A Chance Meeting or Was it Fate?

As I walked the rows of dogs seating looking out of their cages, I attempted to steel myself to the fact that there was simply no way I could rescue all these dogs.  I tried my best to act like I had a good head on my shoulders at that very moment.  So I went to each of the cages, looked at the dog and read their bios. 
Each had such a sweet write up and boy did I want to take each one of them for one reason or another.  But no, no...I had to remind myself.  I was only looking.   Trying to convince myself that I was researching methodologically, I continue reading bios.   And then it happened...
I came across a cage with a small blonde dog who was sitting at the back.  Head hung low, not making a peep.  I stopped in front of her cage and started to read her bio.  She slowly lifted her head and with what I like to think was a small glimmer of hope in her heart gently made her way up to the front of the cage.  Keeping her head down as not to become too hopeful she glanced up at me.  I knelt down and put my hand up to the cage.  "Hi Gracie".  She brought her nose to my hand.  "Aren't you a sweet girl" I said. 
She stood there just looking at me, quiet as can be and I like to think held onto that hope that this might be her day as long as she could. But I had to continue my way around the kennels.  I hadn't seen half the dogs yet.  As I started to walk away, I looked back and saw her head lower and slowly head to the back of her cage again.  "Not my day I guess" I imagine she thought.
I continued looking at the other dogs but something about her just tugged on my heartstrings.  I saw my mother and asked her if she had seen Gracie.  "Um which one was she?" my mother asked.  The little blonde dog on the other side.  "Oh yeah" she said.  "What did you think of her" I asked intently.
"Meh" she said.  "I thought she was kind of cute" I said encouragingly.  "Meh" she responded again.  Admittedly, Gracie was not the prettiest dog in the world.  She definitely had a certain mutt like look to her and was awkward in her own little way but there was something about her.  I did a second tour around the kennels and as I crossed over to her cage.  Her head solemnly raised as it had before.  She paused for a second to see if I would remain at her cage and as I did, she slowly made her way to the front again.    Oh gosh, she was making this hard.  I was only supposed to be looking.

A Trip to the Humane Society

August rolls around.  A month had passed since I had first flirted with the idea of getting a dog and ran into Gracie's profile on the humane society website.  I had survived the darkness of living out in the middle of nowhere but my heart was still tugging at the thought of getting a dog.
It was the long weekend and I had gone back to Niagara to see my family and celebrate my brother's birthday.  And as per family custom, we had waited last minute to buy gifts (oh but Ian if you're reading this please know we hadn't forgotten, just neglected to put our plan of buying such wonderful gifts into action). 
So my mother and I loaded into the car and headed into the city.  We stopped by a few stores and picked up what we wanted and then went to head home.  As we started to leave, my mother asked out of the blue, "what do you think about 'just looking' at the dogs available in the humane society?".  What?  Was she out of her mind?  That was like asking a kid if they wanted to take a passing glance through the candy store.  She didn't have to ask me twice...and before I knew it we were approaching the reception of the humane society.

"We were wondering if we could just take a look at the dogs available" we said to the receptionist with hesitant voices.  Oh goodness, this was the start of our fall.  We were kidding ourselves.  Just looking...we must have been insane.  I strongly believe you have to have a heart of steel to enter the humane society and see all those sad eyes begging to be adopting and not think that you won't be pulled in.
And there we were, entering the dog area...also known as the bark zone.  Oh the noise in there...it was incredible...just heart breaking.  As soon as any human enters, it seems as the dogs know it's their chance to say exactly what they want.  "Let us out...We've been here too long....Please won't you take me home with you?".  

Gracie the what???

Okay there she was...such a cute little dog wanting a home.  Yes, those eyes and gentle smile had caught my attention.  And look at her, she looked just like a little yellow lab puppy.  Aww, she could be a sister to Callie our yellow lab.  But wait, she isn't a lab puppy.  No, she definitely was something else..a lab mixed with something maybe? 
CLICK...
Up popped her profile with her bio.   What??  Oh no!   It read:

Gracie
9-10 year old beagle

A BEAGLE?!??  Oh no.   Not even a chance.  I had nothing in particular against beagles. Well, I'll be honest, I'd never had one and perhaps I did have some preconceived ideas about beagles (in hind sight all proved to be true with the exception of one). 

Here's what I thought:
- a dog known to howl and howl on end ->  the landlords definitely would not be a fan of this
- a dog known to love to run ->  just great although I have a great big yard there is no fence and that's a big problem for running dogs who wanted to act like a prisoner breaking from jail
-  a dog known to love the hunt -> well she certainly would love the smell of the north and the adventure it could bring her but I certainly am not up for chasing bears and deer in the woods
But was she really a beagle?...she didn't look like a beagle so I looked up blonde beagles and yes there they were lemon beagles.  They existed...these cute blonde dogs that looked a bit like a lab puppy but were nonetheless beagles...AND THAT WAS THE END OF GRACIE ....there was no way that I would be adopting a loud mouth, scent hunting, wild running beagle and bringing her to live with me in the great north...nope not a chance!

Single female seeking Dog

Dog looking for Good Home....or more like Girl looking for Dog

The story begins with a move to Parry Sound, Ontario.  I found myself in beautiful cottage country but what I didn't know was the fact that beautiful cottage country can get a little lonely when you are living alone.  So there I was on a gorgeous lake in a little cottage enjoying life but feeling a little lonely and admittedly a little scare at night.   All that peacefulness and serenity can lead to extreme quietness and darkness at night.
What's a girl to do?  Get a dog...yes, that's exactly what I should do I thought.  The thought crossed my mind of bringing my family's yellow lab up to live with me.  Afterall, she was supposed to be my dog after I had graduated from my masters program.  But Callie loved to run and she had already lived at my family's home with there well fenced giant backyard for over 5 years.  It hardly seemed fair to bring her up with me.  Knowing full well that she loved the water and against her better judgement wouldn't be able to get out of the lake until she passed out from the pure joy of it.  So keeping her cooped up in the cottage during the day while I worked and then only being able to give her the ability to go for walks on leashes just didn't seem fair.
I also considered my landlords whom although they were agreeable to me bringing a dog into the living quarters seemed a little hesitant about dogs in general.  The last thing I needed was for the landlady to arrive and Callie bounding up to her with that endless bundle of energy that she seemed to have at any given moment only to knock her flat out on her back with her well intentioned kisses.

So what should I do???  Well, I thought quite a bit and hemmed and hawed.  Two thoughts...one buy a new dog...a cute little puppy that I would have the joy of training or two adopt a more mature dog.  Both had their pros and cons...
Puppy...Pro: starting from scratch
                     choosing exactly the breed I wanted
                     getting the chance to name the dog
                     who couldn't resist a sweet little puppy
             Con: how on earth would I train a sweet little puppy while I worked full time
Adopt a Dog...Pro:  feeling like I did a good deed
                                 perhaps get a more mature dog who had already been trained
                                giving some sweet dog a second chance at life
                       Con:  not getting to choose the breed or name
                                 who knew what issues the dog would come with (Oh If ONLY I HAD LISTENED TO THIS back then...but then again you would never be reading about the misadventures of Gracie)
After coming up with this list, I decided the next thing I needed to do was a little research.  So I looked into breeders and decided I wanted a brown field springer spaniel who I would name Olive.  Then I checked out my hometown humane society for any possible sweet dogs who would like a home.  I scoured the page looking for just the right one.  I would like to say that I based it solely on write up but just like a dating site, pictures were what jumped out first.  Yes, they knew how to snag you and then reel you in to read the actual bio of the dog.....and there she was ....GRACIE!