Greta and Garth are walking through the door as we write. They are a Rottweiler mix and came to us as pups in May of 2003. Little bitty things, all fuzzy, and chubby at eight weeks of age. They were part of a litter of six that a Good Samaritan took in after their mom was hit by a car when they were only three weeks old. Four of the pups were placed, but two remained-Greta and Garth. We agreed to take them since they were getting bigger and bigger and had more and more energy to burn. With 130 acres here to romp around on and lots of playmates to do it with, they were able to gleefully wear themselves out. Duchess, the ever maternal Bloodhound, began caring for them, grooming them, settling puppy disputes and taking them for walks, just the three of them. With her adopted kids, Duchess showed Greta and Garth her loving nature all the time. In fact, they became so attached to their “mom” that anytime Duchess was out of their sight, they would become, for lack of a better word, frantic. Early on, before Duchess’ cancer presented, the three of them would go off every night into our 130-acre forest and “trail blaze” until dawn. Once home, all three would lay down at the food trough exhausted, yet happy, have their breakfast, a nice long drink and then settle in for hours of napping. One of the sweeter things we observed was that Greta and Garth would each take a place beside Duchess while she ate first. They would essentially “guard” Duchess so that none of the other dogs would distract her from, let alone interfere with, their mom’s meal. They watch out for her as if their lives depended on it. The power of Greta and Garth’s love for their surrogate mother is, by comparison, as strong as any human has for their mother. Maybe more so since a dog’s love is unconditional. When thinking about the day that Duchess finally succumbs to her cancer, we worry about the impact her death will have on Greta and Garth. They’ve been paying more attention to some of the other dogs as well as their caregiver here at their sanctuary. Since they’re now older, we think they’ll be mature enough to cope, we hope. We’ll let them stay with her during her euthanasia like we did for Betsy when we let Brigid go. This work offers so many wonderful experiences, but sometimes it can be brutally heart wrenching.
