SKYE
a 9 year-old Golden Retriever,
is a recipient of the
2012 Clancy 'Unsung Hero' Award.
Skye and Margaret gave each other a second chance to life.
A puppy with a heart condition and suspected hip dyplesia was dismissed by its perspective family. However his new owner felt this Golden was a blessing that fell out of the sky, when he made his maiden trip by airplane.
While in her late 40s Margaret Laking became an owner of a dog for the first time. Even an experienced dog handler, can find a puppy challenging at times, but Margaret and “Skye” bonded from day one. Not working at the time, Margaret took him everywhere, and so spent most of their hours together.
Margaret, a victim of a broken home, had always suffered from depression, but sank even deeper after the death of her birth mother. Over the next two years her marriage started to dissolve and she lost her grandmother, who had raised her since she was a babe. Throughout these troublesome years she and Skye rarely left one another’s side, but her depression finally hit rock bottom. One night Margaret reached for her sleeping, but Skye sensing there was something wrong in this nightly occurrence, nudged her leg hard, putting her off balance, causing her to drop the bottle. Skye grabbed the bottle in his mouth and led Margaret in a chase around the house.
When Margaret finally caught up to him, she just sat down, holding him, crying, and realizing how close she came to losing Skye, if he had swallowed the pills instead. For a brief spell life had just become more than Margaret could handle but Skye was instrumental in turning her life around. She started attending church after many years of absence. And this new found faith served her well in February 2003 when her birth father died, just two months after discovering him.
Four and a half years later in August 2007 Margaret and Skye parted their physical bond, when at the age of 9 years, Skye died peacefully in Margaret’s arms of congestive heart failure. “Skye and I had a bond that went so deep; it was as if sometimes we could read each other’s thoughts,” said Margaret. “When Skye died, I mourned so much – I wanted to die with him. My life was bleak … but he had saved my life and I had to live it for him.” If it hadn't been for Skye saving Margaret's life that day she wouldn't have been heavily involved in her spiritual community, as she is today, and her new calling as a grief counselor, not just for people but for those who have lost their pets. Margaret has walked that journey – she's been there.
