How I Met My Family

Jeanne Heydecker had a small boy, William, who had been attacked, not once, but twice by a Rottweiler and had developed a sever phobia toward dogs. Will had grown up with Rottweilers and had lived with them all his life, but at the age of 3, Jeanne had to put her Rottie, Max, to sleep. Two years later, moving back to Foxborough, a new Rottweiler entered their lives, the next door neighbor's. Under-socialized and untrained, whenever the dog got loose, it bit people. William was lucky to survive his injuries. Jeanne loved dogs and wanted to find a way to help William find a way back from his fear. One day, while stopping by a pet store to pick up cat food, they met up with Greyhounds Only. Several greyhounds and their adoptive families were at the store to bring awareness to what happens to us dogs at the racetrack and find suitable families that would be willing to take us in. At first, William was very nervous and refused to come into the store. When the dogs did not approach him, taking his mum's hand, he tentatively walked into the store with her. After a few minutes of talking from about ten feet away, William took a step closer. After a few more minutes, a little closer... it took more than an hour until William finally stroked a dog's head. After many conversations, William agreed to visit the shelter and see if there was a dog that could change his life.

William was very scared and hesitant because the other greyhounds barked or growled in their cages. So he didn't want to go near them. Some other greyhounds that they tried to take out either pulled on the leash or didn't cooperate with him at all. For a three-and-half-feet-tall kid, a greyhound is a BIG dog. And then he saw me, and looked into my cage. I didn't really do anything. I think I was more scared than he was. I hated being in a cage. I was curious about this little white creature that humans call "a boy". Then they decided to take me out, got me on a leash and I just walked with him. William took me out into a paddock and took me off the leash.

That was the clue for me. I LOVED being out of the cage and off the leash so I could run. The one of the Greyhounds Only team members brought out a stuffed toy. Little did I know, that toy looked like Lance, my other family member. I'll tell you about him a little bit later. But when I saw this toy I really wanted to play, so I started barking, wagging my tail, and told them in dog-speak that I wanted the toy! That was the first time I saw William laughing. I really didn't care I just wanted the toy. Then they threw the toy so I ran as fast as I could to catch it, and I tore the toy apart as fast as I could, too.

They changed my name to Grace because Jeanne thought I was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen when I ran around the paddock. That's when they agreed to adopt me. They started the paperwork and a month later, I visited their home for the first time. I had never seen stairs, or a TV, or snow... I now had a family who were going to be there for the rest of my life, a mum, a brother and this thing called a cat. His name was Lance, and we lived together in a townhouse in Aurora, Illinois. Two years later, mummy decided that we needed to move very, very far away... to India, on the other side of the planet, a place very different from anything I had ever known. To read about our trip, click here.

And that, my friends is the beginning of my story.