Lacy Too

Her life

pedigree information/ conformation/ health details

Pictures

A sympathy card from Renee

 

Her life

Lacy Too came into my life as a young puppy. I was still grieving from my loss of Big Jake and my room mate had convinced me to go look at the litter and possibly come home with a puppy to help me get over my moping. When I visited Mari Cower's home I found myself face to face with a large litter of puppies, parents and grand parents.

I went with a lot of hesitation. I was unsure if I could provide enough affection to a puppy so soon after loosing Jake. But I looked into this little female weaten's eyes and saw a sweet gentle soul. She was the female pick of the litter as well as the pick of my heart.

She came home with me and settled in very quickly. Housebreaking was quick as she instinctively wanted to please. Within a couple of days she was climbing up onto my water bed to sleep next to me during the night and trying to be a couch lap dog in the evenings. It took a few sessions for her to get the concept of leads and walking on leashes but soon we were going for short walks together.

My previous female Wolfhound was a wheaten named Lacey. The new puppy looked a lot like her and somehow became Lacy Too.

The only problem I had with her is that she is a finicky eater who doesn't have much of an interest in food. She turned her nose up at most prepared dog foods, wouldn't touch canned dog foods, dairy products nor raw meat. Cooked meat and a very few brands of cheap dry kibble is all she would eat. I kept trying to switch her over to higher quality dog foods but she would have nothing of them. Over the years I donated a lot of mostly full bags of premium dog food to others .

As she grew, she went through obedience training, we slowly lengthened our walks and we started going on Land Rover camping trips together. Also, during that time I was working at Apple Computer. During days I did not have meetings scheduled she spent the day with me in my office.

I added vacation time to my five year Apple sabbatical and Lacey and I went on a 3 month long camping trip in the Land Rover. She quickly learned how to behave on camping trips and while I have the tripod out taking pictures. She became a seasoned off road traveler and dearly loved to go camping. During the first two years of her life she spent almost one fifth of it camping on the trail and living in the Land Rover.

Lacy has walked beaches all along the California, Oregon and Washington costs as well as parts of the British Columbia and Vancouver island coasts. She has walked on glaciers in the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, walked parts of the Oregon trail in Wyoming and the Mojave trail through the desert in Southern California. She has walked the streets of San Francisco, Cheyenne, Tombstone, Jackson Hole, Deadwood and Carson City. She has sniffed ancient Bristle cone pines at 12 thousand feet elevation in the White mountains and the salt encrusted dirt in Death Valley at the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. Lacy has walked through sand stone arches in Arches National Park, walked along the Merced river in Yosemite, watched Geysers in Yellowstone, followed John Wayne's footsteps in Monument Valley, visited Anasazi ruins in Canyon de Chilly, visited several old Calvary forts, walked along the shores of several of the great lakes on both the North and South sides, walked through forests in upstate New York, New Hampshire, Montreal, Quebec, the Olympic rain forest and several ancient Redwood forests.

During this time Lacy and I became inseparable She always tired so hard to please and was always there to provide lots of love. After I started working at home we were hardly ever apart. On days we were home we walked either in the nearby redwood forest or along Sea cliff State beach for a couple of hours every day it was not raining.

People who know me know we came as a pair and where one of us was the other was close by. Joined at the hip and never farther away than a quick cry "LACE" followed by the yellow streak of an Irish Wolfhound racing the wind to return to the one she loves.

She has seen and done a lot for during her five years and has been my constant companion primary source of joy during that time. I have loved her dearly as she has loved me.

Five years of age is way too young for a Wolfhound to die.

