Gretchen

Claudia Tiedemann's dog Gretchen
Gretchen
Date of Birth	1950
Status	Ceased to exist
Occupation	Dog
Family
Family	Claudia Tiedemann (owner) (formerly) Regina Tiedemann † (owner)
Behind the Scenes
First Appearance	As You Sow, so You Shall Reap
Last Appearance	Between the Time

Gretchen began life a poodle belonging to the eleven-year-old Claudia Tiedemann in 1953.

On November 10, she goes missing in the woods while Claudia and Tronte Nielsen, a newcomer to Winden and Claudia's new housemate, are walking together. Also present on the walk is Helge Doppler, a couple years younger than Claudia and also tutored by her. He becomes jealous of the attention Claudia shows Tronte and throws a stick into the cave, which Gretchen chases. The poodle never returns to the outside world.

At least, not in that year. Instead, she comes out of the caves in 1986, while a middle-aged Claudia is head of the nuclear power plant and is inspecting the nuclear waste hidden in the caves. Claudia recognizes her immediately and takes her back to her office.

The following year Claudia is visited in her office by an elderly woman, whom Gretchen runs up to happily. The woman has told Claudia's secretary that the dog is in fact hers. Claudia apologizes, saying that no one ever reported her missing. She remarks the dog looks like the one she had as a child. The older woman supplies the name immediately. Claudia is disturbed. The woman reveals that the dog does belong to her, because she is in fact Claudia from the future. She explains that she was waiting in the cave in 1953 to collect Gretchen, who recognized her as though she were not a day older. She then brought the dog to 1986 for her younger self to find in the cave.

Claudia goes missing from 1987 some days after the visit with the mysterious old woman. Gretchen remains in the care of Regina, Claudia's teenaged daughter. One day in the fall, Tronte seems to recognize the poodle from his childhood. Regina says she thinks that is why Claudia kept her originally.