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!
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