Walks with Greta

Greta loves going for walks in the neighborhood. She follows along with you and hugs the line of the sidewalk. She's not much for speed walking, but she keeps a nice leisurely pace with a content smile on her beautiful face. She can hear the cars as they pass by and turns to "watch" them, sniffs the leaves, and follows along with you. She's got time and there's no need to rush. As someone from the South, I can relate.



We think she can hear loud noises. So she's not deaf, just very hard of hearing and perhaps a little selective on what she wants to hear. It may also be harder in crowded or noisy situations where all of the sounds blend together. This is good news though, because she can hear me say "Good Greta!"

Meeting Greta

The first time I met Greta was a couple weeks ago while I was volunteering at an adoption event. She was dropped off midway through the event on a transport from West Virginia and I didn't really notice anything different about her until the end of the day, when I found my boyfriend Will holding her at the back of the Petsmart. The table was being packed away and the other dogs were being loaded back onto the van to go to the ranch. She was standing there nervously circling him. "They told me that she's blind AND deaf..." My heart just broke. I have never had a blind dog or a deaf dog, but Greta was tugging on my heart strings. I sat down with her and I must have smelt like bacon treats because she proceeded to lick my fingers and then my whole face. I was smitten with her.

We met her again tonight. This time to bring her home as our foster. Greta cautiously followed me around Petsmart. She hugged the shelving line as we ventured down the aisles to get a snazzy new collar. (To Will's dismay, we went with a nice pink one.) Then away we went and she was soon greeted by our pack of three dogs - a bossy terrier, a shy shepherd, and a rambunctious pitbull puppy. A crazy house for anyone, but with some happy sniffs and tail wags she was in the club. We went outside to the backyard and as the others bolted out to play, Greta and I slowly walked and she sniffed the rocks and trees one by one with a nervous circle here and there until she found me again. When we made it back inside I led her to the dog bed where she curled up happily for a nap.



She is still circling a lot, but we suspect that this is stress induced and will fade as she settles in. I will admit that I broke down at the sight of her circling, but, after I gathered myself and gave her a super long hug, we headed back to her giant dog bed (and our home base for her mapping). In just an evening she seems to be relaxing and trusting me to guide her, keeping in mind that I bribed her with yummy salmon jerky and a couple hours of cuddling.