Hope #3042 and Gracie #3041 Yellow Labrador Retriever Females

June 17, 2022

Hello from Hope and Gracie. Things have settled down a lot here and the girls have really settled in. Hope and Gracie have left their former farm girl personas and learned to be home girls.

Hope is now completely recovered from her spay. She had the stitches removed last week and all is fine. Both have lost some weight and love, love, love going on a walk. The walks have really helped with their weight loss. Hope has lost 10 lbs. for sure, down to 90 lbs. Gracie has not been back to the vet to get weighed, but her harness is easy to get on and has been made smaller.

Her is what we have learned about the girls over the last two week:

1. Hope likes to explore a little on our walks while Gracie is all business. Gracie is ready to walk and nothing gets in her way. Hope likes to smell around and enjoy what is going on around her.
2. Hope is great at keeping the squirrels out of the yard. Birds too. When we go out in the evenings before bed, Hope is right at your side, looking lovingly at you. Gracie is always walking around, checking to make sure all is safe and clear.
3. Gracie has really become a home body. She loves to be inside where there is air conditioning and soft places to lay. Hope loves to always be with you, no matter where you go.
4. Both girls love to sleep up on the sofa.
5. Hope has been coming up with us at night and sleeping in our bedroom. She cuddles up on the floor to sleep. Gracie is not a fan of going upstairs because she has trouble coming down our hardwood step. Both girls “Bunny hop” down. It is interesting and we never had dogs do this.
6. Gracie’s new nickname is Jabba because when she sits, she reminds us of Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars.
7. Both girls have mastered sit and stay. They will stay up on the porch if we go out into the front yard or need to get something out of a car. They also take treats nicely. Gracie is a little more mouthy, but no problems.

The girls will be made available really soon. We just need to work out Gracie’s spay since she went into heat recently and we cannot get her spay done. We are trying to work this out soon and get Hope and Gracie to their forever home.

Thanks for listening!

Hope and Gracie, plus Frank and Lorita

May 29, 2022

Well, things have been quite hectic and out of control at the Foster’s, but we have finally straightened the ship. Hope and Gracie are really fitting in their new surroundings. Both are very happy and love being off the farm.

Here is what is new with the girls:

Hope

Hope has completely recovered from her spay. It was tough at first, but she is now back to her goofy self. Hope is back to keeping our back yard free of any squirrels, birds, well, any small animals. She has lost about 10 pounds and is looking good. Her main goal is keeping company with Gracie. I think she would be lost without her.

Hope really keeps us entertained with her antics. I laugh daily at something she does.

Hope is really good on the leash too. We go for walks daily and she likes to take the lead. She loves to explore what is going on around her. If we come across another dog on our walk, she looks, but is very good at not getting riled up. The only thing she does not like is a little dog that comes running at her barking, but who does, right?

Gracie

Gracie is a real love bug. Her main reason for living is to get loved on as much as possible. She still does the teeth clicking, but not as often. She will now paw you too. She loves to cuddle up with you on the sofa at night and get pet on. She will not let you forget you stopped either when she falls asleep, and Gracie can fall asleep fast. She just started putting her head in your lap too. Snoring is her best attribute. If they gave out medals for this, hers would be gold!

Gracie’s heat cycle has ended and we are hoping to get her spayed soon. The vet wanted her to lose some weight prior to her spay and that has been going well too. Her harness, which was at the biggest we could get it, has now had to be made smaller. She also loves her walks, but she is all business. She walks straight ahead and does not like to be slowed down by the other two.

When she goes out before bed, she patrols the perimeter of the yard to make sure all is well. Gracie circles around, does her business, and then goes to the door.

The girls love to be close!

There will be more from Hope and Gracie coming soon!

May 13, 2022

Well, Hope had some problems after her spay on Wednesday. She was recovering fine after her procedure, but when we went to pick her up, they noticed that she had some blood leaking out from her incision. The vets had to go back in and check to see what was causing it. The vet found a vessel that was not sewn. They redid all of the vessels to make sure. She recovered quickly and all of her vitals are now normal. We just picked her up from the vet and she is recovering at home.

Gracie was so glad to see her! Even our resident dog Evie came up and gave her kisses!

