Lacey's Brandy Alexandria

5/29/98 - 11/03/09

She was my baby from the time she was only seven weeks old. I picked her out because she was the runt of the litter. She had quite the personality even back then. I remember the day we picked her up it was down in back woods NJ near Woodstown, NJ. Janice my niece Nicole and I went and got her. She was from a young age very strong willed to say the least. At the age of six months I started to teach her more than the basic commands every dog knows but I also taught her hand signals. She was a lab she was very smart. She was smarter than some humans I've known to be honest with you.

I loved and miss the nights in the spring and summer that she and I would just be up on a Saturday morning and sit on the landing at the top of the steps in our house at 4am and just watch the cars go down our street. It was just me and her a very bonding experience. Sometimes she would lay on my lap until a car went by and when it did she sprang up like a kangaroo just to see it go by. Those were the days as they say... Seemed like I did not have a care in the world. Life was right and things were chuggin along.

Time passed and my marriage fell apart. It was decided I would keep my dog and Jan would keep the cats because that is what she wanted. I was gona keep my dog no matter what anyway... just sayin... I took in boarders and one of which was my current girlfriends daughter. She got a dog and one day she was letting them out and Brandy got out and the other dog followed. They ran through the woods behind my house onto the highway. Brandy was lucky my girlfriends daughters dog was not... I got Brandy from the vet that a caring person brought her to and my heart was relieved. But apparently Brandy must have been hit in the hind quarters as she walked with a limp for a while after the accident.

My boarders moved out and my girlfriend moved in and she did not want to live in the house my ex and I had purchased so we found a new house and moved in. By now Brandy was about 9 years old. She was not as spunky as she was when she was a pup but she could hold her own. Over the last 3 years Brandy started showing her age more and more. Before she would be the leader of the walk and now she would lag behind and I would wonder if we would even be able to make it home. We used to walk 3 miles at a time and no problem and now she was having trouble walking 3 blocks.

So as she progressed we kept it to short walks. I was ok with that I just wanted her to use her legs. Her hind legs have atrophied so it was hard for her to keep up. The walks got fewer and far between because I did not want to hurt her at all. Which leads up to her current condition. I called the vet because she did not want to eat. The blood work came back to show that her liver was enlarged and her spleen was enlarged. It came down to the last week of her life she did not want to eat anything and the decision had to be made.

It pains me that I had to make the final decision because I feel like I gave the vet a gun and told him to pull the trigger on my only child. I tell you I never cried so hard before in my life. When my father passed 6 years ago I hardly shed a tear because a sense of relief is what I felt because he had been sick. My only hope is that when I pass I get to see her and be with her and I would hope that she understands I did it because I did not want to be one of those parents that kept the sick dog around because I could not deal with putting her to sleep. I believe love is putting the dog to sleep to get them out of the misery they might be going through. She will forever be my Brandy Girl! I miss you sweetie. When I come home and open the door the house is so empty without you coming to greet me with your tongue and wagging tail. The house feels so cold and lonely with out you.

Until I see you on the other side,

Bill