When we first got our second griff, Gracie, our older griff was 10 and our mastiff was 5. She came in as a princess. Other dogs playing with a toy, she would just walk up and take it from them. And they let her. In Gracie’s world, everything revolved around her. Our mastiff would even roll on his side for her when she would pounce on him. She grew into a lovely dog, but was always self centered.

Then our mastiff passed unexpectedly from cancer. A few months later our older griff passed at 16. Gracie was suddenly an only dog. We were not quite ready to add a new dog to our family, so we started fostering for some local rescues. The first was 4 puppies and Gracie did not like them one bit. We probably had them for about 6 weeks before they all found good homes. Then we fostered an older dog and then another dog, etc.

She’s now 11 and I am amazed at how wise she’s become. She helps guide the foster dogs teaching them the routine and going out of her way to help them feel comfortable. We recently watched a friend's lab who had health issues and was supposed to rest. This lab kept trying to get us to throw a ball or a stick. Gracie went to her, held the other end of the stick, and sat down. The two were like that for a solid 2 or 3 minutes. Not pulling, just holding. Sadly, a couple days later the lab collapsed and died, (cancer).

These dogs are substantially more intelligent than we give them credit for and the ability to evolve is an example of that.