How Gracie got her name

The first dog our family ever had was a full size lassie style collie named Chief Jerico Duke. He was sable and white. Joey got him for his 5th birthday. Chief was so gentle and smart, he did everything with the boys. He loved everyone , even cats.  Our family moved a couple of times and he always adjusted well.  As long as he had his igloo doghouse, a big backyard to run in, his food and water bowls and his toys he was a happy camper. He would come into the house when the boys brought him in , but he always whined to go back outside at night to sleep. I think he wanted to "guard" our property. He only barked if someone came into the yard, more of a welcoming warning, and he never bit anyone. His bark was pretty loud and deep so no one tested his boundaries unless we were there to assure him that the person was a friend. He lived to be a sly old guy. He learned how to open the gate latch with his nose, he never wandered away very far, only from the backyard to the front porch. He'd just sit there waiting for us to notice that he wasn't in the back and then he'd come inside for a bit ,then walk  through the house to the basement door to go into the backyard again. It was a little game with him. He knew lots of tricks that the boys had taught him over the years. Sit , stay, shake hands, high five, climb the ladder into the treehouse, pull the wagon, his favorite- chase the rolling bicycle and catch the football. He loved water, he would jump through the sprinkler and try to swallow the spray. He liked to go fishing with the boys, or go for walks on his leash. He was about 12 years old when we got Kes.She loved him and played with him whenever he was up to it. He was so funny, such a big fluffy teddy bear playing so carefully with this tiny little "piglet" puppy. That following spring he started to loose some weight . At first we thought it was from the heat. So we trimmed his hair to make him more comfortable. Mom fed him special food for senoirs that the vet had prescribed. She made him stay indoors a little more. His eyes were getting cloudy and his hearing was nearly gone. Mom found a few lumps on his neck, that's when she got really worried. The vet did a biopsy , sadly it was cancer. He had it in his glands and probably his prostate. The vet said he could try chemo or some other meds but that with Chief's age it would be very hard on him and maybe not really add much good time to his life. We made the hardest decision a dog owner has to make, an appointment in a few days to put your beloved companion down . We took him back home to say goodby to the boys, and Kes. We wanted to spoil him just a little while longer before he left us to go over the rainbow bridge. If anyone has any doubts that dogs have a soul and if they go to heaven, let me tell you I for one am certain that they do. Our vet said that we could choose to stay in the room with him or wait outside in the hallway until he had passed, both my husband and myself chose to stay by Chief's side. He was in pain and was very weak so when the vet placed him on the table he layed down calmly. We were petting him and telling him we loved him as the vet administered the shot. All of the sudden Chief wanted to stand up, we let him and he turned towards an empty corner of the room and barked one loud "welcoming" bark before he fell still, my husband holding him up. I'm convinced that Chief saw all of the loved ones that he had known that had passed before him, My mother Frances,my father Joe, my husband's mother Bea ... and who knows how many other animal spirits that were there to show him the way. It took us two years before we could think of finding another playmate for Kes.  We had moved again this time to our dream house in Lake Camelot. We had everything that we had wanted, a pontoon boat , a good school system for Joe, my husband's career was going great and I had a wonderful new job doing something creative that I loved.  Josh was happier to be in a smaller nicer community too. We also had taken classes to be foster parents and take boys for weekend respite visits so that their full time foster parents could get a break . It was time to try to find a new puppy. We found another little female jack russle and named her Rebel. She got her name because from day one she "rebelled" against every rule we tried to teach her. She was a firecracker ball of energy. She ran circles around Kes and played until she dropped. She was so much fun . When she was about four months old we decided to take her and Kes and the boys out on the lake for the day. We had a foster child with us Bradley who was 15. He had stayed with us often before since he was 9. We had all of our equipment stowed in the cubby and were just pulling out away from the dock. Mom was pulling everything out and getting things ready for the boys to ski. All of the lifejackets were being put on including the two doggies. As Brad was holding Rebel's leash , Mom went to hand him her lifevest she wiggled out of his arms and jumped down to run up and stand by Kes on the rear seat. Brad went over to her to get the vest fastened better and before he could get it she jumped again , but this time she went over the side of the boat. Dad immediately stopped the motor and we looked for her expecting her to be swimming along side us even without her vest. All dogs are born knowing how to swim right? Kes had jumped in and out of the boat all summer long with no problems.  We couldn't see Rebel. The boys all dove into the lake and started swimming and diving around the boat. Mom was in shock and started crying. She had to be somewhere. The boat had drifted a little with the current so Dad begain to paddle slowly with the long oar, backtracking hoping that maybe she had not been swept down as far as we had. We circled the entire lake for hours with no sign of her anywhere. Mom posted flyers begging anyone with any information on her to please call us. She had held out hope that maybe Rebel had been picked up by someone right after she jumped and that we had missed seeing them in our inital panic and confusion. Or perhaps she had swam to the shore , our lake isn't very big. Days, then weeks went by with no news. Maybe someone had found her and decided to keep her. We were devastated. It was as if she had just vanished.  Our dream of our future life here was tarnished and dim beyond repair. Mom couldn't bring herself to go out in the boat again or even down to the lake for the rest of the summer. She felt very sad and guilty about what had happened. She kept thinking that she should have put Rebel's lifevest on her by herself. That fall the geese begain to migrate and they started hanging around our backyard. For four days Kes would bark at them and they still wouldn't leave. We got a call from a man who lived near the spillway and our worst fears were confirmed, he had found Rebel's tiny body. He had wrapped her in his son's old baby blanket.  Mom and Dad went to pick her up and to bury her in the backyard. Dad asked the man to show him the spot where she had been, it was in the tall reeds , surrounded by the geese's old nests.  I'm convinced those geese knew that Rebel did not belong by their nesting grounds, that she needed to be with us. They flew away the next day..... In the spring they returned to their nesting grounds and have never came back into our backyard again.   After all of the grief and change that our family had been through in such a short time Mom begain to pray for some healing for us. A year later things begain to feel normal again, we were bouncing back but a new puppy was the farthest thing from our minds....Until one day a lady Mom worked with asked her if she would want a free puppy. Her mother lived in Buffalo Iowa and had a beagle who had a litter of pups that she needed to find a home for. Their father was supposed to be a jack russle. At first Mom wasn't sure but she wanted to see photos of the pups. Well pictures do say a thousand words , who could resist those sad eyes? Mom and Dad drove to pick up an itsy bitsy black and white spotted 8week old pup. Mom said a prayer for peace and happiness for this new life and for her to have grace surround her and keep her safe.  Thus her name Gracie....she has helped us all to allow ourselves to love again and to accept life's hurdles and to overcome them and to learn from our mistakes , and to embrace simple joys once more..like doggie breath and soft fur.