We will let you know how she feels over the next few days. Right now, she is snoring away next to me on the sofa.

May 9, 2022

Gracie and Hope continue to amaze us as their true personalities are really starting to show. They make us laugh every day as we watch them become more comfortable in their new surroundings.

They are definitely a bonded pair. Gracie is the leader and Hope follows her. When they are in the yard, Hope is usually at Gracie’s side as they wonder around. Both love to bark at the neighbor’s dogs. We are surrounded by dogs too. They will come when called and are really easy to settle down. Both Gracie and Hope are great listeners.

Gracie did go into heat about a week ago. This is not too great an issue however because the vet wanted her to loose some weight before getting spayed. Hope is going in this week for her spay. Both girls are on a weight loss program. We cut down some calories and both go on a walk at least daily. They are good on the leash too. Hope is a little more all over the place. Gracie starts walking and is on a mission to get home. We started at a block but are now up to six blocks.

Although they are bonded, they do have their own personalities. Gracie is very confident, loves to get pets, a little lazy, very independent, and one of the best snorers we ever fostered. Hope likes to cuddle on the sofa, a follower, nervous, very active, and funny.

They will be ready to move on to their forever family soon. We feel as of now, they will be most comfortable going to the same forever home.

Both are good on the leash. I walk three dogs together.

Gracie and Hope are always together

They loved exploring their new toys.

Like I said, they are always together.

More to come!

April 27, 2022

The girls did go to the vet today and both are in good health except for their weight. Hope and Gracie are continuing their transformations from breeder to family dog. Both girls are really starting to fit in.

We did have a little situation with Gracie. We thought that there was a possibility that she was with pups. She is a really big girl, 110 lbs., and we thought that she may be pregnant. A visit to the vet today dispelled that and she is just a little overweight. The vet put her on a weight loss plan and we hope that the pounds will start melting off.

The girls did go to the vet and both are in good health except for their weight issues. Hope is about 10 lbs. overweight. Gracie is about 20-25 lbs. overweight. We will be working on getting them down to a manageable weight.

Some things we found out the past couple of days:

1. Gracie has this strange thing she does for attention. When she wants your attention, she clicks her teeth together. It almost looks like she is snapping at you.
2. Hope loves to be loved on. She loves to be pet.
3. They are surely bonded. Gracie is the leader and Hope follows her around. They are usually right with each other.
4. Hope does have an old left knee injury. She has learned to live with it, but still favors it a lot.
5. Gracie likes water. Our vet has a fish pond outside the office that has a place to sit and reflect. Gracie just jumped up and went right in! Poor fish.

Gracie and Hope helped us gardens today. Gracie on top and Hope bottom.

Yes, they are bonded. This is how they like to be. Hope on left, Gracie right.

Think they like each other. Gracie facing forward.

May have been raised on farm, but could hear cheese wrapper rustle.

Come back for more on Gracie and Hope!

April 20, 2022

Hope 4-years-old and Gracie 5-years-old

Hope and Gracie have been rescued from the farm and are now officially retired.  Both are a beautiful fox red color. Hope has a splash of yellow on her chest.  The intro with our girl Evie went well. There was a little apprehension on both sides at first, but after about 30 minutes they were all running around the yard together. Well, Gracie was waddling around. Gracie is a very large dog.

The first thing we had to do was get them to a Pets Plus for baths. Wow, did they smell! The baths went great once I wrestled Hope into the tub. She did not want to get in, but I won and both dogs now smell much, much better!

They are very bonded dogs. Hope follows Gracie’s everywhere. Gracie is definitely the leader of this pack.

Both dogs are getting used to being off the farm and adjusting to home life as all of the farm girls do. The ride home went well and both slept most of the way. We got both dogs into the house easily and they explored around. Hope found the comfort of the sofa and Gracie a dog bed.  Gracie snores like a champ. Wow, she is loud. I will get a video of her sleeping and snoring to share. Gracie and Hope also both went up the stairs with no problems. Both kind of hopped down the stairs one at a time. Really made me laugh.

Well, we are all worn out from a very eventful day. We will keep everyone up to date on their progress throughout the foster care.