11 January 2011

My dog Grace

Dirt roads and dogs go together. There is nothing more fun than to watch a dog be able to run in and out of the woods sniffing the world till it seems their senses would overload from the joy of it.
I am a dog person. Big, little or in between I love dogs. I love the smell of a puppy's breath. I love
how they chase their own tails or take up the whole bed (no matter how big or small they are) when they sleep.
Not to say cats do not have their place in my life. We have had many exemplary cats but this is about dogs in general and Gracie in particular.
Gracie will be 15 years old this coming March. By no means the oldest dog we have had. That honor goes to Daisy our rescue greyhound who lived to be 17 1/2 yrs old. But Gracie is my dog. She has never been the family dog or somebody else's dog, she has always been my dog. And a grace in my life she has been. When I had breast cancer and felt at my lowest point. The kind of sorrow you can't share with your spouse or children, I had Grace
We had 5 cats when Gracie first came into our lives. Lily and her 4 kids, Hogan, Clarissa, Sophie and Cleome. When I got Grace home she was smaller than they were and they seem to think she was some horribly deformed kitten so they immediately adopted her. She bonded the most closely with Hogan our big male cat. She slept with him and cleaned his ears. They were buds back in the day. When I took walks back then I was usually accompanied by Gracie and the cats. It was like a circus. Lily the mama would scurry up trees to see what was ahead or behind. Hogan would try to climb trees but about 2 feet up would realize he was not built for it. The other cats and Gracie would just go here, there and every where. I had to keep my ears open for cars, so I could sound the alert. The cats would head into the woods and Gracie into my arms. 
Grace due to the terrier in her has been a 'ratter' by nature. In her youth there was no mole, vole or rodent of any kind safe from her. But she also had patience to sit and wait. And now I am learning a little bit more about being patience from her. We are waiting in a sense for the end. The biggest problems with dogs is you out live them. Time and time again you fall in love with a puppy only to realize they live their lives a lot faster than we do. At some point we have to say goodbye to our faithful friends and no matter how many dogs you have had it hurts. It always hurts.  Gracie may live another year or two I don't know. But today I just felt sad that I would have to say goodbye to my best friend sooner than later. Maybe that is why we have animals in our lives. To remind us to love those around us. Not to be afraid to give of ourselves over and over again even if we know there will be hurt involved.
Well that is it. There are lots of funny stories about the many animals we have had over the years. Panama the dog eating the leather chair buttons, Agatha the cat who lived in the bathroom, Al the rat, lover of frozen blueberries. I wouldn't give up one single moment with any of them. Just like I wouldn't give up one moment with my friends, family and this dirt road.
One final thought on animals. Gracie along with many of the pets we had through the years is a rescue dog from the Humane Society outside of Brattleboro on Rte. 30. I firmly believe in the spaying and neutering of our animals. And I hope that anybody who reads this blog would take those facts into consideration when thinking about getting a pet. There are so many places out there with animals that need 'forever' homes.  So do your research and find yourself a BFF.

No comments:

Post a Comment