way out of the box onto the passenger seat. Then to my lap, up my arm, across my shoulder, behind my neck and finally to my forearm that I was resting by the driver's window, where she slept all the way home. My arm was numb as I didn't want to disturb her nap.

As she grew older, she loved to run and fly off the back of the deck like Superdog. Her front legs extended, her hind legs stretched behind her, her ears straight up with the biggest smile I ever saw on a dog as she flew through the air for those few seconds.

Whenever we grabbed a leash, her ears and tail would go up... she knew she was going for a ride.

She didn't have a mean bone in her body. You could feed her and take it from her and she wouldn't snap or growl. She would just look at you as if to say "Hey, I was eating here." She was great with kids and loved to be around people.

In the evening she loved to sit on the back of the couch and look out the living room picture window. She wasn't a barker, but would let us know with a low growl there were deer in the yard. Sometimes she would jump on me, put her paws on my chest and just stare at me, not moving, making me laugh as she wouldn't turn her head.

You had to watch she didn't trip you as she was always behind or in front of you; she always wanted to be at your side. She would follow the vacuum all around as if she was waiting for it to run away.

She was always healthy and never had any medical issues, but in her last two weeks, she had a tumor on the left side of her mouth that grew very rapidly and progressively worse. The vet said it was very aggressive and there was nothing to do but make her comfortable. The last few days she couldn't even eat and had lost about ten pounds. She tried to eat, but today the food would just fall out.

This afternoon we sat with her on the deck she used to love to run across and watched her stretch out; she really loved the warmth of the sun and would lie on the rug behind the patio doors as it shined through the glass, especially in the winter. As much as she loved the sun, she also loved the deep snow and would roll around in it like crazy.

As weak as she was, when she saw me pick up the leash her ears perked up and her tail started wagging as we took her for her last ride.

At the vets she looked in my eyes one more time as I told her, "Thank you Lucy for all the years of joy you brought us."

At that point, I had to leave.