Meet Gretta: Macon’s paddle board loving German Shepherd

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – If you spend any time at Lake Tobesofkee, chances are you’ve met or at least seen Gretta, the four-year-old German Shepherd who spends at least two days a week on a paddle board.

“She goes crazy,” says her co-owner, Franklyn Thayer. “When she sees the life vest, when you get that out, she gets amped up.”

Thayer has lived on the lake all his life, but he’s never seen anything like this.

“When people started getting on the paddle board, Gretta was crying and Sheila (Laroussini) said, ‘Hey she’s wanting to get on the board,’ and I said ‘No, she’s not going to do that.'”

Laroussini says she could tell the dog would do it.

“But I didn’t know she’d pick it up that quick. I mean, she nailed it the first time she jumped.”

Now the couple can’t keep her off it.

“She’s so sweet,” Thayer says as we cruise alongside the paddle board in a boat. “I’m not saying she wouldn’t be really protective.”

Gretta barks.

“She’s barking at us,” Thayer says with a laugh. “The reason she’s doing that is because we’re too close to her. We’re too close to her boat.”

The only thing cooler than a story about a dog on a paddle board is what Thayer hopes will happen next.

“I have a passion for helping children with cancer,” he says.

He’s contacted the store where he bought the board and the board’s manufacturer.

“The whole idea is to see if there’s interest in advertising,” he says. “Those funds can go to Navicent Health to the Children’s Hospital here and possibly some to St. Jude.”

It’s what Laroussini, who he plans to marry soon, calls his bigger purpose.

“Franklyn’s got a heart of gold,” she says. “He’s been through a lot. He’s wrecked an experimental air plane and the Emory doctors didn’t think he would come back from that and he did. He’s had cancer himself a couple times.”

Now he’s doing his best to help where he can and hoping you will get on board.

“We didn’t want this just to be a cute story about a dog on a paddle board,” Laroussini says. “I know a lot of times people don’t contribute to charities like this because they think they can’t make a big enough impact, but I think all of us as a community, even if you just donate a dollar, that adds up.

“That’s really more important to us than anything else.”

If you’d like to donate to the children’s hospital, click here.