Meet Gracie, the Shetland Sheepdog (Sheltie). Gracie is a very sweet, soft, gentle natured dog who is looking for a home that can offer her everything that she needs. This will include a happy, fun, safe space with lots of patience and love to help her build confidence, continue to grow, explore new places and meet new people. For the first 2 years of her life, Gracie lived with an ailing owner. Although Gracie was very sweet and got cuddles from her owner, she wasn’t in a position to receive any training or be on a regular schedule. Gracie came to VPAS after her owner passed away so that she could learn some important life-skills and find her forever home.
Due to the health issues that Gracie’s original owner faced, Gracie ended up missing out on most of her fundamental puppy training: essential opportunities for socializing, meeting new people, going to new places, meeting and playing with other dogs, learning to walk on leash, and house training. Gracie was very loved but missing out on essential life experiences has left Gracie with challenges that she is still working to overcome. We have been working hard to help Gracie learn these skills, but her new family will need to continue on with her training and lifelong learning.
It took Gracie a number of months to settle into her foster home once she arrived in our care. Each week she was growing, changing, and coming out for her shell. She now has full confidence in the house and backyard, and is playful and very silly. When out on walks to familiar spaces she is comfortable, but it takes her a few visits to a new place before she starts to settle. It can also take her a few meetings with new people and new dogs before she’s comfortable around them.
Shelties are known to be smart dogs, whose primary (historical) job has been to herd livestock. Gracie is a medium-energy dog. She is agile and quick and needs to have a family that can provide her with a good walk twice a day. She also needs to have access to a securely fenced yard that she can spend time in. She loves long hikes on weekends, but prefers not to go out if it’s too hot or raining. During walks, Gracie needs to be kept on a leash. With her history and fear of new encounters she could very easily startle and run away if not leashed. She does not have a good recall and it can be very difficult to coax her to come back to you if something startles her. Things like cars, skateboards, bikes, and loud people can spook her. In her foster home, Gracie spends hours outside in the yard with her foster family and foster doggy friends.
Unfortunately, before coming to VPAS Gracie missed out on potty-training; she was never taught or given an opportunity to learn. Her foster mom has been working very hard to stick to a routine so that opportunities for potty breaks outside are not missed. For the most part, Gracie has done well with her house training but it’s only in the last few months that she has started to let her foster mom know when she has to go outside. Since Gracie will be in a new environment once adopted, her new family will need to make sure they can stick to a routine to help her adjust. She won’t do well with someone who leaves her alone for 8 hours a day during work. Gracie will need to be with someone who works from home, is retired, or is around the home at very regular intervals to continue with setting a routine that will make Gracie successful.
Gracie considers herself the guard dog of the home, so she barks a lot when outside in the yard. If her foster mom is in the backyard Gracie will typically settle down with a verbal warning, and if her foster mom is in the house, Gracie will run straight into the house when called. However, your neighbours will not appreciate Gracie if she is left outside to bark during the times when you are not home. Gracie is chatty so she also barks with excitement when she is happy, when she gets breakfast or dinner, or if she wants to play. Shelties are very vocal and Gracie is typical for the breed. Gracie has some herding instinct but struggles with how to do it, so it usually turns into spinning and barking. Gracie is crate trained and goes into her crate when she needs to be left alone for periods of time (no more than 5 hours). This helps mitigate the barking and provides consistency with her potty training.
Gracie seems to be more comfortable with females than with males. When out for walks and visiting friends and family, she wants to be with the women. She will want to meet kind, gentle men and show them love, but she can be a little aloof with men who approach too quickly or have loud voices. She will actively move away from people who are expressive with their arms. Since Gracie is very sensitive to loud voices, it will be important for her new family to have a calm energy. It is important that her family helps her stay active, but it would be best if her home doesn’t have loud debates, arguments, or energetic game-nights. She finds these things upsetting and they may cause her to become stressed or to shut down.
Despite Gracie’s discomfort with loud sounds and fast movements, when she came to us she thought that all play was through rough housing. So when she wants to play she uses her mouth. This was the play style that was taught to her by family members when she was a puppy, so she was quite rough when she first arrived. We have been working on adjusting her play style and Gracie is very soft and gentle now, although she still likes to hold your hand or arm in her mouth. It doesn’t cause any discomfort; she just loves to play and she becomes very silly and animated with excitement. Because of this, we are looking for an adult-only home for Gracie.
Gracie has been great in the car for rides and settles quickly. When Gracie goes with her foster mom to visit friends and family homes, she is very well behaved and loves to get lots of attention and snuggles.
Gracie currently lives in a rancher home, with only one step into the house or out into the back yard. We discovered that she has a severe fear of stairs. During the time that she’s been with us, we have worked to expose Gracie to different kinds of stairs (textures, heights, in/out, etc) and have done a lot of positive, reward based and clicker training to help Gracie build confidence around stairs. Although she is slightly more comfortable with stairs than when she arrived with us, she will not walk up any stairs on her own. It is unsafe to pick Gracie up and walk up the stairs carrying her because she panics, and wiggles so makes it very unsafe. We believe that Gracie likely had an unsupervised accident on a staircase that has caused such a long-lasting fear. Because of this, it is best that there are no more than a few steps up into Gracie’s new home.
At night, Gracie is loose in the bedroom and mostly sleeps next to her foster mom and brother. She will sometimes choose to sleep in her crate (the door is left open at nighttime.) She will also sleep in a dog bed on the bedroom floor.
Shelties like Gracie have a long, full, thick double coat that requires very regular grooming. She will need to be brushed several times a week at home (more when it’s wet /rainy) and during shedding season. Her new family should either be very experienced grooming double coated dogs, or should have a good relationship with a groomer who can help keep her coat healthy.
The ideal home for Gracie will have another friendly dog that can act as a guide for her. Her foster home has a resident dog and it is very clear that he really helps her confidence. She also wants a person who spends lots of time at home because she wants to be with her human as often as she can and isn’t excited to explore new places. Access to a fully fenced backyard is ideal because Gracie loves being outside. She needs a family that understands her history and will continue to work toward exposing Gracie to the world with love, understanding, and patience. The more you work with her, the more you will see her personality come out.
Gracie is a dog that likes to guard resources. This is a behaviour that needs to be carefully managed by an experienced person. For Gracie, a resource can be anything that she deems desirable, such as an empty toilet paper roll or a stick. It is important for adopters to understand that this is a behavior that can be strong and needs to be managed for life. Gracie’s foster mom has been working with her on this for many months and for an experienced dog owner, this is now at a manageable level. We will be happy to discuss this in more detail with serious candidates for adoption.
Gracie will not be a fit for a first-time or novice dog owner. Her new family must have experience training dogs and preferably herding breed knowledge. An approved adopter will be required to have paid and signed up for 6 to 8 personal dog training classes (not a group class) to help Gracie settle into her new home. Gracie cannot be in a home with children under 19 years of age. It will take a few times of meeting Gracie to get an understanding of what she’s like in different scenarios and to have her become comfortable with you. It may also take a few meet and greets with your resident dog for the two of them to become friends. Therefore, we will only be able to consider adopters for Gracie on southern Vancouver Island.
If you’d like to learn more about Gracie, you can visit our website at https://victoriapets.ca/adoption-process/ to find information about the adoption process and for a copy of the online adoption application.
