A Footprint On Your Heart

It's not difficult to find books designed to help you get over the grief of losing your dog. They mostly have places for pictures and reminiscences; the act of assembling your feelings helps ease the pain and brings back the good times you had before the end times you've just experienced.

A Footprint On Your Heart has those things, but it is more than just the sum of those standard parts. It comes from deep within the heart of a young woman named Monika Gerhardt, who knew the love of a dachshund and knows the pain of saying farewell. And the last section of the book is her story of the three years she spent with Greta.

It takes courage to pack two suitcases and travel to a land where you know almost no one and have only a halting knowledge of the language. Monika did that in 1998, traveling from her native Germany to the little town of Warren, Ohio, coincidentally just a short distance from Dachshund Delights headquarters

One of the first family members she met was a smooth black and tan dachshund named Greta. I could tell you that the bond was immediate, but that's not true. At the age of nine and set in her ways, Greta was wary of intruders. But bond they did, in a way that only dogs and humans can.

Three years later, 9/11, which changed so much, changed the life of Monika and Greta as well. Monika's visa was not renewed, and she had to return to Germany. When she talked with her one-time American family on the phone, she also talked to Greta, who would always look around to find the source of the voice of the woman she loved.

Not so long ago, an e-mail came from America. Greta was gone. Heart failure had claimed her that morning.

Monika became physically ill with allergic reactions, and the doctors could do nothing to help her. After a while, she began to paint and write. Her words and pictures became the book A Footprint On Your Heart, and the act of creating it caused her heart and her skin to begin the healing process. Now she's published it in the hopes that others will be healed as well.

Monika's English is sometimes a bit rusty, and she admits that right away. But that doesn't matter. As she writes in her story, "I was a foreigner, coming from a different culture, I needed my dictionary all the time to talk to people – only Greta understood me without it." That's not quite true. Those of us who have loved a very special dog can understand her as well.

Monika has published A Footprint On Your Heart herself, and it's available only from her. You can send her an e-mail to arrange payment through PayPal and to give her shipment information. Full details are available on her Web site at www.afootprintonyourheart.com/ordering.html.