Remembering Lucy

April 24, 1999 – February 20, 2012

 beloved companion and therapy dog extraordinaire

Well known in False Creek where she walked the sea wall every day and lived and worked with Ruth Shell 

Lucy touched many lives with her gentle nature and loving presence 

She will be missed

Lucy was a great dog! A beautiful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with a sweet disposition, Lucy was pure love. She was much more than a lap dog. Lucy loved to run, fetch, swim, play and hike. She was a real character who could make me smile on the gloomiest of days. We had such fun together.

Lucy especially loved to work. From a young puppy in July 1999 until the last week of her life, Lucy faithfully came to work with me at my counselling office. She had an uncanny way of making people feel good. Sometimes just her sweet look or the soft feel of her coat and the way she gently snuggled up on the couch. Somehow she understood what people needed. She respected those who wanted a bit of distance and she would jump on and lick the faces of those who wanted closeness. For kids she would perform her award-winning series of tricks. She greeted everyone she met with curiosity and an invitation for connection.

To learn more about Animal-Assisted Therapy and how Lucy worked as a therapy dog, please read my article Moments of Magic.

You may also enjoy my March 2012 blog post Remembering Lucy – Life Lessons from a Beloved Therapy Dog

In addition to Lucy’s life as a therapy dog, she took acting classes and loved the camera. She appeared on the TV show “Doggin It” (2002), in the Vancouver Opera production of Der Rosenkavalier (2004), in dog-training DVDs with Deborah Wolfe of Camp Good Dog, and in the short film “Crosswords” (2007) by Ita Margalit