Gracie The Flower Dog

She made herself at home inn our hearts and left us after a short life filled with all the joy her little heart could share. Isn't that what most dogs too? So happy to see you. They wait all day for you to be home from work. Or they follow you all over your little flower farm and guard their people from bumblebees or strangers. I couldn't have asked for a better or more loving dog. Let me tell you about Gracie The Flower Dog.

My husband, Brad, and I were married for 17.5 years before we ever had a family dog. We lived smack dab in the little community of Hiseville, Ky (which we have and always will love). But we also lived very close to a very busy road. Unfortunately I had lost many cats while we lived there we vowed to never have a dog because my heart just could not take it. (I said that everytime I lost a cat but here we are numerous cats later.)

So fast forward to 2015. We had bought property in the Park Community of northeastern Barren county and had begun to build a house. Our children were 13 and 10. It was time for a dog. But not just yet.

We moved in December of 2015 to our new home about 3 days before Christmas. And on my husband's heart was a desire for our children to know the life of dog owner ship. But he thought waiting until spring would be best. So we did.

May 2016 rolled around. My husband trolled the shelter posts to see what was available locally. We didn't have any specific breed in mind. Just a loving dog that our kid would love and would love us back. So one day (if I have my story right), my husband saw a listing of mixed breed litter of puppies and their mom (mix of Saint Bernard, Golden Retreiver, and Pyrenese). He decided it was time we get a dog. So off to the shelter we went one Saturday morning.

By the time we got to the shelter several of puppies had already been picked from but we didn't know that as we were just looking. Our son Landon feel in love with a Jack Russel mix named Alfa Romeo. We went to the visit room and they let us meet Alfa Romeo. While he was such a cutie and so fun, he was a wild man and had too much energy for us-hence his name Alfa Romeo-true to the performance car/ canine that he was.(I had no idea what an Alfa Romeo was until I met that dog). Ha! Ha!

So we sent him back and looked around some more. That's when we spotted her. Her given name was Olivia. She was the cutest little white plump fluffy looking Saint Bernardish pup we had ever seen. She was gentle, happy, and not graceful at all. There was only her and a sibling left as they had all been adopted shortly after the shelter opened that morning. So we found the shelter helpers and decided to give Olivia a try. We picked her up and went to the meeting room right before someone else expressed interest in her as well.

So the kids, Brad, and I sat and stood in the room to get to know this cutie fluff ball. It was love at first sight. She was so clumsy, and loving, and fun and just made us all smile and laugh. And that was that. She had won our hearts. But we weren't satisified with the name of Olivia-it did not suit her at all.

We carried her to the desk to adopt her, bought a crate to train her, and we walked out of the shelter that day the proud parents/ owners of a beautiful fluffball that would steal our hearts as she wove herself into the depths of our home. As we drove home loving this little furrball, we discussed she had to had a different name. Landon said "I think she is a Gracie". And that's where her Grace began.

Grace as a puppy. This was one of the pictures posted from the shelter.

Puppy ownership is never easy if you are familiar with it. We didn't intend for her to be inside fulltime but she became an indoor/outdoor dog. Pee and other accidents on the floor. Eating on furniture indoor and out. Trying not to be frustrated with the furrball much like a human toddler. But those stages didn't last long.

She lived her best life running our neighbor's field and taking dips and swims in their pond. We always joked when we couldn't find Gracie she was back "in her apartment". Her apartment was the neighbors back field and sure enough, we would go to the back of our property and call for her and there she was- probably watching doggie TV and eating pizza at her place in my imagination.

She met her best friend Penny one day in the fall that year I believe. Brad was outside cutting down a tree and we had put Gracie in her kennel so she wouldn't be around the tree when it fell. When all the sudden this cute little friendly black dog appears out of nowhere. We loved on her a little bit and Gracie couldn't stand it. We let Gracie out of the kennel and she sniffed and barked and chased Penny and they became quick friends. We had seen Penny at another neighbor's house so Brad went to let them know their dog was at our houes. The neighbor denied Penny was his dog, so Penny became Gracie's new sister. They were as thick as theives. Gracie always exerting her stubborn Alfa dog position over Penny but Penny didn't seem to mind.

These two terrirized all the local squirrels, rabbits, skunks, racoons, anything similar. Mostly it was Penny-we had discovered Penny was a wild dog-used to living off the land. It took her a while to eat dogfood but eventually she did. Penny mostly hunted for Gracie. They were two peas in a pod for sure.

When I went on sabatical from my nursing job back in 2022, Gracie became a faithful sidekick. I rode her around in my wheelbarrow and wagon as I planted flowers and weeded. She and I and my husband went on short truck rides which she loved. And she became my ranger partner when I worked around the farm. When I worked in the flower fields she barked at anyone who stopped longer than they were supposed too at the stop sign close to our house. She was everywhere I went. And I became grateful to have a companion as I worked by myself.

One day I wrapped her in a blanket to love on her a little when she wasn't feeling well.

And so life as a joyful dog just continued until it didn't. About a year ago we noticed Gracie had some hip issues that we took her to the vet for and we thought it was just a part of getting older. Then recently we took her because my daughter noticed she had lost weight and my husband and I just hadn't noticed because we see her everyday and we didn't notice her eating less. The vet took some blood and it revealed her kidneys were reaching end of life stage. We tried fluids to jump start them but it was just too much. We brought her home and loved on her and just a few days later had to let her go. It broke my heart. It broke my family's heart. She was the absolute best dog and we felt like she had been hand picked for our home for sure.

She was outside with me almost every time I harvested flowers. She was the best guard dog.

It's only been a couple weeks since she left us but her memory will remain with us a lifetime. God blessed our family with a special dog. And Gracie blessed our family with all her love the short 10.5 years she graced this earth.