ClancyAward

We got Lexy as an eight week old puppy in Aug of 2004. She was a typical chocolate lab. Hyper, loved to chew wood and paper, and we had a log home so she chewed a lot. She reminded us of a cross between a little bear cub and a bat when we got her. The bear cub because she was chubby and fuzzy with a puppy belly and she had big ears that reminded my husband and I of a bat. She was adorable, and we were in love. My husband had been a bit upset since June 08, as we had a chihuaha/terrier mix that we had since fall 2001, that we had adopted from the Fredericton SPCA, that we had to give away. Our Chihuaha mix did not like kids, and we had a six month old son. Our Chihuaha mix was given away to an older couple that had no kids, and Taco, our chihuaha was happy but we were missing having a dog in our lives.

We were put in touch with a reputable chocolate lab breeder from Edmundston. To adopt Lexy from the breeder we had to jump through hoops. We had to apply, had to prove we had a good home for a lab, sign waivers to promise we would not breed her, sign other waivers that we were not allowed to give her away (we could only give Lexy back to the breeder).

Finally the day came, and we drove to Woodstock, to meet the breeder half way. It was love at first sight. She was the most adorable puppy ever. Our son Drayson loved her from the first minute he saw her. They were inseparable from day one. When we were training Lexy to use the bathroom outside, she slept in our room. We had a little bed set up for her, with a little machine wrapped in a piece of blanket that the breeder gave us, that had her mother’s scent on it. The sound mimiced a heartbeat so she wouldn’t feel lonely. But it never failed as soon as we were all up for the day, Lexy was rushing to Drayson’s door to see him. She did that from the first morning in the house. Whereever Drayson was Lexy was close behind. Once she was a few months old, and she had free run of the house at night, she would go to sleep in our room, but when we woke up, she would be sleeping right in front of Drayson’s door.

Drayson would sleep on her if he feel asleep while playing, he would try to ride her like a little pony. Drayson would be backwards mind you and holding onto Lexy’s tail, Drayson would even try sharing his bottles with Lexy. Drayson was not even walking yet, but would crawl after Lexy everywhere, they were best friends.

Then along came our youngest son, Garrett in 2006. Lexy had someone else to play with. She would sit beside me, or lay under my feet as I fed Garrett a bottle. While I was home for one year on maternity leave, she never left our side. If I put Garrett in his swing she would lay beside it the whole time he was in the swing. Garrett was the same way Drayson was with Lexy. From trying to ride him to cuddle with him, and even trying to eat Lexy’s food. And Lexy the whole time would be nothing but patience with the boys. She wouldn’t be in front of Drayson’s door in the morning now, she was in the middle of the hallway, in between both boys door (as there rooms were across from each other).

I would say she almost thought of them as her responsibility to protect. She was never far from either boy. If someone came to the house who she didn’t know and picked up or sat with one of our boys, she was stuck to that persons side until they were no longer sitting with the boys. But as soon as the boys were in bed for the night she was trying to climb all 90lbs into mine or my husband’s lap to cuddle as we watched tv. After a while we got her to lay her head on our laps as 90lbs is a bit heavy to sit in your lap for a couple of hrs. Her other favorite thing to do with us would be to walk under our legs. If you sat on a couch or a chair she would walk under your legs until you got up. She would just go in circles for minutes at a time. She loved it and we could never understand why.

And swimming, oh my, she loved it. She loved water, any water, could be a mud puddle and she would be in it. Every puddle in our yard she had to investigate, and the muddier the better. I think some weeks we had to hose her down outside every day. She would be coated in mud, she would roll in it, chase sticks through it, lay in it. She would be running flat out in the yard for 20 minutes, but instead of coming up to the porch to get a drink and lay in the shade, she would find a mud puddle and flop down in it instead. We would laugh at her, and call her to come on the porch, but it was like she looked at us, as if to say, “Why come up there I have my mud.”

She loved water so much we almost thought of training her to do retrieving skills for duck hunting. A friend of ours wanted to train her really bad, as she had such amazing stamina but was so gentle. As he had just lost his lab after fifteen years, he was quite attached to our Lexy. My husband and I, and our friend decided not to though, as we were too afraid the constant exposure to cold water could bring on arthritis, as is common in labs. We never wanted to se her suffer with that, so we decided not to train her for retrieving skills. We figured she was happy fetching her sticks and toys, and swimming in the lakes in the summers (or her puddles).

To say she was just a pet is an understatement. She was part of our family. When my husband went away with the military, which happened regularly, she would sleep up in the bed with me. It was like she knew I missed him, and didn’t want me to be lonely. But by morning she would still be by the boys rooms. She was our treasured friend, she was not just a pet.

Then came the day of the fire. I had spent the night at a friend’s house and Andy got up early with the boys. Lexy went through her normal morning routine of saying ‘hi’ to the boys, running outside to use the bathroom and then finding her place on the couch in a blanket to warm up. The boys finished breakfast and Andy and the boys went downstairs to watch some morning cartoons. Lexy stayed up on the couch to finish warming up, it was January and the coldest day of that winter. At about 8 in the morning, Lexy started to bark. Andy figured it was me coming home but he started to wonder when the door didn’t open and Lexy’s barking became more frantic. Andy went up to investigate, rounded the top of the stairs and was shocked to find Lexy barking at the back door and the entire back wall of the house on fire on the outside. Just as the first window exploded and flames shot in, Andy ran back downstairs to get the boys. Normally they would have questioned him when he told them that they had to go but we think they could see the worry in his face. Instead of running out the basement door, which was right beside the TV room, Andy ran back upstairs towards the fire and the front door, calling for Lexy. By this time, the fire had reached into the house and was burning out of control. Andy got the boys outside and went back to the door, calling for Lexy. He can only assume she was scared and went to her hiding place under the stairs going up to the loft. He swallowed mouthfuls of smoke and had to back away to the driveway, where my neighbour’s and passers-by had started to arrive. We were left there to watch our possessions and a family member be taken from us. The investigators suspect that a lamp plugged into an outdoor socket on our porch was the cause of the fire.

It’s been a long two and a half years since then with many a tear shed by all for our loss. The house has been rebuilt, our belongings replaced, and a new family member has been added, Tiny Peanut our one year old chihuahua. The boys’ tears have become less frequent but it’s still not uncommon for one of them to frown and mutter, “I miss Lexy,” when it’s time for them to be tucked into bed. We take solace in the kindness we’ve been shown by so many different people thanks in no small part to Lexy’s great sacrifice that day. She rests in our yard near the edge of our property, in a grave marked by a beautiful donated headstone. Her resting site is, ironically enough, near a spot where a puddle forms on rainy days. I like to think that every now and then our “Lexy angel,” as the boys call her, takes a break from watching over us to self-indulge in her favourite summer pastime.

If not for Lexy my husband and sons may not be alive today.

NEWSPAPERS:

"Dog saves family, dies in fire."