Let me introduce myself....

My name is Gracie. Racy Gracie to be exact.  I'm a Rat Terrier, mixed with a little Bull Terrier.  I can't be sure how old I am, but if I had to guess, I'm probably around 14 months old now.

I was found. I can't tell you how I came to wind up in that shelter in Arkansas, but there I was...in a cage and out of time.  A nice woman from Rat Terrier ResQ (www.RatTerrierResQ.com) came to see me and thankfully, she sprung me before I got walked to some back room.  I never found out what was in that room, but some of the dogs near my cage said when a dog went in there, they never came back out. I'd like to think there was a back door to the outside in there, but the way they said it, I don't think that was the case.

For two days I lived with this woman and a whole bunch of other rat terriers, who like me, had been sprung from shelters just like the one I had been in.  Our story was all the same, all of us were "out of time."   Now I'm not sure what "out of time" really means because I seem to have all the time in the world.  Every day when I wake up, I have plenty of time to run and play.  It's an odd phrase to say the least.  After two days, I went on an airplane, some kind of flying car, to Wisconsin to a new lady.  She was nice, but she said I was too hyper and took me to her vet. They gave me all kinds of pills.  One day I could hardly focus; I was so tired, the next day I felt like I could leap tall buildings.   After a few weeks of this, she said she couldn't cope with me and told the nice lady who got me out of the shelter that I had to go.

This is where my new mom came in.  She met the other lady who had all the nasty pills and took me in a car for a long ride.  When we stopped, it was at a place I recognized by the smell; another vets office.   The nice lady vet was sweet to me and she and my new mom laid out all the pill bottles that came with me.  I could tell they were really unhappy.  They said they had to "flush my system" and I got a needle in my paw with a big bag of fluid attached.  I pee'd and pee'd all over that vets floor.   Hey, you try holding that much water.  No one was mad though, they all loved on me and home we went.

I got two sister ratties, Darby (she is bossy) and Baby (she's bossy in a sneaky way) and a brother rattie named Murphy.  Murphy is old, but he's my favorite.  I like to try and kiss him.  I had a big backyard to run in and lots of toys and boy, did I run.  I ran and ran and ran.  My new mom watched me for a couple days and knew something was wrong.  See, I didn't know it, but I always ran in a counter-clockwise circle, in always the same pattern.  Sometimes I would spin and then continue to run and sometimes I would kick off the side of the house and continue to run.   After a couple days, I went back to the vet.

I have something they call OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  It's because my brain is wired funny.  It makes me do the same thing over and over, and I can't make myself stop; even when I am exhausted.   I also shadow watch and fly-snap.  Shadow watching means I look at the wall or ceiling at something that isn't there.   It's kinds of funny, because my mom looks to see what I'm looking at even though she knows it's nothing.  Silly humans.   Fly-snapping means I pretend to try and catch flies that aren't there.  I do both of these things a lot. I can't help it.

I've been on a medication called Prozac and it stopped my circle running.  I'm glad because I would get so tired and I would want to lay down, but I just couldn't.  Now I can sleep, chew on rawhides and lay in bed with my mom at night.  I like that.  I hated having sore feet and tired legs.   I get some Xanax too which helps my other problems a little, but we're still working on that.  

Now you know all about me.  Check in often to hear how I'm doing as I search for my forever home.  After six months here, that is still eluding me.
                                                                          Gracie