 The first schnauzer I ever met was my brother-in-law
Max, in 1980. He was 9 years old, very frisky and extremely talented:
he would dance for Milk Bones, sit, lie down, roll over, shake
paws, jump and bark on command. In 1982, we got our own schnauzer
puppy, Dunkel, who was the runt of the litter. We kept his ears
"natural" and the first noise he ever made was to howl
along with the fire truck sirens going down Seventh Avenue in
midtown Manhattan.
 When
Dunkel got his first haircut, he looked so different, the people
in our apartment building thought we'd gotten a new dog! His
ears, which had flopped over attractively since we got him, now
stood straight up! We tried taping them down, but that made him
miserable, and lasted less than a day! We let the fur on them
grow, so they'd naturally flop over a bit - but Dunkel always
liked to HEAR what was going on!
Dunkel was the perfect son - never thought
that he was a dog! When put with other dogs, he wasn't exactly
unfriendly - but he had this look on his face of confusion, and
he'd stare at us as if to say, "What am I doing HERE? With
all these DOGS? They're nice and all, but... Hey, I'm a PERSON!!
I don't belong with DOGS!!" He was the only dog who got
carsick (the rest LOVED to ride in the car!) and the only one
who slept between us in bed - pushing one person away while bracing
against the other!
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Dunkel Does Tricks for
a Treat - 1984 (1:23)
Our first miniature schnauzer Dunkel vigilantly
performs MANY tricks for Marilyn and nephew David - for just
a SINGLE biscuit. This rare old clip was unearthed by videographer
(and brother-in-law) Merle - a special thanks to him!
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 In 1986 we got a little
sister for Dunkel - we named her Gretel Garbo, and her mother's
name was Miss Molly Hollywood. Gretel knew she was royalty from
the get-go, but she would humor us by letting us dress her up,
sing love songs to her and carry her around in our arms, like
an infant. Gretel had many adventures her early years - she fell
through some stairs and damaged her back - developed bladder
stones that had to be removed several times - and had a near-death
experience with a parvo-like virus. Once on a trip to San Francisco,
she tried to go exploring on the streets by herself. She put
us through our paces, that girl!
But she also alerted us to and scared off
an intruder to our apartment one night by continuing to growl
when we wanted to sleep.
  In October 1991 we lost Dunkel at age 9 to congenital
kidney failure. He'd gone from 17 pounds to 12 pounds almost
overnight, and we hadn't noticed right away because Gretel was
busy scarfing down his food (and bulking up to almost 20 pounds,
herself! She eventually had to have chest-reduction surgery and
managed to get back down to a svelte 14-15 pounds by 1997.)
Gretel was actually quite happy as "an
only child", but we missed Dunkel so much we had to get
another puppy within a month. True to his name, Kaiser was dominant
right away - you can see from the Christmas photos 1991 and 1992
what a difference a year makes!
Kaiser was exuberant, even for a puppy,
and a bit fear-aggressive, so we took him and Gretel to dog obedience
class. They both did pretty well, but not up to the exacting
standards of the teachers, both of whom had German Shepherds,
and who dismissed any problem we had with, "well, what do
you expect? They're SCHNAUZERS!" - like it was a fatal disease!
Meantime, Mark's parents had acquired two
beautiful miniatures after Max died at age 15 in 1986: Tina and
Tinkerbelle, who were both related to Gretel. Tina loved EVERYONE
- and everyone loved Tina! Tinkerbelle was a bit more reserved
but every bit as sweet and loving once she got to know you.
 When the parents passed on, we inherited Tina and
Tinkerbelle - and it was FUN having 4 schnauzers in the house!!
Coming home from an outing was an EVENT, with four little ones
taking notice when you walked in the door! After being couch-potatoes
for many years, Tina and Tinky adjusted well to nightly walks.
