Miss Grace Kelly

After we retired Mr. A and I decided we really did miss having a dog around the house and began a search for our new "forever friend." Over the years we've had several cockers and golden retrievers. Our last two dogs were goldens and we can't say enough wonderful things about the breed. However, they are a big dog (something I prefer) and Mr. A was hoping for something along the line of a "lap dog." Ideally, we wanted a nice, mellow middle aged dog that wanted to go for leisurely walks and enjoyed laying by the fire. As you can imagine, there aren't many dogs available with those traits...and when they are, they're snapped up immediately. We also thought it would be nice to adopt from a shelter. So, I began searching local humane societies in surrounding counties. If I would be willing to take a pit bull/mix dog there were many to choose from. That's not what we had in mind, so I moved on to searching on Petfinder. And, that's where we found Miss Gracie. Her story is less than ideal. The "rescue" organization turned out to be more of a no-kill shelter. The woman who ran the rescue had a house and barn in the country with lots and lots of horses and several kennels full of barking dogs. Miss Gracie and her littermate sisters, we were told, were an unwanted litter belonging to a neighbor. The owner volunteered to surrender the puppies in exchange for spay/neuter of her adult dogs. So, we went over the river and through the woods to her rescue farm and without much hesitation at all, returned home with Miss Gracie.....fleas, worms and all! Yup...for $158.50 you get all the fleas and worms you could ask for! So, Mr. A. and Mikey gave Miss Gracie two...that's two....flea baths and the next day we took her to the vet for worm medication and her first set of shots. She seems to have settled in quite nicely and has Mr. A. wrapped around her paw. He's the Alpha dog and in charge of teaching her things like not eating the lamp cord, rugs and our hands. We asked what breeds she might be...reply was...mother a poodle/schnauser and father a great pyrenese/collie. The visual of that is strange at best! The vet thinks she may grow to 50 lbs. (there goes Mr. A's lap dog) but only time will tell. So...stay tuned!