A weekend with Gracie

Gracie

Taking on the task of watching Gracie for the weekend had many
unknowns. I have raised 2 puppies myself and even worked with others
on picking out the right puppy for their family. Yet a blind puppy
raises some questions. As mentioned in the previous post I have had
the pleasure of meeting Gracie before but now she is on my turf.

Day 1 - The Drop Off

Kelly showed up friday afternoon as expected a worried mother. I felt
as if she was dropping Gracie off for her first day of school. After
receiving the Gracie to go bag and introducing the other royalty
(Princess our current WRNT foster) in the house to Gracie, the
adventure begun.

I made sure to take time to properly introduce each dog to Gracie.
Princess was curious. Jack the puggle wanted to play and made his own
version Marco-Polo. We will come back to that. Jase and Torro gave a
sniff and walked away.

Gracie had tons of land to survey and didn't waste any time exploring
the house. Once she got the lay of the land we headed outside.
Outside was prepared for Gracie's arrival. We put up the fence around
the pool. We watched as the other dogs lead her around the pool and
once confident the running began. Jase and Torro fled to dad and laid
down to watch the excitement as Jack, Princess and Gracie started to
play. After an eventful day and a hearty dinner Gracie passed out for
the evening.

Day 2 - Let the playing BEGIN

The day would normally start with a subtle nudge to head outside.
Today you could hear the jingle of collars and a puggle howl. Gracie
started the morning by trying to cuddle with a puggle. The pack ran
outside did their business and they waited patiently while each member
was fed. As the other weims settled down for their morning nap, Gracie
had other plans. As she weaves in and out of dog beds you could she
her starting to rile the troops up. To try and maintain the normal
routine, I headed to another room with some toys to entertain Gracie.
Well Jack just couldn't handle it and wandered in to observe. After
moments of watching, Jack had seen enough. He ran in the room and
stole the one toy that squeaked. As he ran out of the room Gracie
dropped to the ground as if in a play stance. Her butt was high in the
air as her little docked tail furiously wagged as if locating the
squeaking toy. Marco-polo had begun. She was OFF as if this was the
only toy left on the planet. Jack was at least 2 rooms and 3 turns
away. Gracie navigated these new rooms very quickly. Gracie was now
in the same room as Jack and the toy. He looked up and squeaked the
toy then ran out of the room. As you can guess, this game lasted for
almost an hour and ended with two sleeping dogs and one slobbery toy.

The day passed. There were some puppy naps on the couch while
watching TV. As dinner time approached, the dogs migrated to the back
door. I forgot how much a puppy can eat. I think Gracie could give
most dogs a run for their money in an eating contest. She seems to
enjoy her dinner and really appreciates the post meal nap. As the day
comes to a close another hide and seek game with Jack begins. Soon
the pack has settled into their beds and the night comes to a close.

Day 3 - Gracie heads home.

Today began the same as yesterday, a morning playtime gets the pack
fired up. Some mornings we have some of nature's wildlife in the back
yard. Normally I know the wildlife is there due to each of the pack
of four staring out a separate window at the invader in the yard. It
is fun to watch the pack shuffle windows as if getting this new view
will give them a leg up.

Well, with the new addition Gracie, this signal was missed. As I walk
to the back door, the pack follows. When I open the back door the
flood of weim's and puggle head in pursuit of a rabbit. Weims for the
most part seem to have a high prey drive which makes them great
hunting dogs. As the team heads out around the pool, they split into
three groups. Princess and Torro head around the pool to the right.
These two are very docile dogs but look at this as a game. Jase and
Jack take this job very seriously. These two will even bark at the
others if they fall out of line. As Jack and Jase creep closer to the
frozen rabbit, there was a forgotten variable. Gracie had wandered
behind the group confused about this new game. Gracie wandered behind
Princess and Torro and had no idea what was going on. As Gracie
wanders toward the rabbit, Jase begins to growl. Gracie, now concerned,
lays down about three feet from the rabbit. This event only took
about 30 seconds but seemed to last forever. As Torro lunges for the
rabbit and Jase and Jack move in for their prize, Gracie jumps up and
runs. The rabbit, this whole time, had not moved an inch. The rabbit
jumps up and slams into Gracie. You hear a squeal and the rabbit
doubles backs and heads out the small hole under the fence. All the
dogs sprint to the spot where the rabbit had once been and stop in
front of Gracie. Still confused on what just happened, Gracie jumps up
and starts trying to play with the other dogs. In disgust, Jase, Jack
and Torro walk away and head inside. Princess stayed behind as if
empathizing with Garcie and showing her own lack of enthusiasm for
this carnial game.

As the two girls take their time outside they finally wander back
inside. Jase growls as Gracie walks by, still upset about the flawed
attempt this morning.