Going around the block together, the pack exuded an energy and
camraderie that was awe-inspiring!! T & T both shed a few
pounds over the years from improved diet and exercise (wow -
what a concept! Think it could work on humans???) Grooming was
an all-day affair, but they looked so great, they were well worth
the effort!
 On
walks, we noticed that both Tina and Tink would cry and whimper
whenever they'd see people of "a certain age" - i.e.
GRAY-haired people - and we realized that after growing up their
first 6 years with the parents, they'd never feel entirely at
home with us. Oh, they liked us well enough - but we were just
pinch-hitting until their REAL folks came back to pick them up!
Tinkerbelle's heart gave out in September
1997 and we all missed her terribly - especially her older sis
Tina. Tink was only 10, but had had a bad heart murmur for at
least 4 years. We lost Tina this past February, at age 13-1/2
- also from heart failure. Five weeks later we lost Gretel to
kidney failure at age 14. She was a queen to the end.
In the middle of losing Tina and Gretel,
Kaiser (at age eight-and-a-half) was diagnosed with diabetes
and started getting insulin shots twice a day. For a while he
seemed to be enjoying being a solo dog - lots of extra attention,
playtime, affection. But he was looking lonely at times - and
we all missed the frenetic chaos of having a pack of schnauzers
in the house - especially when the doorbell rang!
 We
hadn't realized how gloomy the place was getting after we lost
Tina and Gretel. Our once crowded home suddenly seemed so much
bigger, and the energies of schnauzers past filled many an empty
"special place" around the house. We'd drag ourselves
through our days, and then cruise the internet at night for Miniature
Schnauzer websites, rescues and ANY photo of a schnauzer. It's
not that Kaiser wasn't enough dog for us - we were just used
to having LOTS of schnauzer energy in our home...we needed an
infusion of new blood!!
Then came Gustav!! He was a rescue we saw
online at the Schnauzer Rescue Board (see link below). Sunny
Arruda at the South
Bay Purebred Rescue in San Jose, California was his foster
mom, and she told us so many wonderful things about this little
guy that we had to take a chance and drive up to see him. (At
the time they had dubbed him "Dusty" - see the "before"
photo on the Welcome
Gustav!!! page and you'll understand why.)
 It
was love at first sight - we played with a toy, he ran around
the yard, snuggled with us (perfect strangers), nibbled our fingers
and kissed us - whoa!!! This dog was putting the moves on us!
And boy, did we like it!! Although he seemed a bit underweight
and more like a "puppy" than a 2-year-old (that's what
they guessed his age to be, based on the wear on his teeth),
we decided to adopt him almost immediately. Mark went to the
car to get a collar and leash we had brought with us - and Gustav
ran to the kennel gate and cried as he left. As Mark returned
Gustav was very excited and happy. We filled out the adoption
papers, paid the adoption fee and had a quick "photo op"
with our new son. Then it was back to Los Angeles!! After a very
long day of dogs and driving we arrived home just after midnight.
Kaiser seemed to "tolerate" this new guy immediately.
Since then he's been fitting into our family just great!!  He's
the "lap dog" we always wanted,the "cuddle and
snuggle dog" that we tried to make our other dogs into -
and a terrific companion who wants to please. He and Kaiser have
even played tug-o-war a few times. (Of course, Kaiser won!) The
only "downside" to Gustav is that having him necessitated
our getting a new bed - this guy needs to sleep "among the
pack" at night - given his druthers, he'd sleep ON TOP of
us.
