TRACEY
AKC A Trace Of Class
2-11-98 - 3-9-07
I raised Tracey from a puppy. She arrived three weeks after we adopted Devin from the pound and they were raised together as brother and sister. Tracey dominated Devin and she loved to boss him around to prove that girls can be Alpha too, but they were best friends anyway. I used to wrap her up in a blanket and rock her in to sleep, until she hit about 40 lbs. That was one big baby. She was my constant companion, my best friend, my confidant, my protector. I called her “Racer†or “My Girlfriend.†I spent years training Tracey for a wide variety of things. For us, training was fun and easy, just a game, never work. That’s how German Shepherd dogs are.
At 18 months old, she won her first dog show, and won first place in two shows after that. At 2 years old, I began training her for Search & Rescue but she ended up just being my loyal pet.
Tracey was very protective of me. She always got between me and whoever I was talking to, until I told her “back off†She liked to show her fangs and snarl to intimidate, although she wouldn’t hurt a flea. But heaven help the person who got out of their vehicle here before I got there.
When I was in a bad accident confineing me to bed with several broken bones in a cast, Tracey was my lifeline. She’d bring me the phone, bring my slippers, an extra pillow, and let me lean on her to get up and down to the bathroom. I guess one day I asked her to bring me too many things. While I was sleeping, she decided to bring me everything in the house that wasn’t nailed down. The dirty laundry, towels, toilet paper, pillows off the couch, my shoes, my purse, my coat, you name it. You can imagine how I laughed when I woke up to see this huge pile of stuff on my bed. She must have worked for hours going back and forth with all of it.
Tracey worked in the family store with me forever, every day since she was a baby. She lay under my desk and surprised a lot of unsuspecting customers when she would emerge with a ball in her mouth, asking them to throw it for her in the showroom.
She knew that everyone that walked into the store was allowed to be there, and made all our customers her friend.
Everyone in town knew Tracey. She was in the local parades. She knew how to work the crowds for junk food too. She was a regular at every drive-thru window in Dunlap. At Subway, she got free meatballs. At McDonald’s she got free quarter pounders. At Hardee’s she got free pork chops. She dressed for every occasion you could imagine. She had her own dresser drawer in my room just for all her dresses, tee shirts, and bandanas. I’d open up the drawer and she would drag out what she wanted. She had a very large holiday wardrobe. When it came to Halloween, she had a costume every year and helped hand out treats to all the kids. At Thanksgiving, she wore a nice festive dress. For Christmas, the sky was the limit. She loved wearing anything red or green. Oh, and she had jewelry too. She always wore fun necklaces when we played dress up.
She slept on my bed half the time when I wasn’t looking and then she lied about it. When I saw my bedspread all wrinkled up I would say, “Tracey, have you been sleeping in my bed†and she would lie, by giving me that innocent face, like “who, me?â€
I never left home without her. She wouldn’t let me. She would re-arrange my furniture if I did. One time she knocked down our Christmas tree one year and lied about it. Even though she was covered in tinsel, she insisted it wasn’t her. She stood in front of her counterpart, Devin, the bad dog and barked as if to say “it was him.†One Thanksgiving she ate our turkey right off the table. But that wasn’t her either. Another time, she ate Jerry’s recliner, but she lied about that one too. She was very naughty as a puppy, but she never got hollered at, not even a finger spank. She knew when she was bad when I gave her “that look†and she punished herself by cowering in the corner until I said “that’s okâ€.
No matter where I went, she was a fixture in my truck. I never left home without her. She barked, and howled out of the truck window passing through town like a crazy lunatic because she was so happy to go for a ride. Tracey has been my shadow seems like forever. I can’t go from one room to the other without her right behind my every step. I haven’t gone to the bathroom alone in 9 years.
We liked to hike in the woods, watch Sci-Fi together on Saturdays. She loved Dr. Phil and when she heard his theme play on TV, she’d start barking to call me “he’s on, he’s onâ€. She did the same thing for the Ellen show. We had to stop watching Animal Vets because the sounds of the dogs whining upset her.
Tracey and I had a favorite tree that we liked to sit under together for some quiet time, reading a book or playing some music. Michael would come out there and say that we looked like we were worshipping each other. “Mom, you and that dog are acting gross,†he’d say. And I’d say, “hey, this is the closet thing I have to a daughter!†…….and I’d tell Tracey to go get ‘em and she would chase him and grab him in the butt, then, we’d laugh about it. Those were good times then, when things were right; like they were supposed to be forever.