As I write this blog, each dog is passed out on their bed and Gracie is
cuddling up on the couch. This was an eventful weekend to say the
least. Normally we have a low key house. Gracie had provided
companionship for Jack and Princess while the jury is still out for
Jase and Torro.

Gracie was fun to have. You find yourself watching and observing
Gracie as you are so amazed with her abilty to naviagate a new house
and interact wit the other dogs. You almost have to force yourself to
realize she is just another dog. You know she will get into trouble
or eat something she shouldn't just like any other dog. It was great
to help out and watch this little trooper for a weekend. Now I hope
Gracie's family is prepared to watch our four pups for the weekend :)

guest blogger this weekend!

Hi Gracie fans! Well, it was bound to happen sooner than later...we are headed out of town this weekend and were faced with the decision of what to do with Princess Grace. I did NOT want to board her at a kennel with the twins and her usual babysitter was out of town so I was starting to stress. It's not even that my little girl is blind and neuro-challenged. It was more that she is a spoiled brat and has grown accustomed to being treated like a princess. Well, maybe I was a little worried about her challenges, too... Anyway, I put out the call for help to my wonderful friends in WRNT and once again, the rescue came through for us. Gracie will be in good hands with Jason and Ashley all weekend. They are weim-savvy and Gracie followers, so I know she will be spoiled at their home, too. Jason recently realized a dream of his...he went from the corporate world to self-employment as owner of Smarter Pups, a business with the goal of improving relationships between dogs and their humans through smarter, individualized training. I talked with Jason at length about Miley this past summer. She had been 'acting out' and tearing up stuff around the house. He had great suggestions and although we didn't go through his training program, the ideas and tips he offered were helpful and Miley is no longer in danger of spending some 'alone time' in her crate. Please check out his website at http://www.smarterpups.com/. He is a great guy and really likes what he does, and that makes all the difference in the world!
So, back to this weekend. We had many volunteer to keep Gracie but Jason was the first, and closest, to answer my call for help so he 'won'. By the end of the weekend, he may not feel so lucky! Gracie is BUSY all the time now and when she gets wound up it takes awhile for her to calm down. But cuddle time is always great with her, so who knows...
I've asked Jason and Ashley to 'guest blog' this weekend; partly so you all get a different perspective on our little girl and partly because I will be a nervous mother and want to know what's going on! (see, I can admit that I'm too attached...but can you blame me?) Hopefully, we'll get pictures, too.
So...2 nights without that warm little body snuggled up next to me (or on my head, which is how I woke up this afternoon when napping)...this could be difficult!

WRNT in need!!!

Gracie's favorite charity organization, Weim Rescue of North Texas, is in need of help. Whether you blame it on the economy or not, the rescue has been over-run with abandoned Weims. The rescue has brought in many weims recently that have required expensive vet care. In addition, there are many weims in need of a warm, loving home to recuperate in so if you have ever thought about fostering, please consider acting on that now. It is expensive to board our dogs until they are adopted, plus they do SO much better in homes where they can learn manners and we can get to know their personality well enough to place them in the perfect forever home.

How can you help? Donations are needed...whether it be monetary or your time. We need homes willing to foster a dog until their forever family can be matched to them. Any donation of money, big or small, is so helpful in paying for vet care, food, medicine, heartworm preventitive...and the list goes on. Tell your friends about us, too!

Another way you can help is to buy your copy of the 2010 WRNT calendar along with extra copies to give to friends and family as gifts this holiday season. They are available on the website http://www.weimrescuetexas.org/ . Although Gracie is not in the calendar, her sister Miley is.

Gracie would not be here if WRNT had not stepped in to provide her life-saving vet care. I am so thankful to everyone who has made donations to Gracie's Fund. You can make a donation to WRNT in Gracie's name and help other sick Weims get the same chance at a wonderful life that she was given. Again, thank you for all your help!!!

halloween hounds...

In the spirit of one of my favorite holidays, I purchased some Halloween collars for Gracie and 'the twins' (Miley and Maggie). Pam, who made Gracie her 'bling' collar and the collars with bows is incredibly talented and makes collars for all of the holidays. We were at her home picking up Gracie from Pam after she 'grac'iously babysat her for a day after her surgery while we were out and we got to see samples of the work she does. I was sold on what a great artist she is but Addie and Sydney were more impressed with the fact that they glowed in the dark! And don't think they didn't take the collars into a closet at Pam's to see for themselves that they indeed did glow in the dark. Kid tested and they passed. We love them and get compliments everywhere we go! If you are looking for some super special collars for your super special canine, please talk to Pam at Zamora's. She has much to choose from and she has agreed to donate a portion of your purchase back to WRNT when you tell her you saw her on Gracie's blog! And right now the rescue could use every bit of help it can get. If you are interested, email me through the blog and I will get you her contact information.

gracie antics...

