Gretchen was a little dog we rescued at a local street fair. We were told that she was a Jack Russell-Dachshund mix, which made sense, but we would never know for sure – the only thing we were sure of was that she was a mutt. She was the silliest looking dog we had ever seen, and she made us laugh. She lived with us for six years, and brightened our days and nights with her attentiveness. Gretchen was my inspiration for my newest book, Mitzvah the Mutt (Yaldah Publishing, 2010). I imagined her when I had Mitzvah say “I’m a little dog with short brown hair. My ears are small and floppy. One hangs down a little while the other stands up. I have large brown eyes, a long nose, a crooked mouth and a tail that never stops wagging. I must have agood sense of humor because when Mr. Ruben takes me for a walk I always hear people say,“Look at that dog! He’s so funny!” Then they roar with laughter.”