Lexy was born sometime in August of 1996.

We got a call from my brother in law on day back in 1999.  He had taken a
dog from the farm beside him, the animals were abused and neglected and he
couldn't stand it.  The owner next door never did care about that.  Because
Lexy was now on the other side of the fence the other animals got very angry
and tried to attack her a couple of times .  Although she was a rottie
shepard mix, she was the runt of the bunch and all the other dogs there
tried to get at her.  One day after the third brawl between the fence, my
brother in law decided to ask us if we could take her.  We were looking for
a dog at that time so it was perfect timing!  Dad brought her home that fine
day, and my idea of a dog was to pamper and have her live in the house with
us.  Well, she had other ideas.  She was a farm dog after all.  She didn't
like being cooped up in the house and escaped many a time, but never very
far.  I think after a couple of months she realized she had it pretty good
at this new place and decided  she didn't need to escape anymore!  For
whatever reason, she became my dog.  She loved my husband Spencer but
guarded me like you wouldn't believe!  I should have called her Shadow
because she was literally my shadow, every step I took she followed!  She
was never much of a fetcher or swimmer, but a couple times we went swimming
at the Lake and no matter what I did , she wouldn't go in the water, that is
until I set foot in the water.  You could see the look on her face like
Yikes, what am I doing, I am not very good at swimming!  But out she
followed me in the water whenever I went out!We had fun taking agility
classes, which she was proud to show off her talents to me!  And we used to
have our daily walk, rain, snow, sleet or hail, we were out there!  Once our
first child Payton was born, I thought she would be different.  Nope, she
just protected our little guy, even from the health nurse who came to do the
checkup after the hospital!  She was never angry or vicious, just like to
stand in front of whatever she was protecting and sniff you out to see if
you were okay or not!
In April of this year, she was starting a decline.  She was slower, and
drinking alot of water.  One morning I woke to find her bed soaked through
with pee.  I thought the worst.  I thought she had lost her controls and age
had gotten her.  Luckily I decided to pursue the issue and alas, she was
diagnosed with diabetes!  She had very high readings at the beginning.
Around 36.  Normal was between 4 - 10.  So we got her on Humulin -N and she
never once flinched at the needle.  In fact I think she liked the extra
attention she was getting!  We slowly progressed and got her pretty
stabilized , down to around 7 - 9 for her blood glucose levels.  She didn't
seem to improve back to normal after that though.    She didnt pee the bed
or anything, but I think it was hard on her!  We recently moved and I think
that had the greatest impact on her.  She loved the new trails and hikes and
beaches we have here, but its so hard on animals to move!  Just two months
ago, she woke up and it was like overnight her vision was gone.  She had
large cataracts in her eyes.  The first week was hard, but with her strong
sense of smell she kept going.  Figured everything she needed to do out
again.  Sometimes if she went for her pee at night and I watched her, she
got a little lost coming back to the house.  Then in the last month her hind
legs just didn't want to work so well anymore.  She could barely get out of
bed in the morning and if I ever took her anywhere shed want to sit down in
a matter of seconds.  She couldn't put much pressure on her hind legs
anymore, and it was amazing to watch her learn to strengthen her front legs
to compensate.  When she went for her pees and business she almost had all
of her weight on her front two legs.  I'd say once she had the diabetes my
husband and I spoke about limits we were going to go to.  As many know ,
although diabetes is certainly no death sentence, it can lead to many other
illnesses and we had decided we would keep her going until she told us
otherwise!  Well, I sat down with her just last week, giving her a hind
massage which she loved.  I said she needed to tell me when she wanted to go,
because she just wasn't the same.  She wouldn't even sit in her special chair
we have in our tv roon anymore.  She just couldn't get up into it anymore!
On Sunday morning, she went out for her morning business and for whatever
reason I walked out with her.  I noticed a stream of blood in her urine.
Throughout the day, she had several expulsions of blood and matter come out
of her.  The vet thinks she may have had a tumor or cyst rupture inside her,
or that her bladder wall was infected and was failing.   I didn't think it
was right to put her through an exploratory surgery.  She was not in a good
state to recover from that.  As soon as this happened I just cried.  I knew
it was the sign she was trying to give me.   Even throughout all of this she
never once yelped, or whined.  Not ever! We decided to free her of any pain
before it got any worse.  This has been the toughest decision I have had to make.  
I stayed with her until the end, holding her hand and whispering her
favorite words into her ear.  I hope that she had a safe journey to Rainbow
Bridge.  We laid her to rest last night down at the golf course, where we go
daily.  That was very difficult, but the harder part was waking up without
her today.  Not hearing her paws clicking on the linoleum, or her nugging my
hand to remind me that its pee pee time.  I will miss her every day!
God  sent you to me that fine day and Ill be thankful forever for that!
Til we meet again my faithful friend!
Hugs and kisses Lexy!

