Lexy’s Story This is the story of Lexy, our white Labrador Retriever that we were blessed to have with us for almost a year. Lexy was born in 2004 and was one of the Great Granddaughters of the Queen of England’s white Lab ‘Sugarfoot’. The entire bloodline was just that, white as sugar or new fallen snow. Lexy by the way is the one in the green collar trying to crawl out of captivity of the wheelbarrow. She’s also the one at the top of the picture staring head on. We were blessed to have the rights to one of the litter. The selection was easy, she chose my daughter Juliana Rhea by walking up to her…and the bond was there. I wanted Lexy to be trained to be a hunting dog so I contacted Harlen Winter of Winter Kennels. In the world of dog training, few can hold a candle to Harlen as he’s been at it almost 50 years now and has trained numerous national champions. As good fortune (or perhaps bad fortune as you’ll see) would have it, Harlen was ready to accept her for four months of intense daily training once she was six months old. From day one Lexy exhibited a level of enthusiasm Harlen had rarely seen. We visited Lexy every weekend at the training camp in Burnet, Texas, and you could tell she was in her element. She was born to hunt. Thirty days into the four month program Harlen calls me one night to let me know that Lexy was one of the top three dogs he had trained in what was then almost forty years of training. He made a passionate plea to be allowed to take her on the national circuit as in his view she was a national champion in the making. My ego got the better of me so over the protests of my daughter and my then spouse, Lara Maertens Rhea, I ultimately agreed to let her run for the roses. That’s a decision I regret to this day. You see, life isn’t always about getting your ego stroked and being able to say you have the best or the fastest or the whatever. Life really is all about putting smiles on other people’s faces and often times that means putting their best interest ahead of your own interest. Lexy was about to teach me a lesson in that regard. Harlen continued to train Lexy with increasing intensity in preparation of the upcoming national circuit and we spent virtually every Saturday or Sunday afternoon as much being a part of her as she was of us at Harlen’s training facility. Lexy took immense pride in showing off her prowess and skills (and she liked treats too!). And then it all came crashing down. With two weeks to go for the circuit, I’m driving to Houston for a meeting and Harlen calls in tears and crying. I have to pull over just to be able to understand what is being said. Harlen is driving at breakneck speed to our vet’s office in Lakeway as Lexy has had a heart attack. Twenty minutes later Lexy is pronounced dead. I was devastated by the news and I knew Lara and Juliana would also be devastated, perhaps even more than me (if that’s possible) because after all I’m the one that insisted on her being allowed to train for the national circuit. We had to know why. An autopsy was performed and Lexy had ventricular septal disorder. In this case either a small hole in the heart or a very thin wall separating the ventricular chambers that ruptured under stress. Specifically, she was going at life at 150% while carrying a congenital heart defect around. It didn’t stop her passion for going at life at 150%, but it did prematurely end her life. To this day I think of Lexy often and how she blessed our lives. I also think that Lexy came into our lives predestined to teach. Lexy taught me that the greatest joy is putting smiles on other people’s faces while giving up some of what makes you happy. It’s karma, it all comes back. You get back what you put out there. Thank you for letting me share Lexy’s Story with you.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 21:31:46 +0000
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