My dog Ginger is often featured in many of my personal project blog posts, but this week - week 35 - the subject is "brown", so that begged for one of our other dogs, Gracie, to take a turn in the spotlight, which is fitting because this week was not only her 8th birthday, but also her 6th "Adopt-a-versary"!
I'd like to introduce our brown-eyed girl, Gracie; aka "Gracie Lou", aka "Gwoo", aka "Gracie Girl" and the story of how she came to our home. There are some pretty pictures at the end, but before that you're going to see that I'm a dog mom who snaps a lot of cell phone pictures of her pups just like everyone else.
One Picture Saved a Life
I was sitting at the airport one evening, waiting for a flight to yet another business meeting (don't miss that at all!), when I saw this face on my Facebook feed. I had been following Sylvia Elzafon's work at the Dallas Animal Services shelter for some time and have written in an earlier post about how her work inspired me to volunteer at my local shelters. Sylvia would post urgent animals on her own Facebook page, "urgent" in that in many cases they only had 24 hours to live. There were 5 dogs on that post. My husband is not on Facebook, so I had to download each image and text to him with the message: "These dogs have 24 hours to live".
He replied, "What am I supposed to do?". I texted back "Whatever you feel is right". Mind you, we already had two dogs at the time and weren't really in the market for a third. I boarded my flight and the following day my husband sent me the second picture you see below, which I recognized as our back patio - she was at our house! I called him immediately, he was waiting at the shelter when they opened the next morning and met all 5 dogs but fell in love with "Sassy" (yeah, that had to change). She is the sweetest of all our dogs, has never met a stranger and has earned her Canine Good Citizen certification.
Freedom Day!
We sometimes say that we're a half-way house for unwed mothers because every single female dog we've adopted over the years recently had a littler of puppies before we adopted them. Gracie was no exception and painfully thin with a big head on the day she came to our home; I didn't meet her for two more days when I returned from my business trip.
It's Comfortable to Her
My husband said that this was Gracie's position at the shelter, on her back with legs in the air. We call her the boneless dog and believe that in a past life, she must have been a contortionist. I've started snapping cell phone pictures and posting to my Facebook page with the hashtag "it's comfortable to her"!
Sisters
Gracie was smitten with Ginger from day one, it took Ginger a little bit longer reciprocate the feeling but Gracie won her over by licking her head and ears; Ginger loves it! She'll go to the extent of laying down next to Gracie and sticking her head in front of her as if to say..."ahem, a little head wash would be nice right about now". The two are often snuggling and spooning, but Ginger is always the pillow :). We've learned to look at Ginger's head before petting her otherwise, yuk!
Synchronized Puppy Sleeping
We started noticing the dogs laying in the exact same position over and over again so we began snapping cell phone images of these as well and posting them to my Facebook page with the hashtag "synchronized puppy sleeping". Dingo sometimes gets in on the act, but it's a regular thing with Gracie and Ginger.
A Typical Day in the Office
As I'm at my desk editing and my husband is doing whatever it is that he does on the computer, the dogs are either in their beds or strewn about the floor making it impossible to a) move your chair or b) actually leave the room. I think they do it on purpose.
Gracie Through the Years
Our Brown-Eyed Girl Today
I can't wait to see what the other photographers in the Pet Photography 52 Week Project do for the theme "brown", I enjoyed lifting the curtain a bit and sharing our sweet girl Gracie with you, so onward to Elaine Tweedy, I Got the Shot Photography, serving Northeastern PA and surrounding areas and then continue clicking on the link at the bottom of each post for an around-the-world tour of fabulous pet photography.
Tracy Allard of Penny Whistle Photography is a Certified Professional Photographer with the organization Professional Photographers of America; a designation held by fewer than 2,500 photographers nationwide and a hallmark of consistency, technical skill, artistry and professionalism. Penny Whistle specializes in both natural light and studio photography providing pet, couple and engagement, family and high school senior portraits as well as corporate headshots and commercial photography in her studio located in old town Carrollton as well as out on location in Coppell and surrounding communities in Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas.