Welcome to my new blog!

I officially retired "A Dog's Blog" last year when Rosie passed away in October, and we were without a dog for almost four months before Gracie came into our lives at the end of January 2010.  I actually started this blog way back then, but I never got around to posting any photos on it because raising a puppy is a lot of work!  And then of course summer came and I wasn't on the computer much. I posted some pics here and there on facebook, but since my mom isn't on facebook I promised to get this blog going and post some new pics now and then.

We also added Smokey to our family about a week after Gracie came. We wanted her to grow up well socialized with cats and he turned out to be just perfect for her. My sister Jody was fostering him for Pet Haven Sanctuary and she knew we would all love him. He is a totally awesome cat who weighs about 17 pounds, but he has a squeaky little meow that is just too funny. We think that's because he is part Maine Coon. He doesn't have the big bushy tail, but most of the other breed characteristics fit him to a tee. Also characteristic of a Maine Coon, he seems to really like dogs and he loves to play with Gracie. Our neighbor Cynthia got a video of them going at it just last night, so as soon as we figure out how to upload that to the computer I'll post it here!

When I was little ...

She wasn't too sure about this big red ball, and she still doesn't play with it at all, which is really strange because all our other dogs LOVED these boomer balls and destroyed them with regularity!

I don't remember what she was looking at here, but it put her into the classic pointer pose for this photo.

Here you can see the angel wing pattern on her back, which was one of the reasons we decided to name her Gracie. However she's only really angelic when she's sleeping!

She figured out this basket of toys was hers right away, but she still hasn't learned how to put them back when she's done playing with them.

One of her first favorite squeaky toys was this bottle of Char'dog'nay, of course!

In one respect she is exactly like every one of the other three dogs who came before her .... they are ALL couch potatoes!

Even the cat is a couch potato too!

The Teething Stage

Thank goodness we made it through this stage without too much damage ... in the house anyway.

She especially loved this purple toy, which she eventually destroyed but it lasted through all the puppy teeth.

She actually still has this blue ball somewhere outside.

She has all the toys a dog could ever want and she really does play with all of them, but still she seems compelled to steal things out of the garage that don't belong to her.

Like this sponge ......... and this watering can!

How can you stay mad at a face like this?!?!?

Puppy School Graduation

Gracie was the only big dog in a class with seven little dogs, but they all loved playing with her and they fawned all over her like she was queen of the class. She has a really good temperament with little dogs, probably at least partly because of her socialization with Smokey.

I know, this whole photo thing was kind of corny.  And I shouldn't be wearing sleeveless shirts with my flabby arms these days, but it was roasting in that little classroom the last couple weeks of class!

If it wasn't hot, it was raining ... and muddy!