It’s Gracy’s 15th
Birthday (dob June 15,
1992) Ch. Acton’s Gracy Blu-Byu v Grimloc
(Affectionately
owned by Glenn Harms & Mike Van Loo – Grimloc AmStaffs in
When I got up this morning – I sang “Happy Birthday”; to her and she wagged and gave me a kiss; then when
Mike got up he sang to her, also with the same response …… ‘SHE KNOWS!’ And,
thanks to Christine & Roger Parker, her breeders; that this day of 15 years
has transpired. Gracy has contributed so many delightful moments of pleasure
into our and so many other’s lives over these past 15 years that it seems like
this should go on forever, but we all know that after a couple of mini-strokes
– even if she still runs around, enjoys playing with puppies, canvassing her
domain here at our ranch and life in general; that all good things can succumb
to pleasant past experiences & memories.
And, as tradition has it – I took take
her ‘Bird Hunting’ this morning. She is so
loving to all creatures but when I get out the shotgun, load it with shells and
once she see’s & hears the cocking of shells she is at the door prancing
& jumping in gleeful anticipation. To reflect upon her gentler side
this story is soooo sentimental of her reactions to ‘critters’ ‘n children over
the years. When ever we have ‘company’ Gracy has to great with a open heart everyone equally (children a lil’ more,
though). A couple of weeks ago a family with two lil’ girls ages 5 & 8,
came to pick up their very small Netherland Dwarf bunny that they were
purchasing as ‘their’ family PET; and upon getting to know their ‘new’ bunny on
our living room floor – Gracy so very gently picks up that bunny (named “Rose”)
and carried to nestle with it on one of her doggie beds. Talk about a Kodak
Moment filled with uuuhh’s ‘n aaahhh’s.
She also accompanied me for a couple of hours
this morning while I watered, weeded & hoed our
This composition is a tradition with us to
embellish this remarkable ‘Grand Lady’. “She has been a total ‘JOY TO
BEHOLD’, and has now given her legacy to so many ‘GREAT’ AmStaffs –
world-wide!” There are numerous influential dogs toting Gracy in their pedigrees
through some of her son’s/grand-sons and down the line like: Ch. Grimloc’s Rudy
Gone
Attached are some Special Portraits of a ‘Legacy
Grande` Dame’ that I snapped this morning along with this evening’s special
Strawberry Shortcake that was topped with whipped cream and her favorite
desert, Ice Cream.
Recently we composed a new phrase to use in our
advertising and in our web-site for the AmStaffs: “It’s not always how close to the ‘tree’ you scratch the soil; but how
concentrated the line-breeding is that produces the actual image of lineage
that you depend upon.” And this saying will be placed on our Grimloc
web-site near pictures of puppies that carry Gracy in their pedigree 10 times;
like Grimloc’s Sierr-N T’Lea Yours (“Lea”), Damien,
Roz-L’N, Bruno, Tak-N on dah Ritz, Bean-R plus others.
Here’s hoping that some of your ‘special’ loved
ones can ‘get’ & ‘give’ for a long time also;
Glenn & Mike –
P.S.
Some of you may not have read all of the tributes composed about Gracy on her
page of our web-site. If you have not – here is the link to Gracy’s page in our
website: http://www.grimloc.net/gracy.htm
The one that says ‘Profile’ is a reprint from a
Dog Magazine in Australia (a few years back); that monthly tributes an
influential dog, that is from outside the Australia Continent to feature as
their monthly special American Staffordshire Terrier that has made an
influential contribution to famous dog’s heritage.
