In Honor of Sweet Lacy Mae

On Friday, 4/30/2010 sweet Lacy (who was adopted from Pet Haven 3/2009) crossed over the bridge. Her paw print will be forever etched in the hearts of so many ... the following was written by her mom Jackie:

"In early March of 2009 I went to the Minnetonka Petco to purchase food and treats for our hamster “Jack”, as I was walking through the store I noticed a crowd of people with all kinds of beautiful dogs I wasn’t sure what was going on so I decided to take a look. I found out it was an adoption event being held by Pet Haven and all of the dogs were looking for good homes.

My husband and I were just getting ready to close on our first house and with moving I knew it wouldn’t probable be a good time to get a dog but I decided that I needed to take a look anyway. That is when a volunteer pointed me into the direction of a dog laying quietly on the floor next to her foster mom Claudia. I sat down next to Lacy and from the second I looked into her sweet eyes I knew I was in trouble. I sat with Claudia and Lacy for what it seemed like forever and Claudia told me her story of how she had came to Pet haven, she was adopted once before but returned because the other family pet did not take well to Lacy. It broke my heart, I decided to take a walk with Lacy and Claudia around the store Lacy was a good girl she would smell the treats but never took any and when you would stop she would push herself up against you.

I left that day knowing what I had to do so I went home and immediately told my husband about her and went online and found her on Pet Haven’s website and filled out an application. The next day I received a call from another volunteer and we talked for almost an hour about Lacy and I explained to her that I needed my husband to meet her and that we were just getting ready to move and if she was still available in the next two weeks we would come and see her again. I called the volunteer and would check to see how she was doing and if she was still available.

On March 29^th 2009 about a week after we had moved we went and met Lacy again, my husband and son fell in love with her as quickly as I did and we took her home that day!

She made herself at home almost instantly and found her favorite spot on the couch and a few days after that she found her favorite spot on the bed.

Over the next few weeks and months she became more trusting and more loving than ever, when we first got her she hesitated to get into the car and after a few weeks and some short car rides she quickly realized that when she went with mom in the car she knew she would also come back home so she started to love going in the car and as soon as she would hear my keys she would be the first to the door and there were even time she would knock mom down the stairs to make sure she didn’t forget about Lacy.

Everyday going to work she would walk me to the door and everyday when I came home she was waiting at the top of the stairs with her butt and nubbin doing her little dance she always did when she was excited.

I went away overnight and my sister n law came to let Lacy out and spend some time with her and when she went to leave Lacy blocked her so she had to trick her giving her a milk bone. Lacy always made sure we didn’t forget about her, there is no way I ever could.

Lacy was very well behaved when it was time to make dinner she knew she wasn’t allowed in the kitchen so she laid by the door and patiently waited for a treat to be thrown her way she quickly learned the sound of her milk bone box as well. We took stock in Sam’s club milk bones so we always had enough treats.

My husband is a Firefighter and whenever his pager would go off or if any sirens went by the house Lacy would stand up on the couch and howel until they went by and would make sure she got the last word in, sometime all my husband had to do would say the word “emergency” and she would get all excited.

She always went with me to walk dad to truck to say good night when he would go work his overnight shifts at the station and then she would gladly keep his spot next to me warm until he came home in the morning and sometimes didn’t want to move when he would get home so she would snuggle in the middle of us.

In February of 2010 I noticed some hair loss on our sweet girls legs so I decided to take her into the vet expected them to tell me she had an allergy of some sort, it turned out she had Demodectic  mange they gave us some medication and sent us on our way. A few weeks into her treatments I noticed something funny with her skin and since I was having a “bad” feeling about the vet we decided to get a 2^nd opinion and took her to another vet. She did have the mange but she also ended up having an ear and bladder infection and a skin infection that received from the medication, we were devasted to find out that Lacy was very sick and had a very serious illness and would not have the quality of life that she had.

So on April 29^th we made the hardest decision ever to end our sweet girls suffering. On April 30^th at 9am we said goodbye to Lacy. It was the hardest moment in our lives.

Over the next few days I was overwhelmed by the love and support we received not only by friends and family but from the family of Pet Haven, it was because of them that our sweet girl was brought into our lives and will be forever grateful all the Pet Haven did before she came home to us and after she left us.

To our Sweet Lacy, we pray that you are dancing just as you did when you were here with us.

We love and Miss you and will thank god for the 13 months that we had with your sweet face.

God Bless!!"

The following is a tribute to sweet Lacy ....