Friday, January 22, 2010

Bittersweet 2: Gracie and Connie

Denise Lodge took this photo of lovely Gracie, probably in Keller, Texas in August 2008.

I've not mentioned Gracie for many months. That's been on purpose. Giving her up was very difficult and I miss her. She has to be the happiest, sunniest smooth fox terrier I've ever met. But it was for this very reason that I knew she would be easier to rehome--and find it easier to settle into a new home--than Mimi, who is moody and flighty. If I could have found a way to keep both sisters, I would have. But this was not the best option for Gracie or for me. So last summer I began what turned out to be a many-week search to find Gracie a new home.

I had just a few criteria for Gracie's new home. She simply had to continue to compete in agility, preferably AKC and USDAA. During the difficult summer of 2009, I continued to train and trial her and it became very clear to all who saw her in the ring what an amazing agility competitor she already was. The sky is the limit for her agility success and I was adamant that she be able to continue.

The hidden corollary to this requirement was that Gracie's new owner needed to have the financial resources to train and trial her. That's difficult to state openly but all of you agility and flyball freaks know exactly what I'm talking about. These are expensive hobbies.

I thought that she should be placed in a home with other dogs and cats but preferably not other terrier bitches. I wasn't completely sure that her problems with Mimi were solely the result of two relatively strong-willed terrier bitches always at odds because it could have been as simple as competition between two closely related terrier bitches. That is, Gracie might have been perfectly fine with another terrier bitch who wasn't Mimi but I didn't want to take chances.

Even thought their dad Jack is a bit of a doofus, his daughters have wills of iron. As I said, Gracie is amazingly happy and upbeat but she is a true terrier through and through. I wanted to place Gracie with an owner who had some experience training and handling terriers. I don't want to get carried away talking about breed differences because I simply do not buy into excuses such as "my dog won't do X because he's a terrier"--it is a simple fact that the working terrier breeds (not the lap dog terrier breeds, mind you) do see the world in a certain way that is subtly different from the way a herding dog sees the world but this doesn't mean they are untrainable, just that they do have certain hardwired behaviors and responses that we owners and handlers need to understand going into it. Whew. A long-winded way to say, Gracie needs a firm, consistent home and training environment to be a successful companion and competitor.

I sent out emails and posted flyers at local trials. There were quite a few false starts and false leads. It was hard not to take it personally or as a judgment on the quality of this amazing little dog that she wasn't getting snatched up right away.

But at last, when I was at an agility trial last summer, I got a phone call from a woman named Connie who lives in San Antonio. She'd heard about Gracie through a trainer friend who'd gotten my flyer via email from someone else. Turns out that many of Connie's friends were at the same trial and they got to see Gracie in action. After spending several hours on the phone with Connie during the weekend and interviewing her friends there at the trial, I thought that perhaps Connie might be the right person, that she might have the right home, that it might be the right place for Gracie.

Connie has a rat terrier named Louie who is just a few months younger than Gracie. She lives very close to a training facility. She was already actively completing in agility and seemed to enjoy it enough to want to continue doing it. And she sounded like she was very interested in adding a second dog to the mix. Just a few short weeks after we first made contact, Connie met me in Austin and took Gracie back to San Antonio with her. Even now, I cry when I think of that afternoon.

Connie and Louie and me and Gracie, Austin, Texas, September 3, 2009.

And here is the reason this post is titled "Bittersweet 2". Connie sent me an email last week to let me know she at last got that third Open Jumpers Q and her first AKC title for Gracie! Connie says it best herself:
Our first class on Saturday, FAST, was a total bust with both dogs because one end of the ring opened up to the outside and the smell of horses and frying quesadillas at the concession was just way too interesting. We kind of muddled through it and I wasn't expecting anything special when we next had Open Jumpers in the other ring. Gracie surprised and gratified me with a lovely run, watching and following my every move. She popped the weaves and when we re-tried I thought she had popped again so went on. Even so, I was close to tears of joy because she ran with me so well even if we didn't Q. But when I went to check her time, there was our titling Q and a 2nd place.

In FAST Sunday morning she ran the whole course happily in the smelly interesting ring doing everything I asked except that she bailed the teeter and I miscalculated the time, missing a Q by 1 point with lots more time left on the course. I chose to run Open Jumpers again rather than moving her to Excellent because I wanted to relax with her out there rather than raise the criteria. This time our run was spotless with everything perfect.
Connie, I've got plenty of tears of joy to go around! You are running as a team with Gracie and I couldn't be more proud of both of you! Treasure that feeling of success and teamwork. I know this is just the beginning of what you and Gracie can accomplish together.

I'll end this post with some fun pictures.

Connie working with Gracie on the dreaded teeter, October 2009, San Antonio Texas.


Taken a few days after Gracie entered his home, Louie is trying to entice her into playing with him. She isn't quite sure she's cool with this--but it was just a matter of time. September 2009, San Antonio, Texas.


See? Just a matter of time. Gracie and Louie wreaking havoc on the bed. October 2009, San Antonio, Texas.


Um, more of the same! October 2009, San Antonio, Texas.


Aww! Such innocent looks! But looks are usually deceiving! October 2009, San Antonio, Texas.

3 comments:

seniormoments said...

Yahoo, Gracie! Sounds like there are no limits for the little girl! Be proud that you got her started on the path to potential greatness.


VAMom

Agile Jack said...

D; This absolutely brought tears to my eyes! I'm so glad Gracie ended up in such a perfect home! I'm so glad you posted this!

I can see her so clearly in my head, tiny little thing running around in that frilly little pink coat. I loved her then. She deserves a home as good as yours!

Anne

BC Insanity said...

Right Anne, you remember that girly coat, I do too. And I remember sweet Gracie taunting Blink year ago at Christmas.
You were lucky and so was she that you found Connie and Louie.
So great to hear that they are doing well and that they are indeed competing.
You should be the very proud momma and always remember to say "that's my girl out there, see her, admire her, that's my girl".

G