"pfoley" <pfoley6 DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:13ndnsvo4423df1@corp.supernews.com...
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> "tiny dancer" <tinydancer DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:W0Adj.55480$L%6.13945@bignews3.bellsouth.net...
> >
snipped> =============
> I would agree with the vet that she might be GSD and Rottweiler. I was
> thinking that also. There is something about her nose that reminds me of
a
> GSD.
When I first saw her, she was crammed into a crate at the adopt-a-thon. It
was just one crate of many, in a long row of crates. So all I basically saw
was her face peering up at me through the top of the crate. Something in
her eyes, expression, caught my attention. Upon first glance, I thought she
was some sort of German Shepherd mix. It wasn't until much later, when she
was out of the crate, that we could see her coloring/markings/stub tail.
I don't see any Boxer in her.
LOL, I didn't either. When I questioned about the *boxer* mix, I was told
that 'since she tended to use her front paws A LOT, they at the rescue
decided she 'must have' some boxer in her.' I thought to myself
'oookaaaay'. ;-) My Murphy used her front paws a lot too, guess she must
have had some boxer in her. < snicker > I didn't really care what they
put on her adoption form as to her *mix*. No one else has EVER seen any
boxer in her either. ;) Nobody know's where she came from so it's
anybody's guess as to what she is. She was rescued down at the coast during
a hurricane and later transported inland. The girl I got her from is good
friends with the girl who originally found Gracie, literally in the middle
of a raging hurricane. The girl who took her in from the wind already had a
bunch of dogs of her own, so she couldn't keep her, but wanted to save her,
so Gracie was passed around until she found me. The girl I got her from,
friend of the *coast girl* already had six or seven dogs, some her own and
some she was already fostering. So occasionally she had to pass Gracie off
to someone else to foster because she had her limit with the other dogs she
already had. All this to say, Gracie had a rather bumpy and irratic four or
five months until we saw her at the adopt a thon. I think that was probably
the reason for her severe separation anxiety when we first got her. She
never knew *where* she belonged and *when* she might be moved somewhere else
again.
> My dog Devon always runs gracefully through the forest like a deer, as you
> described, leaping in the air. It is quite beautiful to see her running
> through the tall pines with the snow as a backdrop.
I'd love to see Devon. Yes, when Gracie runs, it is beautiful to watch. My
husband keeps saying 'she looks like an athlete it top form.' All of her
movements are very precise. Just last night, when dh let her out for the
last time before bed, he said Gracie must have seen a rabbit or something
because when he opened the french door to let her out, as he descibed it,
'she looked like she'd been shot out of a cannon.' She went from the door
to the back fence before dh could say 'one thousand one'. That's the way he
told it to me. It's like her whole entire body works together naturally.
Merlin with his long and gangly legs, often times looks as if he's galloping
around the yard, but not Gracie. She is always graceful in what ever she
does, whether it's running, leaping, jumping, etc.
> Does your Gracie trot; Rotties trot all the time.
She will 'trot' when we go on walks. But most of the time she prefers
running. That's why I say "I wish I could walk faster or ride roller blades
like Cesar, because Gracie is happiest at a really fast pace. Granny here,
would probably kill herself on rollerblades! ;-)
> I don't know if I would categorize Rottweilers as graceful though; they
are
> kind of big and clumsy when in the house and around people. Sometimes
they
> don't move or get our of your way. They can appear scary to little
> children and sometimes knock them over by accident.
Gracie is really good with the babies. Merlin knocks them over far more
often than Gracie. When we first got her and I was keeping Jake, it took
her a week or so to learn to not knock him over. That's why I kept her
onleash, so I could control her movements while inside and keep her from
barrelling into poor Jake. He was around a year and a half at the time.
But once she got the lay of the land, she learned quickly. The kids were
all over here yesterday while Robin was at the adopt a thon. I was
observing them closely with my dogs. Gracie and Merlin both are very gentle
with the boys, even though they boys tend to get a bit rambunctious with
them at times. The twins especially, are just about the height of Merlin,
and like to try and hang on to him so they can give him hugs and pets. They
are especially fascinated with Gracie's *stub* as we call her short little
lopped off tail. She can wag that stub so fast, and the boys will be trying
to grab on to it.