She received her wings on October 24, 2005  
5:15 pm and is now at Rainbow Bridge.

Goodbye 
by John Quealy
With heavy hearts and a tear in our eyes,
after all these years, we must say goodbye.
Please understand we've done all we could.
If there was anything we could do, you know we would.

I'm sitting right here gently rubbing your ears,
while I talk to you softly, trying to hold back the tears.
The memories you gave us we'll never forget.
Especially the ones of the day we all met.

One last hug and one last kiss.
You have no idea how much you'll be missed.
To look into your eyes this one last time...
you tell me it's ok, you know it's your time.

Close your eyes now, and go to sleep.
We'll pray to the Lord your soul he'll keep.
Go in peace now, our good friend.
We'll stay right here with you until the end.

Dream of that special day and time,
when we'll meet at the Bridge and all will be fine.
We'll run and play, side by side,
with a soft warm feeling deep down inside.

Your memory will live on in each one of us.
You'll always be number one to all of us.
Have a safe journey through the night.
I promise when you awake, you'll be in God's light.

So with heavy hearts, and tears in our eyes...
just for now my friend, we say goodbye.

Some More Pictures of Lexie

Lexie's New Home

Lexie's Family

Lexie was our first baby!

Diabetes Information:
Lexy was diagnosed with diabetes in March of 2005.  When her initial blood
glucose levels were done she was at about 31.6, the normal range was between
3 - 10.  So she was very high.  She did show signs of excessive thirst,
which I didnt really notice until she had wet the bed a few times.  She was
prescribed Humulin -N intially to see if we could regulate her.  She started
on two doses of insulin, one at 7 am and one at 7 pm, started at 15 units
each injection, totalling 30 units per day.  She was checked every 2nd
week.to see what the blood glucose levels were at.  It took about 1 month to
get down around to 22.  So we increased her insulin almost weekly to 3units
extra each injection.  She slowly went up in her amounts as she wasnt
regulating on the insulin.  We discussed changing insulin but after we had
gradually increased her dosage to about 45 units per injection ( 90 units
per day) she finally levelled out .  Her most recent readings, after6 months
were 4.5-6.  So she was doing well.
After about 5 months of treatment she did get cataracts in her eyes, leaving
her almost blind.  She struggled with that but managed to carry on and learn
to deal with it.
Her sister had lived with my brother in law, and she had died of cancer
almost two years ago.  I dont know what finally happened with Lexy but that
day that she started bleeding out, the vet thinks it could have been a tumor
or cyst rupture.  I did not want to have an autopsy done out of respect for
her body.  I do believe she probably had suffered with cancer as well, as
she had lumps and bumps around her body, but they never seemed to bother
her.  I think the diabetes was hard on her body, especially with the
cataracts eventually blinding her.  One thing I will say is that diabetes
was not hard for us to deal with.  It seemed like a big deal when she was
first diagnosed but you get into a routine as does your animal and it is
really easy.  The cost is fairly minimal, I spent around $40 a month on
insulin.  Vet checks etc. were around $60 per month.  It is a small price to
pay to help your animal out.  I would be happy to speak to anyone about her
diabetes and how  Lexy's story could be of any help.
Feel free to email me at grundy1@telus.net if you have any questions

 Read about Other Memorial Stories

  Read About Other Pets With Diabetes