Tracey is one in a million! Tracey works at Ashley Terrace as a Personal Carer and has completed further studies as a civil celebrant. She has worked to enhance the emotional and spiritual well being of all our residents, families, staff and pets. She is a firm believer in the Eden Alternative and assists to Edenize the whole of Aged Care Service Group.

Tracey, as her surname suggests only performs Devine work, she has been involved and performed residents funerals and works closely with resident’s families to provide individual celebrations of each resident’s life. Our Tracey has also been creative enough to take her civil celebrant work one step further and has written a life celebration for pets that may live in an Eden Alternative home. Tracey has subsequently won awards for her written work.

Second Hand Dog

(An extract from an obituary to Toby)

Let us now turn to the life of Toby, the Fox Terrier, who was indeed a second hand dog.

Toby became a resident of Ashley Terrace, in the millennium year of 2000; he was by this stage, already a mature dog, so we never knew his puppy days.

Toby did have that sad and apprehensive look in his soft brown eyes and it did take a while to go away, but if you looked deeper you could also see loyalty, love and appreciation.

It takes a special kind of dog to live in a hostel environment with scores of elders, more staff and even more visitors, all with varying expectations of canine behaviour, but Toby seemed to fit in remarkably well.

He was a well behaved, no nonsense dog, trying his best to please the world.

Toby was well cared for at Ashley Terrace and everyone loved him, he accepted all the folk within its fine walls, regardless of their physical, or cognitive, abilities or decline.

Toby was true blue. He gave his companionship to all of us; his mere presence was enough to reduce agitation, confusion, aggression, fear, boredom and loneliness.

He even stayed on Annie’s bed in her 103rd. winter, for the final weeks of her grand life, just within arms reach, so that she was never alone. Toby could not have given Annie, so attuned with nature, a more valuable gift.

Toby also had a special friend at Ashley Terrace, who arrived just before him, another second hand dog, named Honey.

Now Honey was very different to Toby, she was a Pomeranian, but we all knew she was really Cleopatra in disguise.

Honey was a pretty princess, she demanded all the attention, but Toby didn’t seem to mind, he just continued being Toby and tried to make everyone happy.

Despite their differences, Toby and Honey became great friends, they would play chase, tug of war, and all sorts of other doggie games, they especially enjoyed “Terrorise the Postman”, which resulted in the installation of an outdoor mail-box!

Toby and Honey got people moving, with their daily walking groups. We all laughed when we heard Lyn page Toby and Honey to the office one morning, but soon stopped, when we saw them trotting up to see her in response! Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks!

2001 brought further changes to Toby’s life, as builders and tradesmen of all sorts began hammering, sawing and drilling around us. Ashley Terrace was growing and would soon accommodate a further 21 residents.

But more subtle changes were also taking place on the inside, as we broke down into community models, in line with the Eden Alternative, (an American concept). This meant residents were changing rooms, communal areas were being altered, furniture was being shifted this way then that, aviaries were being installed, even a black cat took up residence.

All these changes could on the face of it have really upset our Toby with his ambiguous background and emotional baggage, but these changes actually worked big time in Toby’s favour, he felt more comfortable with these smaller communities and chose to hang out in Waratah Way, it was here in February of 2002 that he met Dorothy.

This was a love at first sight thing, they both needed a special relationship, and so Toby’s address became more defined. Rather than Ashley Terrace, Reservoir, it became Dorothy’s bed, room 42, Waratah Way, Ashley Terrace……………

Living in communities worked for the residents, but it also worked for the animals, Toby became gloriously content and actually grew fat! (Not a very dignified look for a Foxy!), all of which would appear to support the statement on the wall at Gumnut:

“Only in communities can we learn the idiosyncratic ways of an individual and only then do we possess the knowledge to begin to grow an individual”.

Toby was also a good judge of character, the only time he ever showed a dislike to any other living being (apart from the postman who is fair game to any dog), was toward a stranger on a tour of the premises, who actually spat on the carpet! Even the humans were baring their teeth at that point – Good for you Toby!

Sadly Toby’s life ended a few days ago after a short illness, so it is fitting now to spend a few minutes in reflection on the meaning Toby’s life had for us, as we listen to the familiar voice of our music therapist, Tarryn, with her guitar, perform a song from the movie “All Dogs go to Heaven”.