FORT ERIE, Ont. – Tracy Bonn Cercone wanted a puppy. More than that, she wanted a basset hound.
Even more than that, she wanted one with special needs. So she Googled and found a man in Ontario who was giving away such a pup, though only to the right home. Tracy wasn’t the only one interested, and later she wondered why the man had chosen her.
“I asked him, and he said, ‘Because you were the only one who didn’t ask to see a picture.’ ” Tracy and her twin, Lisa, drove north of Toronto, near Lake Simcoe, in January to pick up the pup who would come to be called Buttercup. She was born with a shortened right front leg that bends toward her body so that she has to get around on three legs, which she does quite nicely.
Sure, sometimes she stumbles and scrapes her head, but that only serves to draw people in. “Her struggle is so relatable,” Tracy says. “Her innocent, enthusiastic persistence speaks only to possibility, not shortcomings.
And that, like Butter herself, is beautiful and perfect.” Tracy Bonn Cercone and Buttercup (Photo by Lisa Bonn) Tracy named her Buttercup because that is what their father called Lisa when they were growing up. His pet name for Tracy was Daisy – and that’s what Lisa named her new red fox Lab in 2022.
Yes, they named their dogs for each other. “Tracy’s not only my twin,” Lisa says. “She’s my best friend.
” Their dogs, too, are best friends: Buttercup, Daisy and Dill, Lisa’s 14-year-old German shepherd-Lab mix, who is named for a character in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” “Dill, in the book, would get himself into situations,” Lisa says. “My Dill does, too.
And now he’s leader of the pack. The younger dogs turn to him, and he’s taught them a lot. They’re a funny little trio.
” Sometimes Daisy, too, walks on three legs, her right front paw raised, if only for a bit. Passersby wonder if she does it out of sympathy. Lisa thinks it’s more likely she sees how much attention Buttercup gets for doing that.
Lisa Bonn and Tracy Bonn Cercone (Photo by Eli Ishwardas) Tracy and Lisa and their four siblings grew up near the Buffalo Zoo, and these days the twins live around the corner from each other in the same Parkside neighborhood. The Bonn family has also long had a cottage at Waverly Beach, in Fort Erie. The other day, Tracy was walking Buttercup along the water, with views of the Buffalo skyline, when she happened upon another dog walker who told her about the basset-hound races that are held each summer at Fort Erie Race Track.
Naturally, Tracy signed up Buttercup. The races – this year they’re for corgis, too – will be on Aug. 18, at around 4 p.
m., after the thoroughbred races that begin at 1. (If you are wondering what a basset-hound race looks like, click here for a peek at last summer’s running.
) Sometimes Tracy affectionately shortens “Buttercup" to “Butter." In fact, that is the way she’s registered for the race. Lisa often lengthens “Daisy" to "Daisy Jane," as in the 1975 rock song by the band America.
Mark Twain and Joyce Carol Oates are literary heroes of Western New York. They have something else in common, too – their cats. “We are all supposed to learn something from the people and the creatures who come into our lives.
” Tracy says. “And I think what I’ve learned from Buttercup is that’s OK to be a little fearless, to take risks sometimes, and to have an independent spirit.” Tracy and Lisa are writing a children’s book called “Buttercup Begins,” with a sequel to be called “Buttercup Believes.
” Lisa, who teaches art at Buffalo Academy of the Sacred Heart, will do the illustrations. (Tracy teaches there, too: religion and American Sign Language.) Here’s a sampling from the first book, written in Buttercup’s own voice: I like who I am.
My legs make me ME! They’ll take me to places we all want to see. Mark Griffis and his wife, Patty, live in a rambling waterfront home in Fort Erie, Ont., that's been in the Griffis family for more than 100 years.
And what a family it is. Such places include Fort Erie Race Track, which has been running races for horses since 1897 – and for basset hounds for only a few years. “Butter has to go 30 meters on dirt, and I don’t know, for sure, what she’ll do,” Tracy says.
“But I think she has so much heart that when she sees all the other dogs running, she’ll go right along with them.” Four legs are likely to beat three, though Ecclesiastes tells us the race is not always to the swift. To which Damon Runyon famously added: “But that’s the way to bet.
” There will be no betting on the basset hounds. “This is a non-wagering event,” the track specifies on its website. Even so, Buttercup remains the longest of long shots.
“My expectation,” Tracy says, “is that she will lose – but win everybody’s heart.” And that, my friends, is the surest bet at the track. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.
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