Lucy was born on 24th February 1993. I had taken a week off work, as I knew the pups would be born that week. She was the 6th born out of 7. She was it seemed, the only fawn pup, so I decided she was mine the moment she arrived. Weighing in at 10oz, and the smallest of the litter, she was no runt, and soon pushed the others away to get to the biggest teat. Later 3 other bitches that appeared blue at birth, slowly turned fawn, but a more bluey fawn, and Lucy was golden.
I wouldn't wish anything different now, but at the time, had I known the others were going to turn fawn, I may not have picked her, as she was obviously very naughty, and quite a bully to the others. Once I had picked her though, and she had a name, I really couldn't part with her.
One of the other fawn bitches soon stole my heart, she was the first to open her eyes, and tilted her head and listened when I held her up and spoke to her. I called her Jenna, and decided to see if I could get round Steve my husband, and see if I could keep two. It was surprisingly easy, he agreed immediately, so Jenna was to stay too.
Lucy and Jenna for the best part were inseparable, and we were glad we had the two of them - it didn't last long, and at about 12 months old, probably after they'd had their first seasons, they fell out! We were on the beach, and let them off the lead to play. Something set them off, and they grabbed each-other, Lucy had Jenna's ear, and Jenna had Lucy round the throat. There was lots of blood, and it seemed to take ages to part them. The injuries weren't that serious, considering how easily whippet skin tears. I worked at the vets, and so took them to the vet's house, he gave them an anti-biotic injection each, and they curled up together as if nothing had happened, and home we went. From that day, they never ran free together again. We had Lucy spayed hoping that would calm things between them.
Throughout their time together, they fell out a good few times. Normally Lucy would start it, and Jenna would finish it! I would never keep two sisters again, but learnt to manage them. I knew when things were getting serious, and I'd distract them, and get their minds on something else. We did talk about parting with one of them, but it was impossible, as we loved them both.
We tried showing them, but they were having none of it! Both seemed nervous, which wasn't the case at home, and they would shy away from the judge, and refuse to walk. They had their first outing to the racetrack, at the Northern Pedigree Whippet Racing Club, and it changed them completely. They became so happy and outgoing, and were obviously very excited on race days. Whiphaven Lucy Locket (her pedigree name) became Whiphaven Leaping Lucy. Throughout Lucy's racing career, she won a few consolation trophies, and rather than Leaping Lucy, Steve joked that we should have called her Last Again Lucy, but she did enjoy it. Jenna continues to race, and next year she will race as an 8-year-old veteran.
At around 18 months, Lucy started to be ill, she had obvious pain, and jelly-like motions with blood. She had blood tests, which showed nothing, various treatments with anti-biotics and anti-inflammatories, and over a period of about 10 months she was well one minute, and very poorly the next. After trying many different diets, we tried a hypoallergenic diet made by Hill's, called D/D. It is made only from egg and rice, and within a couple of weeks she was so much better. She was then diagnosed as having a food intolerance which caused colitis, so stayed on the diet permanently.
With her weekends away in the caravan for race meetings, and some good holidays, she lived a very happy life. She slept in our bed (as do all our whippets), and when she thought it was time to get up in the morning, she would jump down and get my slippers, and drop them on my pillow! Without fail, she would bring me a present of a toy, or old bone every time I arrived home, her name Leaping Lucy was given to her, as she would leap into my arms, and expect me to catch her. I've had a few nasty bangs to my nose as I've bent down to stroke her, and she's leapt up at the same time!!!
In March 1997 we went to the East Sussex Whippet Racing Club, Lucy ran in a race, and although we joked about "Last Again Lucy", she was last by a long way. This was the first sign we had of her having a disease called Cholangiohepatitis. A couple of days later, she went off her food, so I took her in to work. She had a temperature of 106 degrees. Numerous tests didn't show anything, and each time she visited the surgery she would perk up, and look as though nothing was wrong. Things carried on like this for a while, she was tested for so many diseases and conditions, all proving negative and soon the Vets began to think I was paranoid. They even thought she might have a behaviour problem. There was talk of an exploratory operation, but it seemed so drastic. She was put on corticosteroids, they made an enormous difference, and she was back to the old Lucy again. Every time I tried to wean her off them, she would be ill again. She continued on the steroids for quite a while, but when she seemed to need a larger and larger dose, we did some more blood tests. Now they showed raised liver enzymes, which even then didn't really mean anything, as being on steroids can affect the results. In August 1999, we decided on the exploratory operation - her liver was very diseased, and a biopsy was taken. The diagnosis was Suppurative Cholangiohepatitis, (a severe liver condition) and Progressive Hepatic Disease, with a guarded prognosis. She took 20 hours to come round from the anaesthetic, I slept with her by my side.
Now knowing the problem, she was put on some different drugs that helped. She wasn't really expected to live long, but being the tough little dog she was, she lived a further 5 months until 10 days before her 7th birthday in February. I waited until she was no longer enjoying life, and the day I took her to be put to sleep I knew it was perfect timing. She went peacefully. She still holds a place in our hearts, and we have some brilliant memories of our "Last Again Lucy".