The Original Gretta

 Grettalulu

My dog Gretta was a very special girl, a beautiful sable and black German Shepherd. She came to me as a rescue dog when she was around five years old. She'd been found wandering in traffic, lost in downtown Durham, NC, with a wounded hip and leg. A nervous wreck is what she was. When her stress was high, she started spinning, just running in a tiny circle until she was exhausted, as though she were chasing something invisible. It upset Duke, my other Shepherd, and he would sometimes step into the circle to stop her.  She had problems when she first met people, and had been in foster care for a year, not easy to place, but when she met me, she ran right to me as if to say, "Hey, where have you been?" We hit it off immediately. I was even able to open her mouth and give her her vitamins and nutrients that very first day.

Gretta loved to go places. When she realized she was going with me when I was leaving the house, she'd get so excited that she'd dance on top of Duke, literally leaving the house on his back. Into the garage we'd go, and Gretta would jump into the Jeep and head straight for the driver's seat.  I have always loved to see dogs sitting at the steering wheel of cars - as long as the cars are parked - and Gretta got that seat whenever she was in the car without me. When I would come out of the grocery store and approach my car, there she'd be, sitting at the wheel, waiting patiently, looking as if she really could drive.

But Gretta had serious problems. Whenever people came over, I'd put her outside first, then seat everyone and give each person several dog treats. Then I would let Gretta back inside. She would investigate each person and if she accepted the dog treat from you, you were in forever. She almost always accepted. We did it this way because if you rang my door bell or knocked on my door, Gretta began barking hysterically and her hair would stand on end. I would go to the door, but very few people had the courage to come in with Gretta in full guard dog mode. And she never obeyed me when I told her someone was ok and to stop barking. So I devised a plan that worked perfectly.

No plan worked at the drive-through at the bank. As much as Gretta loved to go for rides in the car, there were few places she was happy when we got there, and the bank was at the bottom of her list. The teller and I could barely hear one another for Gretta's furious barking, while Duke stood in the back with that calm he always exuded. The teller would always send out 2 dog biscuits, one for each dog, but Gretta would be so agitated that she'd take her biscuit, then let it fall from her mouth as she continued barking. I stopped taking her to the bank.

The sound of my voice was calming to Gretta. If I could catch her eye when she was spinning, I could speak to her and begin to tell her stories. They all started the same way: Once upon a time there was a crazy little girl named Gretta. I'd have her going to the day spa, in the sauna with a towel on her head to protect her perm, taking trips to the Outer Banks, running on the beach, whatever popped into my mind. Her eyes looked so troubled and seemed to say, "Help me." As I talked, she would begin to calm down and stop spinning, I could go to her and get her to lie down and then I would massage her, stroking her firmly with long, long strokes. She loved this. I always promised her I would never give up on her. We were made for each other.

Miss G came with a grocery bag of stuffed toys. She loved her stuffed Jack Rock, her rabbit, her squirrel, her unicorn. My mom and Mom's best friend gave her more stuffed animals. She never destroyed them, just played with them, carried them around, hovered over them, chased them when I threw them. She slept with me on my bed every night starting the very first night I had her until her bad hips and legs made it too hard for her to jump onto the bed. Then she joined Duke on the pallet I had laid for him beside the bed on the floor. She always slept partially under the bed. When my mom came to visit, Gretta would let me know that she wanted her Grandma to get up in the morning, but she would not bother my mom. When I gave the ok signal, Gretta would jump onto the bed and begin kissing Mother's face to wake her up and then she'd lie beside her until Mom was ready to get up. Mom would sit up and caress her and talk to her before leaving the bed.

Gretta came to love me very much. She loved my mother, too. And she loved Luke, the college student who worked as my handyman. She loved everybody once she got to know them. She wanted and needed love so much and yet she would push it away. I sometimes felt she was me in fur. Gretta Looney became Grettalulu and my alter ego. She was a handful and could be hard to handle if you didn't know how, but the rewards far outweighed the struggle. She is gone now, and I feel her absence so greatly. I always will.