Our Angel, Lucy the Boxer Dog

by Kathi MacNaughton
(Boise, ID)

I was a single mother with two teenaged daughters when Lucy the Boxer dog came into our lives. We already had a dear canine companion, a delicate miniature poodle named Maddie, who we'd rescued from a terrible home at the age of 4.

But my younger daughter, Jenn, badly wanted a bigger dog of her own, one that she could wrestle with and roughhouse with. In fact, her entire Christmas list one year was a puppy from me and dog supplies from everyone else. I had to go behind her and tell the family that no, we were definitely NOT adopting another dog to live in our condo with no yard of our own.

Nevertheless, less than 4 weeks after Christmas, we had adopted our Lucy!

What happened was, that on a dreary winter day, the girls asked if we could go to "Shake a Paw", a local pet store that allowed you to touch and play with their dogs. They weren't asking to buy a dog, just to play with one. I agreed.

The minute we walked into the store, a small Boxer puppy with huge soft brown eyes entranced all 3 of us. We asked to play with her in the playroom and we were instantly lost. But buying another dog, especially such a large one, was a big decision. I told the girls we had to think about it overnight. So we went home and discussed the cost, the care, etc. and I eventually agreed we could get her.

The next day, we went back to Shake a Paw and were horrified to see that another couple was looking really serious about "our" Boxer puppy. We hung around the store for at least a half hour before they finished and decided to "go home and think about it." That's when we swooped in and bought our little Lucy.

Over the next 6 years, Lucy brought us all tremendous joy and unconditional love. We called her our angel on earth. Unfortunately, she wasn't meant to be with us for very long. At age 6, she developed a brain tumor and within 3 days had passed away. We never expected to lose her so soon, but she will always be held close in our hearts and memories. In fact, we dedicated a website to her: http://www.boxer-dogs-secrets.com You can see more pictures of her there.