Celebrating Gracie Girl - A Long Adventurous Life

GRACIE

1996-2011

Our hearts are heavy and our eyes are filled with tears and there’s an emptiness that with be with us always.  But, today we want to celebrate Gracie’s long and adventurous life – one that she lived pretty much on her own terms. 

Gracie was the third German Shepherd to join our family back in 1997.  Dad had gotten our brother Jake in 1996 while living in the Southwest and Mom had just gotten our brother Jett in spring 1997 while living in Southeast.  Dad and Jake were visiting Mom and Jett (confused yet?).  They were playing in a park where they met a man with two sable Shepherds, Gracie and her brother Rascal.  The man was going to be spending some time in a place where he couldn’t take the dogs and wanted to know if Dad would be interested in adopting one of them.  Dad had fallen in love with Gracie on sight and agreed to take her.  (Now don’t worry, her brother Rascal found a different home.)

Gracie meets Jake for the first time

(l-r: Gracie, Jake, Rascal)

Gracie assumed the role of matriarch of our family right away and took her duties very seriously – cleaning ears, making sure work came before play (even play was a very serious and competitive endeavor), guarding entrances against intruders, training for Search and Rescue, breaking up behavior she considered too rambunctious.   And she would challenge anyone who tried to usurp her authority – even Mom, sometimes!   She has been known to head butt Mom on occasion when Mom leaned over to pick up something.  BOL  Gracie had a head like a sledgehammer, no kidding! 

Gracie, Jake, Dusty in CA

Gracie was an excellent nurse and was always there to offer licks when needed.  Although she never had biological babies, Gracie was a mom to her core.  She had lots of stuffie babies and loved them very much – sometimes to pieces J  Her favorite stuffie of all time was Barney and she had many Barneys over the years.   (Despite the head butts, Mom always searched out Barneys for Gracie.)  When our brother Jake had gotten sick and couldn’t really get up on his own anymore, Gracie once picked up her Barney and walked purposefully over to the bed where Jake was laying and put her Barney down right next to Jake.   Seriously, we had never seen her do anything like this before.  Mom and Dad cried, it was so sweet.

Gracie and Jake were very close and loved each other right from the start – kind of like a married couple – and always welcomed newcomers to the family.  Our brother Dusty joined Jake and Gracie a year later from a German Shepherd rescue in California.  At the same time, Taz and Kayla joined Mom and Jett.  In 2001, Aspen (the fifth and final Shepherd) joined the family and lived with Mom.  Jake and Gracie acted as everyone’s parents when we all got together (7 dogs, 2 people, in case you lost count) – Gracie, of course, taking the role of disciplinarian while Jake taught everyone how to swim and fetch and generally have a good time. 

Gracie, Dusty, Jake (with stick) swimming in our pond

Gracie was one tough girl and soldiered on no matter what, with help on many occasions from her wonderful vet.  Gracie loved Dr. Ruth so much and was so excited to see her that she would throw herself out of the car as soon as the door was opened without waiting for assistance.  It's been a long time since Gracie could jump, so this was not exactly a good thing.  You would have to know Gracie to fully understand how she could do this so quickly when she often needed help just to stand up.  If she wanted to get somewhere, she could get there fast!  She was a very determined girl.

Jett, Jake, Gracie in California

We sometimes laughed that she was “one of the guys” ‘cause when she was younger and able, she could rival any of the boys in their peeing and marking contests, even lifting her leg sometimes!

Watch out, Bear, you're fair game!

Gracie especially loved the snow!  Probably because she had the thickest coat and undercoat of any dog we’ve seen.  If she couldn’t be in the snow, she would find the shadiest spot and dig a hole until she reached cool dirt and that’s where she would hang out. 

Gracie in Montana

Gracie in Utah with Dusty and Jake

Dusty, Gracie & Jake in UT

Gracie in NJ

She was an excellent and strong swimmer and loved competing in fetching games, in and out of the water, with her siblings.

Gracie, Dusty & Jake (with stick)

Gracie loved a road trip and she certainly had her share of them.  There were many road trips across the country when were a long-distance family – from wherever Dad was living to the East Coast where Mom was living.  Gracie also loved flying.  When she and Dad were training for search and rescue, she made many trips across the country to visit Mom.  The flight attendants loved her and showered her with loads of attention.  Gracie gave up search and rescue training, though, because Jake “washed out” of it and she just didn’t want to do it without him.  But she still had many exciting adventures living and traveling all over the country.  Gracie loved doing most anything – she just wanted to be where the action was.

One of Dad's favorite pics!  He and Gracie flying!

We are especially thankful now that we got to go on our trip Out West last summer and that Gracie got to visit some new places and play in the snow again.

Taos 2010

Montana 2010

Road Trip 2010 with baby

New Mexico 2010 - waiting for bacon

Dad was her favorite person in all the world and loved doing anything with him.   Gracie got to spend the last couple of months having some one-on-one time with Dad at his job which takes him to North Carolina every week.  We think she enjoyed the special attention and having him all to herself.

Gracie in NC

We found this picture just yesterday while looking for pics of Gracie.  It’s a fabulous double rainbow, taken from the backyard where Dad lived in Utah with Gracie, Jake and Dusty and where all of visited as often as we could.  It makes us feel a little better to imagine Gracie hiking the hills and mountains and playing in the streams and rivers beyond this very Rainbow with her brothers Jake, Dusty and Jett,  in a place they all loved so much.

Gracie turned 15 this year and we would like to think she had a most excellent adventure and that she knows how much she is loved.

Always Ready for Adventure!  Let's GO!