meet gracie!

so we've been thinking and thinking, researching and researching about getting a dog to add to our family of two. we've seen our parents get new dogs, grandparents, friends, and strangers. we wanted one too! steve was the one who got me thinking about it - i used to very against the idea of having a pet that lived inside full time. they shed, i'm allergic to some of them, i hate drool, and face licks, but finally i came around to the idea. they are sweet, they are nice to pet, and fun to watch when they play. i fell in love with the idea of having a dog this summer.

so when we came back to omaha (first deciding that getting a pet while we were on the road wasn't a great idea), we asked our landlord, he said yes, and we started looking. practically immediately after getting the go ahead from our landlord, i got on the internet and looked at the humane society's website. i saw at least one pup i was interested in - a black cocker spaniel. steve got home from school and we left for "just a look" to see what they had and if we were serious. after all, this wasn't a new idea, we've been talking about getting a dog for three or so months.

anyway, we get to the shelter and the poor cocker had an allergy problem, which typically means putting out a lot of money for medical bills, and we decided we couldn't do that now, while living with the help of loans as it is. so we asked to look at the others. we saw some beautiful and young labs (can't handle the shedding), a little little dog that we met for the fun of it, and a petite looking black and white dog who looked like she could be great for us. we met her, Gracie, and we loved her. she was calm but very sweet, would sit and had a clean bill of health. we took her home within an hour of meeting her, with a kennel, dog food, treats, a collar, and leash.

we are so lucky! she has been an angel. she's house trained, young and active outside - very sweet, calm and quiet inside. she hardly sheds, hasn't licked my face once, sleeps throughout the night  in her kennel (we seriously slept in til 10am today!), and she's smart. i taught her down in less than 15 minutes.

gracie was her name when we got her, but we like it, she responds to it, and it fits how sweet she is. she's a border collie/australian shepherd mix - a border aussie. she's about a year old, but mostly out of a puppy stage. she hasn't chewed on anything, messed with my plants, or barked inside the apartment, but she's excited to see us in the morning and loves to cuddle with us.

she is the perfect pup, and we know we're lucky! i feel like a proud parent, sorry if i'm bragging -  but i'm seriously excited. i never expected getting a dog to be this much fun!

we were also worried that she wouldn't get enough exercise without having a yard to run in, but it turns out our neighbor, who is an aunt of our landlord, has a fenced in area that is practically a neighborhood dog park! what a blessing! you'll have to come meet Gracie!