Gretel, a tough act to follow

The woman who brings me dogs from her local shelter way down in southwest Virginia will often describe one of her picks as being "a quality dog."  I've come to understand her meaning, referring to a dog of excellent temperament and composition, although not necessarily a pure bred.  The gist of it being that it's a dog who is particularly well suited to living in human society. 

Gretel was such a dog.  She was given up to me by a woman who had been a breeder of shepherds.  As her age advanced and her health declined she had gradually reduced her household pack.  Kaiser (on left in the pic below) and Gretel (on the right) were two of the last that she re-homed, only when she was facing her own mortality.  The dogs went separate ways, but both to excellent homes.  Regrettably, Kaiser lasted only a few months before being claimed by an aggressive cancer.  He made a lasting impression on his adopters, however, who adopted again and even became VGSR volunteers. 

Gretel went to a home down near Roanoke.  A beautiful, idyllic spot in the country, where she wanted for nothing.  Her owners gave her everything a dog could want, but I know they would say that they received from her even more than they gave.  Gretel was a "quality dog" as my friend would put it.  She was gorgeous, had excellent training and manners, but mostly she was a dog who was perfectly adapted to life with humans.  She fit in.  They could take her anywhere, meet anyone, but she was also perfectly happy in her home surrounded by the two people she was devoted to. 

Their devotion matched hers and continued right up to the end, which came yesterday, at an age of more than 13 years.  She was not a young dog when they adopted her back in August, 2006, and many people would have passed her over as being too old.  They had her just shy of four years, but I know they wouldn't have traded her for any other dog on any day of those four years.  I hope that they will adopt another senior dog someday, but Gretel will be a tough act to follow.