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"Happy Birthday Dear Kaarrl..."

6/29/2010

14 days ago, Karl was put down when he became too weak to stand up anymore. Over several months, he had become increasingly unsteady and debilitated; his symptoms were in some ways similar to Parkinson's. We had so hoped he would remain well enough to see his 14th birthday. His birthday was today. Today had long been our "candle on the horizon" for Karl.

Karl had been living with Jennifer Fry in Columbus since December. Jennifer first took care of him when I visited Sweden in the fall of 2008. He stayed with her again when I attended the Dachshund Club of America National events in October, 2009. Jennifer liked Karl very much. (He was a very likable guy.) In December, then, she asked if Karl could "come live in town at my house for the winter." I never got him back.

Karl received so much love and attention from Jennifer! I was grateful to her for taking such good care of him. At the same time, I wondered a little. I asked Jennifer why she was so willing to assume responsibility for a 13.5 year old dog like that. She said, simply, "Because he is family."

As a matter of fact, he was. Jennifer owns Karl's great-granddaughter Gretel.

So Jennifer had been planning a trip to visit the Knoll Family in Mississippi this summer. The dates of her visit coincided with Karl's birthday. We had wanted three things for Karl: 1. To be able to get photos of him with his extended southern family. 2. To be able to swim in their pool. (With some hand-under-the-belly assist from Laura.) Karl loved to swim! 3. And Jennifer wanted to have a combined birthday party for 'the three wise dogs', Karl and the Knoll's standard longhaired bitch Sherry and their Italian Greyhound Guido.

We had to settle for two out of three. Karl didn't get to go swimming...

He went with Jennifer to Mississippi in a box. But by gosh he went.

Photos were taken of the family. Stan called me on his cell this evening and put me on speaker phone. The bone-shaped birthday cake, iced and decorated by Anna, had 14 candles. They lit the candles. They all loudly sang Happy Birthday to Karl. I cried. It was all good.

"Family" indeed. What a blessing.

Stan gave Jennifer her present from Karl and me. She didn't know it but I'd had two photos of her and Karl made into 11x14s, mounted on heavy mount board, and sent to Mississippi for this occasion. It was Jennifer's turn for tears.

Karl, your candle remains lit for those of us who loved you.

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Owl Is V-Rated For The Third Time!

6/20/2010

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The North American Teckel Club spring zuchtschau (breed show) was held today at the Winnebago Scout Reservation in Rockaway, New Jersey. We had a nice entry of 30 dachshunds. The originally scheduled judge, Jens Witter from Nürnberg, Germany, became ill. We hope he is doing better today. Herr Witter was replaced by Frau Heike Behring of Berlin, both are DTK conformation judges, hunters, and breeders of DTK dachshunds. Frau Heike, we hope you enjoyed your time in the States and meeting us and our teckels. We enjoyed having you here.

Each dog was judged one at a time according to the Deutscher Teckelklub /FCI #148 Standard for the Teckel. Of the 30 entries, 29 dogs were shown. Of the 29 dogs shown, 16 received ratings of Vorzuglich (Excellent), 7 were rated Sehr Gut (Very Good), 2 were rated Gut (Good), 3 were Disqualified (all due to issues with bites), and 1 puppy was rated Very Promising.

I strongly debated myself about whether to enter Owl. He has been shown at two NATC shows in the past and been rated Excellent both times. I really did not know whether I wanted to take the chance of him getting a lesser rating; all of the results are 'on record', so to speak, with the DTK. I'd had one judge at a zuchtschau tell me that Germans prefer clear reds and Owl has a heavy black overlay. I guess you might have to be in that situation to understand my internal dialogue but there was a lot of arguing going on!

