Since the passing of their beloved dog Spirit in the summer of 2024, Rick and Josie Mannen continue to keep her memory alive.
Josie Mannen explained the story of the ‘Ghost Dog’ that roamed one of the cemeteries in Brantford.
“When we first heard about Spirit, I was Mayor Chris Friel’s executive assistant. The Mayor would frequent Greenwood Cemetery because of its history as it is the oldest cemetery in Brantford. One time, he spotted a dog out of the corner of his eye, but couldn’t get close to her. He mentioned the sighting to his wife Wendy who said the dog was a ‘Ghost Dog’ because one second, she was there, and then, in a split second she was gone. We soon discovered that the dog was terrified of humans, “she said. “When we were with our senior’s group, who would meet at the VIA station house, we would see this Husky-German Shepherd crossing the busy streets. She would chase the trains [and] it was becoming a safety concern, so Robin Kuchma, the executive director of the SPCA, and Brandon James of the SPCA got involved. Brandon tried to capture her, but couldn’t at first so she was tranquilized. We saw that her paws were cracked and bleeding, and she was very thin.”
Josie went on to discuss the eventual decision to adopt Spirit, during a difficult period for the family.
“During that time, Mayor Friel and my husband Rick, would go see her at the SPCA, and she would stand on her hind legs to give Rick a hug, which was really unusual…and the mayor told us that we were destined to adopt Spirit,” she noted. “We did end up adopting Spirt figuring we have a lot of love in us to share with her. This was around the time my mother passed away [and] Rick was scheduled for a serious brain surgery. We also had a new litter of 15 Labrador puppies, plus had the litter’s mother and the grandmother of the puppies. We thought, how are we going to do this? But we did it with a lot of help from family and friends and Spirit.”
Rick then explained that Spirit was a calming presence as he was recovering from surgery.
“It was a really tough time for both of us and our families, but Spirit was simply a calming presence. That’s the best way to describe her. When people would come over, she would walk up to them and just put upon them, almost as if to say it’s okay. With all that was going on, we should have been doing that to her, but she was doing it to us. So, when I was recovering…it was just a really difficult time and Spirit was so calming and loving,” he explained.
After adopting Spirit, it took a while for her to gain trust with the Mannen family as Rick explained.
“When we brought her home, she wouldn’t come into the house…so, we had an outdoor kennel, and we put her outside with our other two dogs during the day, and then in the evening, we managed to coax her into the garage. It took probably a good year before she finally was able to come into the house,” he said. “A story that we like to tell a lot is we had two labs and one of them, Dolly, would always sleep beside our bed at night on the floor, while Spirit would sleep in the living room. They would never switch. That was just the way it was before Dolly passed away three years ago. The day after Dolly passed away, Spirit took her place beside the bed. We didn’t coax her. It was almost uncanny that she just knew it was now her place to take Dolly’s place beside our bed.”
However, since Spirit’s passing, the Mannen’s have been overwhelmed with stories from when she was at the cemetery, especially one from local resident Kalena Ferguson, which Josie recalled.
“Kalena suffered two heart surgeries and a stroke and she was suffering from depression, anxiety, panic attacks, along with being wheelchair bound. She would go through Greenwood Cemetery to pay respects to her grandparents, but during a particular time there…she saw a glimpse of something, and then noticed a dog running alongside her wheelchair. Kalena has told us when she saw Spirit, she had so much love radiating from her eyes and smile. When she went back to call her husband, Rob to come and see the dog, she was already gone. That’s what Spirit would do…she would just stare at you, and then all of a sudden, she’d run away,” she described. “The next day, they went back to see if they could spot Spirit. They would give her some water and food, despite this, she wouldn’t let them get close to her…but Kalena said that Spirit taught her more than she could ever put into words, and even though she could never pet her, she could always feel her love, and that was so special.”
As for the reason Spirit was living around Greenwood Cemetery, it’s still a mystery as Rick explained.
“We found it interesting that she was there…many people have asked us if her master was [possibly buried] there…we don’t know about that, but there was a monument which was from the 1800s, where she laid [close to] most of the time when we saw her… there was a dividend in the ground where you could see that it was worn right down to the dirt where Spirit laid,” he noted, “So, why did she hang around the cemetery and chose that monument? We aren’t sure…but, we believe that there was something that drew her there and kept her there.”
Nevertheless, Rick said Spirit’s memory continues to be kept alive.
“She used to sit under a big willow tree in the backyard. And, so we have a memorial there for her and plaques, and we also have a tribute with her stories that have been written about her on a wall in our house. We also have a paw print that the West Brand Animal Clinic made for us,” he said. “Before the day that we were taking her to the veterinarian, we took her to the cemetery for the last time, because that’s where her story started, and we wanted it to be a special time where it ended. About a month afterwards, we took her ashes there and we spread them at the same spot that she typically would stay.”
