Tracey, who works for a local authority, lives in Essex with husband John and three children, Jack, Sam and Louise. They adopted gentle giant Daisy from The Mayhew back in 2010. After six joyful years together, beloved Daisy sadly passed away, but the memories she left behind are plentiful.

“In 2010, we had been without dogs for about five years. I had two bullmastiffs (Tess and Bosun) before I got married and the children had grown up with them and our three cats. We felt that it was time to think about another dog, as we had one cat at that point, Ben, who was 13.

After my manager at the time, Anita, retired, she volunteered at The Mayhew. She told me about The Mayhew and we happened to look at the website and there was Daisy.

I drove down to The Mayhew that day, met Daisy and fell in love. Anita said she felt Daisy had a good aura and she was right. After all of the checks, we brought her home.

Gorgeous Daisy thought of herself as a lapdog.

Not long after we got her, she chased Ben out of the room (she wanted to play) and no sooner had she disappeared, she was back in with him chasing her. She was always in awe of Ben, who was definitely the boss. He would sit at the back door so she couldn’t get in and we would hear her whimper and have to go and rescue her. They used to sleep together though (he loved her when she wasn’t bouncing around) and she adored him. When he died she missed him terribly.

My daughter Louise is disabled and uses a wheelchair and Daisy was incredibly careful with Louise. When the boys came home, she would get excited and jump around them, but with Louise it was as if she knew that she had poor balance and would always wait for her to come in and sit down before she smothered her with kisses.

Daisy kept me company when my husband and children were out through the day as I work from home. She hated going out if it was wet and cold and it was virtually impossible to get her to move if she didn’t want to. Her idea of a good walk was the drive to the park…she loved sitting in the back seat of the car looking out of the window.

Daisy was a real gentle giant.

She was a beautiful girl, but her tongue never really fitted in her mouth and it always lulled out of the side. She used her tongue almost as dextrously as an elephant uses a trunk to grab food that wasn’t hers. She loved oranges and could smell them a mile away.

Her idea of bliss when we were on holiday in St. Ives was sitting on the hill that overlooked the beach with me and Louise, watching John and the boys playing football or messing about in the sea.

But she loved her home comforts and despite me saying I wouldn’t let her on the chairs or the bed, within (I want to say a week, but it was probably a day) she was lounging on the sofa and sleeping in my bed!

Daisy was the first rescue dog we had and I was worried about how she would settle, but I know I wouldn’t have adapted as well as Daisy did. I always felt she loved us that little bit more because she was a rescue dog. She was loyal, funny and full of love, which she gave us unconditionally and we miss her more than I can even begin to say.

We will always be grateful to The Mayhew for letting us have her in our lives.” – Tracey

If you’ve recently lost a pet, why not share your story and fond memories with us as a way to honour your time together. Please email us at [email protected].

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