> Devon also uses her body to block, like Gracie does, when playing with
dogs
> and can knock some of them over as well. A lot of them will hit the ground
> on their own even before she gets to them.
Gracie does that with Merlin all the time. Merlin likes to play rough and
he likes to play, play play all the time. When Gracie gets tired of him
chasing her, she will use her body to block him and knock him down. Or
sometimes when he comes barrelling towards her, she will simply duck her
head and body just a touch, so Merlin ends up stumbling right over top of
her and falls down in the process. She watches everything and you can see
her mind working as she plans out her actions when it comes to dog play.
She'll watch Merlin coming towards her full barrel, and sometimes turn her
body just so to knock him off his feet, or sometimes she will let him get
nearly up to her, and then she turns on a dime and heads off in the opposite
direction. Where upon, Merlin has already run 20 or so feet past her before
he realizes she's completely changed direction.
One thing she does very consistently is enforce my commands. All the time,
if she hears me telling Merlin something, or see's that Merlin isn't
listening to me, she will try to intercede and enforce. I have to keep
telling her 'no'. Because she wants to either *protect me* from Merlin or
make Merlin do what I am commanding him to do. Times when I am trying to
train Merlin in something it's like Gracie loses her patience and tries to
*enforce* it herself.
> They are very strong, and if they wish to can easily find ways to get up
and
> over or through anything. Devon doesn't try to do any of that, but my
> previous dog, Susie, did and succeeded every time. She always wanted to be
> with me.
Yup, Gracie is referred to as my velcro dog. Whether I'm in my work-out
room, or in my sewing room, Gracie has to be right there with me. If I lay
on the bed for a rest/nap, she is right there with me. If I get up to do
some laundry, Gracie is right there with me. If I open the door of the
clothes dryer, she will reach her head in and try to help me pull the clean
clothes out. When I go next door to my daughters house, Gracie sits right
up in the master bedroom window, where she can observe and wait for me to
come back home again.
I had to finally just take her with me everywhere I went.
It's really nice to have a dog that devoted, isn't it? I love having a
companion with me, be it a kid or a dog. When my kids were young, I always
preferred taking them with me, than leaving them with someone. The street
we used to live, when the kids were young, had lots of stay at home moms,
who always offered to 'keep my kids'. You know, trade off. They couldn't
believe I actually preferred taking them with. I'd say, "I will watch your
kids anytime you want to go anywhere, but truly, I do have more *fun*
shopping or what ever, when the kids are with me, rather than going alone.'
It's the same now, I'd much rather take Jake or the twins with me shopping
than go alone. We talk, chat, look at things, etc. I have fun. The only
time it became a pain was when we were showing our house to sell. Oh I
didn't mind having the dogs with me, it was just hard to sometimes pack 'em
up and exit the house with only five or ten minutes prior notice. I'd have
to leash the dogs, get them in my car, and then run around the house
cleaning the doggie smooches off the windows, straighten rugs, sweep up
loose dog hair, etc., before I could dash out of there. After twenty or
thirty *showings*, that got to be real *old*.
> I know I would love your Gracie.
Thank you, I'm sure I too would love your Devon. Do you have any photo's of
her??? After losing Murphy, I don't think I could have picked a better dog
to help me through that. Gracie is the perfect dog to help someone through
the grieving process. I saw another dog at the same adopt a thon. It was a
gorgeous German Shepherd pup. Fairly large, as it was close to a year old.
But just a beautiful dog. I kept going back and forth between him and
Gracie. Taking them out of their crates, sitting on the floor with them,
interacting, etc. I knew dh loved the looks of that Shepherd. He was a
beautiful dog, and I liked him too. But there was just something about
Gracie. Stub tail and all. Murphy had a long, beautiful tail that we
loved, so Gracie's lopped off stub was a disappointment. But still, there
was something about her that kept drawing me back to her as the one I
wanted. She may not have been as gorgeous as that Shepherd, but she had
*something* special about her that attracted me.
Thanks for asking about her. As you can probably tell, I love to talk about
her. I missed my Murphy so much, thought my heart was broken forever. She
helped to mend a broken heart. :)
td
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