I'm pretty sure Gracie is going to start thinking her name is 'NO'. She is a MESS and getting into everything, not to mention irritating Miley and Maggie every chance she gets. Plus, she is as hard-headed and stubborn as Weims come so training has been an uphill battle. She is SO lucky that she is cute because I'm getting tired of the bruises on my arms and legs from her 'mouthiness'. She gets excited and nips quite a bit. The girls seemed to be immune and only David and I have been targets. Gracie has made this into a game in the backyard. If David or I are out there she will find you by scent and then chase you and try to nip. Yes, we are telling her 'no bite' with some success but like I said, she is a hard-headed Weim puppy and they usually don't start taking you seriously until the 500th time you tell them something.



She managed to find the toilet plunger behind the toilet in my bathroom (which is in the back of our bathroom in it's own small room) and get all the way out of our bathroom, bedroom and through the living room into the kitchen with the plunger in her mouth! (see pic to the right) She then carried it all over the house and did not want to give it up when I told her to 'drop'. I find it neccessary to remind myself that she is blind.




Just the other day, we took her out in the front yard while the girls were riding their bikes and she just took off running down the street! You would not believe she was blind had you seen her. She did not hesitate at all. David had to run after her and catch her!


Miley has given up pretending Gracie is not there and has started playing with her more. They were both on my bed one day and Gracie was laying in the middle with Miley running around her. Gracie would just listen for Miley and roll towards her and then bite at Miley. Miley then jumps up in the air and off the bed, runs into the living room and then back into the bedroom and jumps on the bed. It makes me tired to watch them. I was in my bathroom cleaning up (one of their toilet paper messes) and hear a loud crash. I come out to find Miley just looking at me from the bed and no Gracie. She has managed to roll/lunge her way completely off of the bed onto the nightstand and then to the floor. She ended up half under the bed but was fine and looking for Miley again once I got her out from under the bed. The picture to the right is from the day that Gracie was incessantly biting at Miley. Poor Miley just laid there and took it while Gracie bit at her neck, chest, face and Gracie's favorite...pulling on Miley's ears. This picture was taken right after I got onto Gracie and told her 'no bite' (for the hundredth time that day). This is her 'who, me? I wasn't doing anything!' look. Incidently, Gracie started biting Miley again as soon as I walked away. Eventually, Miley got fed up with the abuse and I caught her with Gracie's entire head in her mouth. Not that Gracie didn't deserve it, but Miley did get in a little bit of trouble. Miley never bites hard, though. I take that back, Miley did draw blood once when she was laying with me on the couch and getting attention from me and Gracie happened to walk up to us. Miley leapt over me and snapped at her. Gracie ended up with a small bite on her chin. But it didn't slow her down, she was back for more the next day!

mud puddle maniac...

Okay, I love the rain just as much as the next person but I have had enough! Our backyard makes 'squishy' noises when you walk on it. This is not good considering Gracie loves to run on same path over and over again. Her little race track is getting more muddy each day but this doesn't slow her down. She seems to like the mud. Then, throw in the other two and my kitchen floor is one big smear of mud. I stopped mopping many days ago and am just praying for sunny, dry weather!
Gracie also has a special fascination with the large mud puddle underneath the trampoline. This was just a hole dug by one of our former fosters. It's about a foot and 1/2 across and 7 inches deep. Currently, it is filled to the brim with muddy water. Gracie managed to find this and we could not keep her out of it. She started by just running through it and splashing herself. She would go back and forth through it and was jumping around. At some point, she realized that there was grass at the bottom of the puddle. She was putting her head completely under the water and pulling up mouthfulls of the long grass. The first time I saw her head under water and saw the bubbles I panicked but then her head popped up and she looked so proud of herself! She would then jump out and run a complete circle around the yard, only to come right back to the puddle and jump in again. Then I realized she was drinking from this puddle, too! Yuck!!
Needless to say, the princess got a long bath following this escapade.
Everytime she went out after this, she made her way directly over to the puddle. David had to finally fill the hole so that she wouldn't play in it! She is determined, though, and kept going back to it when we let her out to be sure it hadn't reappeared. Seems our little princess has some tomboy in her! :o)

garage sale to benefit WRNT tomorrow! 10-3

Hey Gracie fans!
If you have time tomorrow, please come by the WRNT garage sale. All proceeds go to the rescue and help our gray friends. We have had a lot of dogs come through the rescue lately that have needed medical care. This fundraiser will really help replenish what has been used to care for our dogs.
Here is the address:
3955 Davila Drive
Dallas 75220
There is TONS of stuff. I know, Gracie and I were there dropping off some things tonight and ended up coming home with some things! Everything from furniture to baby items. There's a little bit of everything.
Come out and support our cause! Thanks!