Grace
(aka Kitty)

Grace (about 11 months) came to our home just a few short weeks ago from a pretty unknown situation that ended with her being found in a shelter in Kansas and rescued by Dalmatian Rescue of Colorado and fostered by a good soul, Janice. Already it feels like Grace has been part of our family forever. We cannot imagine her not being here with us. In fact, as I’m writing this story, she is curled at my feet with a new dog toy and her treasured sister and best playmate, Kelsey (an 11 month old rescued Border collie mix), snuggled up against her. Now, not all our time together is quite so peaceful… but, it is always so loving. Both of these girls are high energy and usually eager to play and romp like sillies until they are exhausted, which explains the quiet right now.

At first, we were a little worried about how Kelsey would take to sharing a home with another dog. We adopted her when she was just 10 weeks old. While she’s been used to sharing her two people with a couple of older cats, she’s also used to being the center of attention. We have pretty much always been a two dog family… but with a number of pet losses in the last two years we’ve been a little tentative about re-growing our family. We had a beautiful and loving Dalmatian, Noelle, as part of our earlier family. When she passed away at age 13 our hearts were broken… but because she was such a gift, our love for the breed remained strong. We kept our eyes on the Dal Rescue website and even went and met a couple awaiting adoption. But, our adored, older black lab (Jesse) just could not accept another dog in the place of her best friend. Very sadly, Jesse also passed last summer. That brings us closer to now. In September, Kelsey joined our home and has brought us much joy. She is an exceedingly social puppy and we made a point of getting her play time and overnight visits with other doggie friends… hoping she might want another friend/sister to join her in our home. It worked! She took right to Grace and they have been the fastest of friends since Grace moved in.

When we saw Grace on the website our hearts just danced… without having met her we just had an intuitive sense that she would be the right fit. But, we got very worried it might not come to pass without the kindness and sensitivity of both Beth and Janice. Jane broke both arms on the day Grace was to be introduced to us. As a result, the meeting and transition had to be postponed for a number of days. Thank you, thank you, thank you - for waiting the extra time it took to get our lives in order so Grace could still join our home. When we went to meet Grace, who was described as playful and a little shy, we were a little bowled over with her high energy behavior and the “Hi, this is me and I’m going with you right now” attitude she exuded. She literally raced around us and the room seeming to know something special was up. We brought her home that afternoon and introduced Grace to Kelsey in the comfort of a fairly large backyard.

Oh My! Grace was so excited about the space that she literally seemed to be flying through the air in a figure eight pattern that circled the entire yard. I’m not sure her feet even touched the ground…and she was sooooooo fast. I thought maybe we picked up a greyhound by mistake. The two of us, and Kelsey, stood and watched stunned--our mouths wide open in awe. However, it didn’t take Kelsey long to join in the great fun. Clearly, Grace needed to celebrate her freedom from a shelter and limited space. We’ve all been celebrating ever since. Grace fit right in from the moment she got here. She is very smart and learned the basic house rules really quickly. Still, she and Kelsey will both be attending obedience school together soon. Grace has also shared her wonderful personality willingly. She is a cuddle bug and bed hog. She loves toys, playing and all of us (yep, she is even good with the cats). She is just beautiful and perfect. And, we love her enormously. Thanks for bringing her to us!

Les and Jane

Kelsey and Gracie, a pair of conked out bookends after an afternoon of play!

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