Gracie: the Best Dog Ever!

This is my dog, Gracie (who could not love those ears). She literally is the best dog anyone could ever ask for, unless you want a dog that will kill things (which I used to think I did) because she is the friendliest dog ever. I adopted her from a rescue organization in Dallas called A Different Breed. No one is sure what kind of dog she is. Some say German Shepherd mix, others say blue heeler, catahoula, pit bull...Everyone has there own opinion. I just say that she's a mix of adorable and perfect...I think that covers her well.

She does a myriad of tricks. She can sit, lay down, roll over (her favorite--she spins around in circles on her bottom and then flips herself over on her back, its great), high-five (on three different levels), shakes with both paws and knows which paws you are asking for, speaks on command, and catches her treats in the air (if she doesn't catch it then she won't go pick it up, she'll wait for me to throw it again. I swear she understands English. I tell her something and she does it. Truly a very smart and pretty dog.



She was kind of an impulse buy. I was driving and saw a sign that said pet adoptions. I was talking to a friend on the phone and told him that I was gonna go look at the puppies. He told me not to get one and I said that he was crazy, I didn't need a dog right now. Well, 30 minutes later I was lifting her into my car (not so much a puppy--5 months old, 35 pounds and huge paws, which only meant that she would get bigger).



After a kinda rocky beginning (because I was moving at the time that I got her), she turned out to be the best smartest, happiest, most obedient dog. She had kinda a few little problems though. She gets anxiety attacks and makes herself throw up. She's gotten a lot better about it and she has medication. The vet thinks that she might have been mistreated as a puppy and that a lot of rescue dogs have those kinds of problems. She hangs her head and cowers in the corner everytime I pick up a water bottle. I've never hit her with a water bottle but to this day she reacts every time.



Anyway, on to the happy stuff. She's sooo smart. She was housebroken in less than a week and had also learned her first trick. I kept her in a kennel during the day, and all I would have to say is "go home" and she would go! I've never had a good dog before. Growing up we just had disobedient or mean dogs, and you spend more time punishing them and being mad at them then playing with them. She is also so friendly and gentle with kids, but some times she doesn't realize her own strength, especially in her tail.



Anyway, she is wonderful and like my child (I guess that makes me a single mom, yikes!), so I will talk about her a lot. About 75% of the pictures on my camera are of her (though I am not as bad as Kara). Even though she's kind of a spaz sometimes, she's my spaz and I love her!