Hi, I’m Gretchen.

From 2019 to 2020, I was the voice behind DOG·CLT, a site for Queen City dog lovers and pet parents who care a bit more than your average human about keeping their dogs happy, healthy and safe.

At the time, my husband and I shared life with a 13-year-old puggle named Chester. We had lost our 15-year-old Brittany, Toby, in December 2018. He was the shadow by my side for every high and low of early adult life, and he’s still here in spirit, sitting at attention in the DOG·CLT logo.

For us, dogs have always been family.

They’re our sidekicks. Our shadows. Our unconditional love after a particularly tough day.

Toby helped me meet my first close friends when I moved to Charlotte in 2003, at my apartment’s dog park, of course. And Chester became a natural wingman in his own right: an explorer, conversation starter and enthusiastic companion for everything from breweries to state parks.

Helpful. Local. Fun.

DOG·CLT was created to do one thing really well: share helpful, local, fun content for Charlotte dog owners.

We highlighted dog-friendly things to do and places to take your dog around Charlotte, introduced some of Crown Town’s favorite four-legged friends, and tapped local experts for approachable answers to common questions about dog training, health and wellness.

DOG·CLT is no longer publishing new stories, but the site remains live as an archive of the dogs, people and places that made it special.

You can still find DOG·CLT on Instagram.

And if you stumble across one of these old stories and it makes you smile, that feels like a pretty good reason to have kept it around.