 As the year
2000 came to a close we began to notice that Kaiser was having
trouble sleeping through the night. After many visits to the
vet it was determined that Kaiser had a cyst on his pancreas
the size of a SOFTBALL!!! Surgery at the end of February had
mixed results. While it gave him some relief, they weren't able
to remove the cyst entirely and decided to "marsupialize"
it. After many months of constant care (flushing the open wound
and re-bandaging several times a day), the cyst continued to
shrink to the size of a golfball. Meanwhile, with his renewed
vigor (due to more sleep and less pressure on his organs from
the cyst) Kaiser came roaring back in rare form! He was so thrilled
with the Los Angeles Lakers Back-2-Back World Championships that
he took up the game of basketball! (Check out his jersey on the
inset photo) After traveling up the California coast to meet
them in April, Kaiser & Gustav received a mid-July visit
from their buddies Sheila & Tucker (from Santa Barbara),
along with their mom, Susie. Everyone had a GREAT time and we
look forward to our next visit with them!! Click the photo-link
(to the left-above) to see dog pictures from Kaiser & Gustav's
Summer Fun 2001!!!
 |
 |
KAISER
WILHELM WOLFRAM
August
27, 1991 - September 9, 2001
Rest In Peace,
Beloved Friend
|
Thank
you, Lori Bush, for this moving tribute!
And thanks
to the many Hoflin listers who sent us words of comfort - Love
Marilyn & Mark |
While he'd had several periods of relative
good health, since his surgery last winter Kaiser had experienced
more serious infections than usual and had to be hospitalized
on the average of once a month. He'd had at least one seizure
that we know of and we'd taken him to the wholistic vet when
our regular vet couldn't help him with an injured shoulder that
made him limp with pain so that he could not longer play fetch
with his beloved tennis ball. When it became apparent that he
was in real discomfort and there wasn't anything else we could
do to ease his suffering, we had to help him to the Rainbow Bridge
on the Sunday after Labor Day of this year. (2001)
He was a beloved Best Friend who we all
miss dearly.
 We saw Liesel (aka "Sassy") on the South Bay Purebred
Rescue webpage and called Sunny to find out
more about her: she's 4 years old, overweight and blind (we believe
from a genetic disorder called Progressive Retinal Atrophy [PRA]
which can't be cured). People panic when they learn that she's
blind, but it really isn't that much of a problem - she won't
let it be!! We warn her of potential pitfalls and she gets around
GREAT! Liesel absolutely LOVES to go out for walks and is CRAZY
about the backyard, where she chases cats (can't see 'em, but
she knows they're there!!) and sniffs around to her heart's content!
She's only been with us for a little over a month now and already
she's looking a BIT more svelte! And Gustav is starting to play
with her - he gets her to chase him, then he hides behind the
jade bush because even HE forgets that she can't see him!
 As the dog days of Summer
(no pun intended) passed in 2002 we saw Gustav longing for a
playmate. We immediately thought, "Puppy!" After putting
out a few feelers we got an email from Sunny Arruda at South Bay Purebred Rescue who told us about
a 7-month-old puppy in Fresno, California. His former owner,
an elderly woman, had passed on a week earlier and Oskar spent
the following week in a cage at his vet's office. He came to
the attention of Jan Torrez of ACES (English Setter Rescue) who contacted
Sunny. This little guy was a delight to all who came in contact
with him! Sunny suggested if we were interested that we move
QUICKLY and contact Jan immediately. That was Tuesday
at 11am - by 8pm on Tuesday night we were in Fresno (with Gustav
& Liesel) to check out the little guy. Well...what a high
energy little guy, indeed!! We forgot how much "zip"
that puppies have. Boy was he cute!! Not a purebred Schnauzer
- but there was some in there. We brought him home that night
(we got home about 12:30am) and it has been a blur of puppydom
ever since!! Pictures, feeding, walks, manic playtime with Gustav
& Liesel - now you know why it took a couple days to get
this page up. What a fantastic addition he makes to our family!!
We look forward to years of fun and love with this little guy!!!
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Dog Site Award Winner |
Some of my favorite dog LINKS:
Gustav, Liesel & Oskar's Old Man: Doggy Daddy!!!
minschnauzer.com
Waggers
DogStarr
Schnauzer Rescue Board
Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. - Care4Pets
Bridget's Page
Dianne's Mini-Schnauzer Page
Return to MarilynHarris.com
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