Nearly two years ago Tracey was diagnosed with a problem in her spinal column, which would eventually render her paralyzed in her hindquarters. Then that turned into something more and that turned into four more problems. She was put on a very large amount of daily medications and shots. Monthly shots turned into weekly shots and they turned into shots twice a week. Tracey always bounced right back. She wasn’t in pain, because she had no idea that her hind end wasn’t working. She couldn’t feel it. But she did figure out that something was wrong.
Tracey could no longer play bally which is her favorite thing in the world, or fetch a stick. She could no longer go to the barn with me to help me with my chores by herding the horses out to their assigned fields. She knew what horses went in what field and put them there. She could no longer go for rides in our truck or play Queen of the hill on top of our hay stack. I couldn’t pick up her 97 pounds of dead weight to get her in the truck, no matter how many ramps I built. When I finally got her in the truck, she’d fall off the seat. I couldn’t use her seat belt either because then she couldn’t use her front legs to steady herself at all. There were no more Saturday night fun bubble baths in the tub. I couldn’t get her in, or out of it anymore.We’re not having fun anymore, and watching her was making me cry more and more each day as she struggled to walk around with her bally.
This week, Tracey became very depressed when I had to run an excessive amount of errands in town every day. I had to keep telling her “No Tracey, you can’t go†way too many times. She didn’t understand why I was driving off without her. She cried and whined each time I headed for the door alone and a couple of days ago she tried to chase me out the back door and fell and hurt herself. She looked up at me with sadness in those gorgeous amber eyes of hers, stuck on her back, unable to get up. For the very first time, I have seen my girl completely helpless and miserable, and me, feeling the same exact way.
It’s a beautiful bright spring like day. We should be outside in the warm sunshine, playing bally, and going for a nature hike to watch the wildflowers attempt to grow. Instead, we’ve gone to the vet for the last time, still barking and howling out the window all the way. It is just too heartbreaking to see my girlfriend deteriorate like this before my eyes. Rather than letting this drag on any longer, and allow it to become worse, I want her to go to heaven with dignity. She can chase after Michael again and knock him down, bite him in the butt again, and tug at his pants. He’ll be so happy to have her. She’ll pounce on him and nip his feet which was their favorite game together.
I don’t know how much a person is supposed to handle in a lifetime but I give up. I just give up and quit. I suppose it’s not possible to die from a broken heart, because if it were, I’d be long gone already.
Jerry’s dog Devin has cancer, but amazingly, he feels fine.
Godspeed my beautiful Tracey. Go get Michael now.
AKC A Trace Of Class
2-11-98 - 3-9-07
I raised Tracey from a puppy. She arrived three weeks after we adopted Devin from the pound and they were raised together as brother and sister. Tracey dominated Devin and she loved to boss him around to prove that girls can be Alpha too, but they were best friends anyway. I used to wrap her up in a blanket and rock her in to sleep, until she hit about 40 lbs. That was one big baby. She was my constant companion, my best friend, my confidant, my protector. I called her “Racer†or “My Girlfriend.†I spent years training Tracey for a wide variety of things. For us, training was fun and easy, just a game, never work. That’s how German Shepherd dogs are.
At 18 months old, she won her first dog show, and won first place in two shows after that. At 2 years old, I began training her for Search & Rescue but she ended up just being my loyal pet.
Tracey was very protective of me. She always got between me and whoever I was talking to, until I told her “back off†She liked to show her fangs and snarl to intimidate, although she wouldn’t hurt a flea. But heaven help the person who got out of their vehicle here before I got there.
When I was in a bad accident confineing me to bed with several broken bones in a cast, Tracey was my lifeline. She’d bring me the phone, bring my slippers, an extra pillow, and let me lean on her to get up and down to the bathroom. I guess one day I asked her to bring me too many things. While I was sleeping, she decided to bring me everything in the house that wasn’t nailed down. The dirty laundry, towels, toilet paper, pillows off the couch, my shoes, my purse, my coat, you name it. You can imagine how I laughed when I woke up to see this huge pile of stuff on my bed. She must have worked for hours going back and forth with all of it.
Tracey worked in the family store with me forever, every day since she was a baby. She lay under my desk and surprised a lot of unsuspecting customers when she would emerge with a ball in her mouth, asking them to throw it for her in the showroom.
She knew that everyone that walked into the store was allowed to be there, and made all our customers her friend.
Everyone in town knew Tracey. She was in the local parades. She knew how to work the crowds for junk food too. She was a regular at every drive-thru window in Dunlap. At Subway, she got free meatballs. At McDonald’s she got free quarter pounders. At Hardee’s she got free pork chops. She dressed for every occasion you could imagine. She had her own dresser drawer in my room just for all her dresses, tee shirts, and bandanas. I’d open up the drawer and she would drag out what she wanted. She had a very large holiday wardrobe. When it came to Halloween, she had a costume every year and helped hand out treats to all the kids. At Thanksgiving, she wore a nice festive dress. For Christmas, the sky was the limit. She loved wearing anything red or green. Oh, and she had jewelry too. She always wore fun necklaces when we played dress up.