I'd taken Owl's daughter, the Stock's black/tan bitch Pie, with me to show but she had blown most of her butt and tail feathers and really didn't look her best. So then I took stock of the rest of the crew. I really felt Seiko was too physically immature to show. I hadn't groomed the undercoat from Nexus and I thought Kasi was too gray and he wouldn't have enjoyed it; both of them have V ratings anyway. And Marta is spayed so she was ineligible. That left Owl and I wanted to show this judge from Germany at least one dog...

Oh me of little faith. Heike Behring liked Owl just fine, no problem. In fact, of the eight or so longhairs given Vorzuglich ratings, the final two under consideration for Best Longhair were Owl and one of Alexandra Weber's zwerg bitches. The pretty little bitch got the nod but the judge caught up to me as we left the ring and emphatically stated that Owl is a "super dog." Great! Thank you! I'll take that! : )

Jolanta Jeanneney sent me this photo she took of Heike and Owl and I. Jolanta, thank you!

Owl's father came from Sweden and his mother is American breeding.

Alexandra's bitch is from German bloodines on both sides.

Best smooth was a black/tan standard bitch bred, owned, and shown by Anke Masters. This bitch has a German pedigree.

Best wire was a wild boar standard bitch bred, owned, and shown by Joyce Wilson. Her father is a Norwegian dog and her mother is American.

So just from this small sample of all the dogs present, you can already see that it was truly an international affair!

Best dog of the zuchtschau was the wire bitch and a very well deserved win it was.

I know that Jolanta got some nice photos of the three Variety winners as well as other photos that she will post soon.

Congratulations to all who participated! It was so good to see many people again and to meet others for the first time.

And what a surprise to see John Robinson again! In years past, John, owner of standard wires, was a very active Deer Search member, field trialer and field trial judge from the east coast. It was not difficult to figure out how long it had been since I'd last seen John. His 25 year old daughter Beth was with him, as was Beth's husband, and about the last time I remember seeing John, four year old Beth was riding on his shoulders at a field trial. Now Beth and her husband Gentian are field trialing and showing wirehairs!

The generations of life are good.

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Seiko Passes Gunsteadiness Test

6/19/2010

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The Gunsteadiness Test was one of several North American Teckel Club events being held over four days in New Jersey. The natural den test was on Friday and blood tracks were worked yesterday. I postponed my departure from home as long as possible as Seiko is just coming out of heat, so I did not arrive in New Jersey until this morning.

Nine months old Seiko has not been exposed to close gunfire before. But she has a very steady temperament and has heard loud noises and distant shots so I thought I would see. I walked her down the road toward the little field where a number of dogs were being tested, one after the other, and Seiko did not show the slightest startle. By the time we got to the field, it was our turn. I let Seiko off lead but she was happy to just hang out with me. <g> Dogs must be 30 meters or so away from their handlers when shots are fired. So I found a rock, picked it up, and threw it. Seiko ran after the rock and was looking for it in the grass when the first live round of ammo was fired from the shotgun of the gunner who was Teddy Moritz. Seiko picked up her head and looked in the direction of the shot. Teddy fired again. Seiko stood there and looked at her. This, I am sure, will be the most effortless passing performance of Seiko's life.

It didn't require too much from me, either, to take off the lead and throw a rock! But it is not so simple for a dog that has issues with loud noise and the importance of this test cannot be overestimated. A gunshy dog cannot be useful for hunting. Therefore, it is a DTK requirement that prior to being entered in any hunting test, a dachshund must have passed a gunsteadiness test.

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Olive Earns Rally Advanced Leg AND Novice Agility Title In Southern California Today!

6/19/2010

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"On Friday evening we drove down to San Diego through terrible weekend rush hour traffic so we could do rally and agility on Saturday. On Saturday morning I took Olive to compete in rally at the Bahia Sur show in Chula Vista, almost on the Mexican border. John headed north to Escondido to compete with Remy in agility. Remy started the day getting a double-Q in agility.

