My Sister Princess, The Best First Dog I Could Ever Have.

Chapter 13: A New Dog, A New Adventure!

Hello friends, I am excited to reveal that our family has a new family member! May I present to you Laurendal a Touch of Grace (Gracie Grace).

Gracie Grace came to us in an incredible way. After we lost Boo Bear back in July of 2019, my family and I were devastated. I was lost without him. I cried for days. The only thing that helped even for just a little bit was looking at dogs that needed homes. I was on Petfinder.com, Triangle Sheltie Rescue, and other types of rescues.

My parents kept telling me that I was looking way too fast! I knew that I needed to greave Boo Bear's death, but I had to do other things to get my mind off of him so that I wouldn't loose my mind! Days went by and they turned into weeks. The end of July came and went!

Then my mom started telling me ok I think now might be a good time to start looking for a new dog for our family. Dad on the other hand was against having another dog due to money issues. Mom and I started saving our money so that when the right dog came along we would be able to afford another dog.

We looked for dogs that were medium size because we fell in love with Boo Bear's size of thirty pounds. We decided that we wanted to look for a dog that was in between Champ and Boo Bear's size. We looked at the Golden Retriever because they were good with any age of person. But the thing was that we could not get a purebred Golden Retriever because they weighed to be around 50 lbs or more for a purebred. We also looked at Border collie mixes and Australia Shepherd mixes as well. We also kept looking at the Sheltie breed as well!

We found a Golden Retriever mix that we thought would be nice but when we found out that she might be mixed with Chow Chow I hesitated. Plus I found out that there was a charge to apply for the dogs at that rescue group. I also found an Aussie Border Collie mix that I thought might have been a good dog for us but Bonnie discouraged us from getting a Border collie mix.

Another month went by and it is now August. My mom and I were looking on Triangle Sheltie Rescue and found a almost one year old Sheltie that we were interested in. Her name was Sally. We knew that we didn't like that name, but liked the dog and could rename her once she came to our family. So we tried applying for her.  We got to the next level where someone from the rescue would come out and check the house out.

The guy came out to check the house. When he heard that we had Shelties in the past he got excited! He asked us questions about where the dog would sleep, eat, and drink water. After showing him all those locations, I Took him outside to the backyard because one of the things he needed to check off his list was that we had a fenced in backyard. He looked at the yard and thought it was good except for one corner of the yard.

In that corner of the yard the fence was lower and we would need to fix it so that our new dog would not be able to escape the yard. We passed the test and were put on a waiting list of potential new owners. That meant that any dog that we or the rescue group thought would be a good match could become our new dog if we were first in line for that dog.

Then came the waiting game! We had told them that we were interested in Sally. Sally was waiting on results from the vet saying what might be wrong with her. Days passed and I emailed the lady that we were corresponding with. She told me that she had found out that Sally had never been to the vet before. She had a urinary track infection and were waiting to Spay her.

The waiting game continued. I emailed the lady again to see if there were any updates. The lady told me in the email that she had heard that someone had requested her ahead of us and it looked highly likely that they were going to adopt her.

She then told me in the email that she had a friend that was a breeder that had a retired Show dog she was thinking of placing in a retirement home. She asked me was I interested in looking into the dog! I told yes I would be interested in finding out more about the dog, and so she gave us the breeder's email address and we contacted her.

It was on a Sunday morning during church that I was contacted by the breeder with the name of our potential dog. Her name was Grace. I was sitting listening to the sermon and I felt the emotion come. I had tears in my eyes when I saw Grace for the first time on the breeder's website.

I knew then that she was the answer to my family's prayers, and that she was to be our next dog/family member. I heard the song Amazing Grace in my head as I saw her picture.

I called the Breeder that day after we got home from church and we scheduled a time for my family and I to meet Grace in person. The date was set for the next day September 2, 2019.

The day began like any other. My family and I eat breakfast. My boyfriend at the time came over. Around 1:00 my family, boyfriend and I got in the car and drove to Knightdale to meet the Breeder and Grace. When we got their I got out and was the first one to the door. The breeder was holding Grace back so that she wouldn't go crazy at the door. When my family and I were in the house the breeder let go of Grace and let her visit us.

Grace starter to play with me and My boyfriend at the time fairly quickly. She had no problems with my mom's walker and seamed to be good with all of us. Once we got acquainted with Grace the breeder released the other Shelties she had so that we could meet the rest of the group. We even got a puppy fix meeting some of the puppies that she had up for adoption.

After all the dogs had a potty break the breeder brought Grace in to be with us some more. She asked us questions and then the big decision was to be made. The big question was asked. Do you think she will be a good fit with your family? The answer was a yes and so the breeder and my family and I decide to set a date for the breeder to come to our house with Grace.

The deal was that she would stay long enough for Grace to become used to her new surroundings. Then the breeder would leave for the month and then come back after a trial period to sign the papers and officially make her a permanent member of the McClure family.

Days go by and the month is over. We sign the papers and she was officially recognized as a member of the McClure family.

May I gladly Present Laurendal a Touch of Grace (Gracie Grace). She is officially in her Retirement home and is Spoiled Rotten by her family as she should be.