She slept on my bed half the time when I wasn’t looking and then she lied about it. When I saw my bedspread all wrinkled up I would say, “Tracey, have you been sleeping in my bed†and she would lie, by giving me that innocent face, like “who, me?â€
I never left home without her. She wouldn’t let me. She would re-arrange my furniture if I did. One time she knocked down our Christmas tree one year and lied about it. Even though she was covered in tinsel, she insisted it wasn’t her. She stood in front of her counterpart, Devin, the bad dog and barked as if to say “it was him.†One Thanksgiving she ate our turkey right off the table. But that wasn’t her either. Another time, she ate Jerry’s recliner, but she lied about that one too. She was very naughty as a puppy, but she never got hollered at, not even a finger spank. She knew when she was bad when I gave her “that look†and she punished herself by cowering in the corner until I said “that’s okâ€.
No matter where I went, she was a fixture in my truck. I never left home without her. She barked, and howled out of the truck window passing through town like a crazy lunatic because she was so happy to go for a ride. Tracey has been my shadow seems like forever. I can’t go from one room to the other without her right behind my every step. I haven’t gone to the bathroom alone in 9 years.
We liked to hike in the woods, watch Sci-Fi together on Saturdays. She loved Dr. Phil and when she heard his theme play on TV, she’d start barking to call me “he’s on, he’s onâ€. She did the same thing for the Ellen show. We had to stop watching Animal Vets because the sounds of the dogs whining upset her.
Tracey and I had a favorite tree that we liked to sit under together for some quiet time, reading a book or playing some music. Michael would come out there and say that we looked like we were worshipping each other. “Mom, you and that dog are acting gross,†he’d say. And I’d say, “hey, this is the closet thing I have to a daughter!†…….and I’d tell Tracey to go get ‘em and she would chase him and grab him in the butt, then, we’d laugh about it. Those were good times then, when things were right; like they were supposed to be forever.
Nearly two years ago Tracey was diagnosed with a problem in her spinal column, which would eventually render her paralyzed in her hindquarters. Then that turned into something more and that turned into four more problems. She was put on a very large amount of daily medications and shots. Monthly shots turned into weekly shots and they turned into shots twice a week. Tracey always bounced right back. She wasn’t in pain, because she had no idea that her hind end wasn’t working. She couldn’t feel it. But she did figure out that something was wrong.
Tracey could no longer play bally which is her favorite thing in the world, or fetch a stick. She could no longer go to the barn with me to help me with my chores by herding the horses out to their assigned fields. She knew what horses went in what field and put them there. She could no longer go for rides in our truck or play Queen of the hill on top of our hay stack. I couldn’t pick up her 97 pounds of dead weight to get her in the truck, no matter how many ramps I built. When I finally got her in the truck, she’d fall off the seat. I couldn’t use her seat belt either because then she couldn’t use her front legs to steady herself at all. There were no more Saturday night fun bubble baths in the tub. I couldn’t get her in, or out of it anymore.We’re not having fun anymore, and watching her was making me cry more and more each day as she struggled to walk around with her bally.
This week, Tracey became very depressed when I had to run an excessive amount of errands in town every day. I had to keep telling her “No Tracey, you can’t go†way too many times. She didn’t understand why I was driving off without her. She cried and whined each time I headed for the door alone and a couple of days ago she tried to chase me out the back door and fell and hurt herself. She looked up at me with sadness in those gorgeous amber eyes of hers, stuck on her back, unable to get up. For the very first time, I have seen my girl completely helpless and miserable, and me, feeling the same exact way.
It’s a beautiful bright spring like day. We should be outside in the warm sunshine, playing bally, and going for a nature hike to watch the wildflowers attempt to grow. Instead, we’ve gone to the vet for the last time, still barking and howling out the window all the way. It is just too heartbreaking to see my girlfriend deteriorate like this before my eyes. Rather than letting this drag on any longer, and allow it to become worse, I want her to go to heaven with dignity. She can chase after Michael again and knock him down, bite him in the butt again, and tug at his pants. He’ll be so happy to have her. She’ll pounce on him and nip his feet which was their favorite game together.
I don’t know how much a person is supposed to handle in a lifetime but I give up. I just give up and quit. I suppose it’s not possible to die from a broken heart, because if it were, I’d be long gone already.
Jerry’s dog Devin has cancer, but amazingly, he feels fine.
Godspeed my beautiful Tracey. Go get Michael now.