Then Olive and I qualified in Advanced A rally with an 85 and first place for her second RA leg. It was getting hot and we had a long wait while the ring stewards tried building a 4" jump with duct tape. The jump fell apart, and they had to build it again with even more duct tape. Olive seemed hot and tired on the course, but she did everything. She has yet to fail an exercise, but we're getting more slow to respond and out of position deductions than I'd like.

It was getting quite hot by the time Olive and I arrived in Escondido. In Open JWW, Olive did 12 offside weave poles (yeah!) but picked up several run-outs and NQ'd.

The big excitement of the day was that Olive got her Novice Standard title! She went into the wrong end of a tunnel and ran wide at places, but got a 95 and first place, 4 seconds under course time. No problems with the dogwalk or teeter. We are very happy that we won't have to stay late for Novice Standard anymore. :-) -- Diane & John"

You and your crew were hot today in more ways than one! Congratulations. I am very proud of all of you.

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Goodbye To Karl

6/15/2010

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ABS7 FC Karl Brink v Dorndorf L

DC Teckelhof's Perfidius x FC Ingrid v Dorndorf L CD

June 29, 1996 - June 15, 2010

In response to a call from Jennifer Fry, I left work mid-shift this evening and drove an hour and a half to her home in Columbus. Jennifer's instincts were right. It was time.

Karl was alert as ever. He greeted me with awesome enthusiasm though he lacked the strength to stand up. He licked me all the way to the vet's office, pointedly reminded the vet that she was forgetting his treats, then gently took some pieces she gave him from her hand. Every bit of his happy and healthy mental faculties were present and accounted for which made this all the more difficult, but the health and strength of his body had virtually wasted away.

Dr Callahan said that she has experienced this a number of times with Labrador Retrievers. "I have seen old labs whose bodies just couldn't work anymore but whose minds were still real sharp. That makes this even harder."

His passing was very peaceful. He died with that odd mixture of good humor and great nobility that has always been his.

Goodbye, my friend.

Through Marta, who is from the only litter Karl ever produced, he is the grandfather of all the Ns and Os v Dorndorf.

Many, many thanks to Jennifer Fry for taking wonderful care of Karl for his last six months.

'Thank you, Jennifer.'

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Olive's First Rally Advanced Leg!

6/6/2010

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"Olive got her first Rally Advanced leg today with a 93 and first place on what was (for us) a very challenging course. the course not only had a Fast right before the finish, but also a beginning leg passing very close to the jump and an offset figure 8 in the middle of the ring. The food bowls in the Offset Figure 8 are a huge target for Olive. With all of these distractions I figured we'd be lucky to finish the course. Luckily we had a 20 minute delay before Advanced A and I borrowed someone's water bowl and heeled Olive around it.

This was the Kennel Club of Pasadena trial at Brookside Park in Pasadena -- one of our typical southern California trials in the middle of a park with a roped ring." ~ Diane Webb

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A Visit From Ninja Turtle

6/5/2010

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The dogs announce visitors, whoever they may be. Today I knew that we had a visitor somewhere beyond the fence and went out to see who it was. It wasn't difficult to spot him. He was a big guy carrying a lot of luggage and sporting a fuzzy green toupee. He did not withdraw at my approach but rather kept turning to face me as I walked around him. I think he wanted me to reach out to him. I did not offer to shake hands, though, as he had not cut his nails in a long time. Oh, and he made a couple of really snappy replies while I was talking to him. As his eye contact seemed rather intense, I did not reach out for my water bottle either. I'd tossed it near him as a gauge of his size in the photos. It became a short visit when I decided I should do the withdrawing. Before I left, I told him that if he wanted the water he could have it. He was a visitor, after all.

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"Happy Birthday Dear Kaarrl..."

Owl Is V-Rated For The Third Time!

Seiko Passes Gunsteadiness Test

Olive Earns Rally Advanced Leg AND Novice Agility Title In Southern California Today!

Goodbye To Karl

Olive's First Rally Advanced Leg!

A Visit From Ninja Turtle

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