Gretta

Meet Gretta!  We got a dog on Saturday.  Yes, you read that right.  WE got a DOG. Let me explain the miracle that this really is.

Carter HATES any living animal.  It can be a sleeping cat, 100 yards away, and he runs the other way, screaming in terror.

Well, I've had a feeling for some time that our family would benefit from having a dog.  Carter being autistic, and Logan suffering from anxiety, they both just need an unconditional friend to play with, you know?

So we went to the Humane Society fair on Saturday, and braved taking Carter with us.  We found a place he was comfortable at, about 500 yards away from everyone and everything.  Then we went over to check out the dogs.

We found a few good candidates and took them for walks as near to Carter as we could manage.  He wasn't real interested.

Finally, after about 20 minutes of watching us from a distance, I motioned to him to come join us.  He did, hesitantly.  We were getting to know Gretta at the time.  He approached us, and stood about 3 feet from her for 10 minutes or so.  Then, slowly, a smile crept onto his face and he reached out, and touched her curly tail!  We all caught our  breath and watched.  He giggled.  Then moved closer and touched her paws.  He pet her and giggled some more. We were amazed.  I even cried.  We talked to the manager and found out all about Gretta, then said we wanted a few hours to think about it.  On the way home, Carter kept saying, "Want puppy?"

Needless to say, we gave in.  An hour later, she was home with us.  Carter has followed her around constantly for two days.  He's gonna be her best friend whether she likes it or not!  I've honestly never seen him so happy for such a long period of time.  The only tantrum we've had in two days was this morning when I had to pry him away from her to take him to school.

She's an inside dog, and we've never had one before, so we still have to see how this all works out.  But for now, she is a blessing in Carter's life, and we couldn't be more happy!