 With saddened hearts And tear filled eyes We've had to say Our final goodbyes Our beloved pet Our dearest friend Our journey together Is at an end Your spirit lingers Near us still It's our belief It always will We love you Lady! © Cathy Brady 5/1/03 Journey to Viciousness -The Tale of a Junkyard Dog- Loving trusting eyes Would follow you through your day Hoping for a kind word Or a gentle touch today You put her on a chain And left her all day long She didn't understand What it was that she'd done wrong You didn't give her shelter To get in from the rain She gave you love and trust All you gave to her was pain She'd wag her tail with happiness And greet you each time you came That wasn't what you wanted So you beat her til she was lame When the leg was mended And she could finally walk She'd growl and try to bite you Each time you stopped to talk One day you came too close And she bit you on the arm So with a board you broke her nose How dare she cause you harm The love and trust were faded Replaced with fear and hate Could this dog be rescued Or was this to be her fate © Cathy Brady 11/18/99 
It took us two weeks to earn enough trust that she would roll over and expose her belly to us (provided the dobs weren't near). What a milestone in her rehabilitation process. By July 16, 1997 she had firmly established herself as part of our family, and as our protector. She insisted that she should be the center of attention at all times and she should accompany us everywhere we went. Of course this wasn't always practical, but on this occassion we took her with us to Webster Falls. 
She always had a way of knowing what it would take to make us laugh or smile. Whether it was just a goofy look she'd give or some silly trick she'd pull she always got the desired results. She got petted and loved. She was loving all this new found attention. 
By Christmas of 1997 Lady was quite the little ham. She loved being the center of attention so when we put the reindeer antlers on her head she just seemed to laugh right out loud. She was very patient with us while we got the camera out to take her picture. But once she heard the click she was ready to take them off and go investigate to see what made them stand so tall. We had to rescue the antlers so we'd have them for the next year's pictures. 
By 1999 Lady had discovered her adventurous spirit. She never strayed far from us when she was off lead, but she loved to lead the way. She had a way of looking at you that said "I'm in charge, so follow me." 
Lady had absolutely no fear. When we took her to lookout point overlooking the Dundas valley she went clear out to the edge and stood there almost as if she was declaring herself queen of the mountain. She even found a ledge below to jump down onto. Now that's fearless! 
Lady was at her best when she was leading the family on an adventure. She loved being out with us and it showed. You could always see a happy smile on her face as she checked out the surroundings to make sure it was safe for us. And beware to the strangers that came near. Lady had a proximity warning for anyone that came too close to any of us. Being an abused junkyard dog left her with a mistrust of strangers, but especially men. On April 24, 2003 we were worried about the way she was acting so we took her to the vet. After she spent most of the day there she came home with some medication and we hoped this would help her to get back to her old self. Some days were good, some were not so good. But on May 1, 2003 Lady was panting heavily and finding it difficult to walk so we planned a return visit to the vet's office. 
Lady must have known that she was going to die soon. After panting heavily all morning she pulled herself out from under my computer desk and slowly wobbled over to the couch and climbed up to lay in George's favorite spot. I left the room for less than 5 minutes to get ready to take her back to the vet, and when I returned she was already gone. It seems that she waited until I was gone to let go of this mortal life. She looked like she had just drifted off to sleep, but she was so cold. It still breaks our hearts to know that her life here on earth was so short. But we take some comfort in the knowledge that we gave her as much love and happiness as we could in the six years that she was with us. 
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