Grace’s Story……..
Hi my name is Linda and my husband and I formally adopted Grace formerly known as Autumn on 11/14/22 from Rescue Coop.
We are not new to rescuing. Our last three beagles, Buddy from 9 wks of age to 15 yrs of age, Molly at approx age of 2 her owner gave her to us as she was blind and abused and he no longer wanted her and Sweetie now age 10 who we rescued from her elderly father's family after he died suddenly and left his children with 3 beagles to take care of.
None of these adoptions did we enter into without full knowledge of the hound breeds. My husband grew up with 2 beagles and I received my first beagle at age 3, which was 57 yrs ago. Yes, I am 60 and age is just a number.
With Buddy we didn't have any major problems with him as he was a young puppy when we got him and he learned from the start what was allowed and what was not. Teaching 1 new thing at a time until he mastered that task and then learned the next.
Molly was abused and broken. She was shy and it took me 6 months for her to trust me and Doug over a year as her abuse was committed by a male. She would lie behind Buddy at the time and we had to teach her how to eat out of a bowl, drink out of a bowl (we think they got water to drink out of a hose) she was terrified of sudden noises or noises like sirens, thunder, fireworks etc. She came out of her fear and had to become more trusting after Buddy and she had to depend on us and trust us with her care. When she passed in 02/05/22 she was a happy, loving, well adjusted dog in our home and with children. She never trusted males except for my husband, son and 2 son-in-laws.
Sweetie came into our house decided which bed was hers and made herself at home at the age of 4. She was a very sweet, loving girl at the time and still is. She and Molly became the best friends, though it took several months. We allowed them to have their loving sister time and their spats (animals do act much like human siblings with the best of times and disagreements. When Molly the depression that set in with Sweetie was as profound as the grief Doug and I were feeling. Her tail was drooping and not wagging anymore and we knew in time we would have to find a sibling for Sweetie
Grace came as a sudden picture in our lives and we knew the time was right. On Oct 12th I saw a photo of Grace on Rescue Coop that said she was set for euthanasia the next day and is anyone interested in fostering or adopting this 3 yr old 50 lb girl. Grace had frontal trauma which moved her upper teeth back, took some of her lip and broke her nose (all of which we didn't know right at the moment) but we knew in that moment she belonged with us and that Mollyhad taken us to that spot with Grace's photo of the teethy smile and our hearts knew! I dm'd Kathy @RescueCoop and told her we wanted Grace for ours. She started the ball rolling and got her released from the shelter the next day, the day which she was to . From there she went to the Vet's office and we found out the next day Grace was heartworm positive among some sort of skin infection, needing to be spayed. Some wonderful angels stepped up and donated for Grace's 3 wk vet bill while she received treatment and someone else donated for the cost of her heartworm treatment. She spent her last week at Kathy's Rescue Coop learning what she could about her so we would know something about our new baby girl.
It turned out Grace is 1. She was an under nourished 50 lbs. She probably was never on a leash, no inside house manners so probably spent no time in a home. We drove to VA Beach 6-1/2 hrs one way to pick her up with Sweetie in tow. Kathy kept us updated during her 4 weeks of healing time with photos and what the vet's were saying about her. We talked to Sweetie about getting a new sister and that she will be her best friend. We prepared our home moving things up higher and put away because having a much bigger dog we knew she would reach up higher and also be a puppy with lots of puppy like energy.
When we met Grace she was quite rowdy but that was being in a car for between 5-6 hrs to meet us and we stopped multiple times for potty stops on the way home. We felt it was better for Sweetie to meet Grace on neutral territory where Sweetie would not feel like someone is invading her space and Grace would feel welcome. I personally do not crate my dogs but that is individual preference I feel. My two dogs have 8 beds with one new giant orthopedic gel support bed for Grace and she uses any of the other beds she wants. We have three spots where our dogs can go, where there is a carpeted mat and a bed on a wooden floor, to get away and there are three of those spots.
Grace did quite well the first few days with us just watching her and letting her decompress from the fact she was within 6 wks time; somewhere county animal control picked her up, at the shelter for two weeks, at the Vet's office for 3 wks, Kathy @RescueCoop for a week and them home with us. We use pee pads for just in case and she is from the start done well. I have a neuromuscular autoimmune disease and the first week here after seeing my neighbors cat outside when I had her out pulled me into our patio post so Doug takes her out in the morning at between 5:30-6 am and then if she needs to go uses pee pads very seldom going and waiting for Doug to take them out around 3:30. We are working on her jumping up on us and counters and tables. We say down and definitely try very hard to be consistent. I don't want her to have had no training and then have someone giving her orders all day that it confuses her. We are also working on and pretty much mastered when I bring her food to her she tries to jump up and knock it out of my hand. I say back, back and motion for her, the first time showing her by grabbing hold of her harness and getting her to take 3 steps back and then I say okay and released her and she naturally steps back at feeding time now and waits till I put her food down to attack her food. The reason I say is most dogs coming from the situations they originally found themselves were starving and attack food like they haven't eaten in years. Grace is finally eating her food normally and it will be 4 weeks tomorrow. There are also things that come out unexpectedly like Grace attacked the TV during a movie Doug &.I were watching where there was a drunken man beating his wife. It came out of no where and we knew then that she witnessed that situation at some point. We approached her after we moved through that section and told her she would not see that here and gave her lots of love.
Before adopting a rescue do your homework on the breed as to weight, life expectancy and any health or possible behavioral traits. We are taking Grace for Adolescent Training in Jan which is for dogs first time training ages 7 months - 2 yrs. We then are planning advanced training and hopefully, after talking to Grace's Vet, for disability support for myself. We love Grace so much and she is the perfect addition to our family. Sweetie who is 10 is now acting like a puppy with Grace. They are both playing with squeaky toys, balls, chasing each other and lie side by side. That all started within the first week. Sweetie is so happy and Grace is happy too both tails wagging almost constantly. The thing we also learned is to help your new furbaby feel good about themselves after they master a task they are so happy and proud. I try not to confuse her learning more than 1 thing at a time. We don't know what their lives were like before or how many parent families they went through. Maybe there were no rules or different rules and it is going to take months from when they come to live with you till they decompress, and learn or relearn rules and expectations you may have for them. They want to please you and they want you to be proud of them. We need to learn to take it slow and easy, love them, laugh at the silly antics and get professional training help when it gets too hard for us. Remember that this dog is not like any other dog because they have each had different experiences before coming into our homes. Nothing love, laughter and lots of patience won't cure. This is one of the best experiences you can have giving a dog a second chance at love.
