Twin Oaks Summer Lace AKC/ASCA CDX, NA, AAD, OAD 5/11/91-5/11/02
Lacy is proof that re-homing your dog can be the best decision ever made for her.
I got Lacy as a 9 week old puppy when Winter was 5 years old. I worried about bringing in another dog, that Winter would be upset because she was used to being an only dog, and that she would not like to share me. But she seemed to accept the new puppy okay, and I had the fun of now owning two Aussies.

As I became more involved in dogs and trained Winter for obedience, I also began training Lacy. We did some obedience, but focused primarily on Agility. Agility was brand new at the time; USDAA was the only venue around and we learned by practicing once a week with the local club, Haute Dogs. Lacy was not a fast dog, but a very tidy jumper and she rarely knocked down a pole. We had a great time and worked our way up to the Masters level class. In the meantime, Lacy earned her CDX in both AKC and ASCA obedience, but I had no intentions of training her for Utility. Lacy was very much her own girl and always wanted to do things her way….not exactly conducive for an easy time in Utility. And it was about this time that I wanted another Aussie, one that I could show in Conformation as well as Obedience. Enter 9 week old ball of fluff, Wylie.
Now I had three Aussies.

I kept noticing, however, that things were not that peaceful between everyone. Winter, always bossy, would continually bully Lacy. Being less informed than I am now, I allowed her to do so. Lacy was not allowed any emotion, as far as Winter was concerned. No excitement, no jumping for joy, no running around….Winter kept a strangle hold on Lacy at all times. It was my obedience trainer who suggested that I re-home Lacy. I was appalled. Re-home a dog? Impossible. When a dog came into my life, it was forever. It would be so cruel, so I thought, to give a dog to someone else. But over time I began to change my mind. I could see what my trainer meant. Lacy was not in the best place for her. While she didn't know any different, I could see how her personality was being squished by Winter. So I casually put the word out to my many dog friends that I might be willing to place Lace in a new home, if the right one came along- and so entered Jessica. Jess was a good friend of one of my good friends and found herself, after careful thought, deciding she wanted a dog. When she found out that Lacy could be adopted, she jumped at the chance, having met Lacy at the barn where she boarded her horse.

So I actually did the deed- I sent Lacy to live with someone else. Lacy was 6 years old, with multiple obedience and agility titles we had earned together. How would she adjust? It took her about 4 months to stop listening for my truck. But in the mean time, she went to work with Jessica, who owned a pet supply shop, during the day and then to the barn in the evenings and weekends. And Lacy finally had found her calling: The store bunnies! They needed careful watching, all day, as far as she was concerned. Customers would enter the store and Lacy would greet them happily, and then guide them over to see her bunnies in the glass enclosure. And the best part about the bunnies is that once in a while one would get out during the night and Lacy got to find it somewhere in the store the next morning.

And her duties at the barn were equally important. Lacy kept a close eye on the horses. She would know instantly when a horse would balk at going into it's stall or refuse to step up into a horse trailer. She was there in a flash, quick to use her teeth on the pastern of the recalcitrant horse. While her passion was not always welcome (!), she was a wonderful barn dog. Normally very picky about which dogs were allowed to play with her, she adored Patches, the little cattle dog who lived there. She was the "agility" dog for all the kids, who would take her up to the ring and jump her over all the jumps set up for the horses. When she was happy to see a friend, she would throw herself on her back and wiggle and whine in ecstasy. Her nickname was "Spacey Lacy", because she was a quirky girl, who lived life her way.

It was the morning of May 11, 1002 when Jessica called me. She was in Washington on a business trip and her husband had called her to say that Lacy had had a seizure. Jessica was flying home and I agreed to meet her at the vet's at 4 in the afternoon. Jessica, her husband and I sat with Lacy at the vet's until late that night. Lacy was paralyzed on one side and could not get up. We sat and cuddled her and talked with her, and at midnight that night, we made the decision to let her go. It was her eleventh birthday. Much too young to die, but the vet came to the conclusion she had a brain tumor and that nothing could be done for her.

I miss you, my Lacy girl.