Gracie's Story

Pet's name: Gracie
Adopted by: Christine Zorn
From: The Marshmallow Foundation, Detroit Lakes, Minn.

Gracie's story originally appeared on Christine's blog, A Sugar & Spice Life.

For the past couple of months I've found myself searching Petfinder.com. ... For anyone who is unfamiliar with it, it's a great website to search for adoptable pets in your area. I don't know why (because I certainly didn't NEED another dog ... we have Ella), but I've been looking at the dogs, kind of waiting for a perfect match for our family to come along.

Casey had been staying with my parents for the last year, because he was having health issues and considering everything going on with Sam, it was just better for my mom to take care of him (he had always been with them quite a bit anyway, because they took him to the lake all the time) ... and we knew that Casey was near the end of his life. So, I would look at Petfinder now and then, thinking "this isn't a good idea" ... but I would look anyway. I'm a total sucker for dogs who need homes (thanks, mom and dad!). I had seen "Blondie" before ... thought she was cute, but I don't know why she didn't catch my attention more.

But then on Tuesday I really started looking at her, and I called the shelter. She sounded great ... friendly, about 24 lbs., good with kids and other pets, about 1.5 to 2 years old. It just so happened that my husband had Wednesday off, so we made the hour drive to look at her while Emily and Gabe were in school. (I didn't want them to know until this was a done deal.) When we got to the shelter and said we were there to look at Blondie the workers all said "Oh, she's a sweetie!" Good sign!

Gracie's Petfinder.com listing

We met her and fell in love. She was sweet, friendly, and tried to give Sam kisses. :) I already had the adoption application filled out so we turned it in and said we'd like to adopt her. They said everything looked good, but that they'd have to contact our vet and our references, so we'd probably hear back later in the afternoon and would be able to pick her up the next day. Well, we were about 3/4 of the way back home when they called and said we were approved! So when the kids got done with school I told them what I had done (they approved wholeheartedly!), and we went back to pick up our new little girl.

We decided to name her Gracie. She's such a sweet girl, and things are going better than I had hoped. Ella is a little bent out of shape. ... Gracie wants desperately to be friends with her and wants to play, but Ella isn't quite ready for that. I'm sure she'll warm up, though, because Ella is also a really friendly, playful, good-natured dog. They have similar personalities. We've had a few accidents in the house, but we had that happen when we first got Ella, too. The behavior "problems" we're having are really minor (like putting her feet up on the kitchen counter). ... Gracie is a really smart girl and I'm sure she'll catch on quickly ... she's still learning how everything works around here.

Gracie with Ella

I can't understand how someone could lose her and not want to get her back. She was in the pound and then in the shelter since October 6th. She's a happy, well-adjusted dog ... not to mention adorable! She's great with the kids, and has such a wonderful personality. We're lucky to have her!

I could go on about how great she is, but I've already gone on too long! I have my thoughts on what kind of mix she is, but do any of you have any ideas? We might have to get doggie DNA testing done just for fun!

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If you adopted a pet from a shelter or rescue group and you'd like to share his or her story, please email me. I'd love to hear from you!