Gracie the golden retriever donates time, blood and love

Senior Winne Wang and her golden retriever, Gracie, are changing the world one paw at a time. 

Wang said that she got Gracie from a breeder a little more than a year ago, and they have been together ever since.

“I got her when she was 10 months old,” Wang said. “I know that a lot of UNC students around here have dogs from that breeder, and I really love their temperament.”

Now, they're inseparable.

“I remember one time, we were at the park and Winne had me hold Gracie on a leash because she had to go into a building,” said Leslie Bean, a long-time friend of Wang's. “I had to hold her back because she was trying to follow her, and when Winne came out, she was ecstatic.” 

The pair has gotten very close after spending time training and doing activities together.

“We pretty much do everything together,” Wang said. “We have a really great relationship, and she’s very clingy. I think her biggest fear is me leaving her.”

Gracie has come to be known for her social nature and her love for people among Wang’s friends.

“When people would come up to us, she would just go snuggle in between their legs. She really likes strangers,” said Felicity Chung, a UNC class of 2014 graduate and good friend of Wang. 

While she is very calm and gentle when with strangers, Gracie shows her mischievous side when she's around those that she knows well.

“We always say to people that she is a very hyper dog, but then the way she acts contradicts what we just said,” Chung said.

Gracie’s qualities are not limited to cuddles, and she happens to be very busy. She already has a full schedule between training sessions, trips to the dog park — or occasionally to the beach — and fundraiser events, but she still finds the time to give back to the community.

Gracie is a therapy dog, and she and Wang have started volunteering at local elementary schools.

She works with kids from the refugee community on Tuesdays and with kids with special needs on Thursdays.

“She has definitely made me more aware of animals and how they interact in our world,” Wang said. “I don’t view her as an animal anymore because in the classroom, you know, she’s making a pretty big difference in these kids’ lives, and she has really taught me that animals can make a difference too.”

Gracie is actively contributing to the wellbeing of humans, but she’s also helping her fellow four-pawed friends.

Gracie is enrolled in a study involving 3,000 golden retrievers to find a cure for canine cancer with the Morris Animal Foundation, and she is also a blood donor dog. 

“Gracie has literally given me the world,” Wang said.

“We travel around the country meeting her other friends who are enrolled in the study, places I would never go if she wasn’t here.”

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