New Puppy

How to Prepare for a Puppy
Pour cold apple juice on the carpet in several places and walk around barefoot in the dark.
Wear a sock to work that has had the toes shredded by the blender.
Immediately upon waking, stand outside in the rain and dark saying, "Be a good puppy, go potty - now hurry up- come on, let's go!"
Cover all your best clothes with dog hair. Dark clothes must use white hair; light clothes must use dark.
Float some hair in your first cup of coffee in the morning.
Play "catch" with a wet tennis ball.
Run out in the snow/rain in your bare feet to close the gate.
Tip over a basket of clean laundry; scatter clothing all over the floor.
Leave your underwear on the living room floor
because that's where the puppy will drag it anyway...
especially when company is coming.
Jump out of your chair shortly before the end of your favorite TV program
and run to the door shouting "NO, NO! DO THAT OUTSIDE!"
Miss the end of the program
Put chocolate pudding on the carpet in the morning;
don't clean it up until you get home from work in the evening.
Gouge the leg of the dining room table several times with a screwdriver...
it's going to get chewed on anyway.
Take a warm and cuddly blanket out of the dryer and immediately wrap it around yourself.
this is the feeling you will get when your puppy falls asleep on your lap
Author Unknown

Gracie looked at me...

Gracie looked at me today. I know that doesn't seem like much but it is. She came out of a puppy mill in Missouri and was then thrown in a shelter to be destroyed. Her breeding days were over at 3 years old. Maybe she wasn't producing enough puppies in each litter or maybe the pups she did produce just weren't up to par for the miller. Whatever their reason for dumping her she was pulled from the shelter by rescue and flown to New Jersey by Pilots for Paws. (Yay! Pilots for Paws!) Then she came to my house. I was supposed to foster her so she could find a good home. And I've fostered over a dozen dogs so she was just another one of the little loves that came into my home.
When she arrived Gracie had an infection in her spay, was shaved down to her skinny little bones (due to matting) and mostly just hung her head. She was the saddest sight you've ever seen. And she avoided eye contact at all times. This is something I see a lot in rescue dogs. They are afraid to meet your eyes. When held up they look anywhere but into your eyes. When you do get a glimpse there is only fear reflected back.
Something in Gracie touched me. As tough as I thought myself to be, this little girl reached me in a way I couldn't deny. So she stayed and I became a foster failure. :)
She slowly came out of her shell. It was two weeks before I knew she could bark. Another few before she'd move toward the food bowl on her own. Each day she did a little more and slowly made our home her own. Then the day came when Gracie looked me in the eye. She didn't turn away or avert her gaze. She looked up at me and wagged her tail. I'm sure she didn't understand the tears in my eyes or the joy in my heart.
But today Gracie looked at me.