Pedigree information/ Conformation/ Health details

Lacy Too

Reg # HM609217/05

Born: 14, November, 1995

Died: 21 April 2001

Breeder: Mari Cower of Penryn, California

Lacy Too:

Reamonn's Kelly Brogan

Connemara's Miles Kenyon

Ch
Connemara's Finn of Rathkeale

Ch
Killarney Muldoon O'Balor

Ch
Killarney Kelsey Mckrae

Martha-Brae Mciver

Kilarney Mickey Mciver

Tessa of Buffalo Creek

Kelsey Blarney Stone

Ch
Major Acres Blarney Castle

Ch
Major Acres High Class

Ch
Major Acres Kelleegh

Steppenwolfs Shooting Star

Steppenwolfs Ragnor

Maggie Cu Tir of Steppenwolf

Reamonn's Lady Cassidy

Fleetwind Guinness McKenna

Sold by breeder with no breed contract. Had bad bite
Last breeder heard he changed homes at 8 yrs
2 littermates died age 11

Ch
Dieter Von Der Oelmuhle
Died 6 heart problem

BIS Ch Ger. Ch Int.
Maevrick's Zippy Zodiak

Dt Ch
Longleg's Brid

Fleetwind Vanilla

Ch
Fleetwind Magnum

Ch
Fleetwind Bonnie Brae Magic
Died 12 yrs

Reamon's Lady Fiona

Connemara's Miles Kenyon

Ch
Connemara's Finn of Rathkeale

Martha-Brae Mciver

Kelsey Blarney Stone

Ch
Major Acres Blarney Castle

Steppenwolfs Shooting Star

 

Conformation:

Lacy Too was structurally very correct, with an excellent head and ears. She stood thirty four inches at the shoulder but only weighed between 110 and 115 pounds. As such she seemed a little on the over refined side of the Wolfhound standard. This may have had something to do with her not being an eager eater. I would say her real physical faults were that she was slightly over refined for the breed standard and that she mostly carried her head even with her shoulders or lower. I'm not positive but I strongly suspect she was far sighted.

Personality wise she was very loving and devoted and never showed any sign of aggression. She was a little more shy than she should be according to the breed standard for personality but otherwise spot on.

 

Health Details:

Lacy had a very good immune system and was never sick a day in her life until she came down with bone cancer. She quickly healed from all small wounds and did not seem to have any noticeable allergies.

She was diagnosed with bone cancer at her right rear hock a month after her fifth birthday. Considering her age I believe she had an inherited genetic predisposition to bone cancer. This, unfortunately, is way too common in the Irish Wolfhound gene pool.

Pictures

And they called it Puppy Love

Spring of 1996, Lacey was about six months old.

On days I didn't have meetings scheduled Lacy came to work at Apple Computer with me. Here we are in the courtyard of Apple Computer's R&D complex in Cupertino.

I had a second ID badge made up and clipped it to her collar.

Who could gaze into those puppy eyes and not fall in love?

To know her was to love her

1996 at about six months of age

 

Lacy and me in Monument Valley, 1998

Me & Lacy in Canyon de Chilly, 1997

Asking to come in

1998, on her second of three visits to Canyon de Chilly, Az

Most people who met Lacy thought she was a white Irish Wolfhound.

Except for her black wheaten markings her light blond hair faded to a dirty white by the time she was a year old.

Lighthouse field, Santa Cruz, 2001

Lacy and me In Portland, Oregon, 1999

Lacy taking her turn behind the wheel of the Land Rover, Montana, 1998.

She was an avid off road traveler who loved to go on extended camping trips.

Starting the year out right

Morning camp on the Mojave trail New Years day 1999.

The Mojave trail is an old covered wagon trail that brought settlers into Southern California through the great Mojave desert.

Lacy slept inside on her chase lounge pad. My bed is a fold out at the roof line. It's the farthest we every slept from each other except when I went on business trips.

 

Though she traveled extensively through North America and Canada, she never became a jaded traveler. There was always something there to fascinate her. She never tired of traveling, seeing new places and meeting new creatures.

Life was always fascinating

Where have all the flowers gone...
Across the rainbow bridge

A last picture taken of Lacy on St. Patrick's day 2001 less than one month before she crossed over the rainbow bridge.

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