Frannie's 10 Favorite Things about Germany

Frannie cracking a walnut

Frannie has settled into life in Germany. In point of fact, she has now lived in Germany longer than she lived with us in America. If you could ask her, I think there are some things that she obviously likes about life in Germany. From my observations, these seem to be her top 10:

10. Her kibbles - The kibble we feed Frannie come from a company called BritCare.  Their Lamb and Rice kibbles seem to have the right percentages of fat and protein. Plus there is no corn. Frannie seems to like the taste. We use it for her a normal feeding and from time to time as treats. There is no faster way to get her to come than to rattle her kibble container.


9. Walnuts - We're beginning to wonder if Frannie is part squirrel because somewhere along the way, she has picked up a taste for walnuts. We have have been finding walnuts around the house this winter, and the broken shell of walnuts on Frannie's cushion. Initially, we think she had been secretly taking them from a dish on a low table in the dining room. But now she is more open about it. Whenever we are cracking walnuts, she will come and sit next to us. If a nut were to fall and is not picked up right away. Frannie will casually stroll by the nut and without stopping, dip her head down, grab the nut and trot out of the room. In a couple of minutes, presumably after storing her treasure, she is back in position for the next opportunity.

8. Hundewurst - both of the butchers that we use make a hundewurst, a sausage especially for dogs. I'm not sure I want to know what it is made of, although the same can be said about the meat product in any dog food. In any case, Frannie is a big fan of hundewurst.. Sometimes we give a bit to her in her kibbles. The hundewurst always is eaten first.

7. Butterbrot - Put some good German butter on a piece of German bread, what's not to like. It is one of Frannie's favorite things about Germany as well as mine. Every breakfast, she lays quietly between us waiting for one of us to cut off a small piece of bread for her and butter it. She has a second sense about when we do this. Not sure how she knows we are doing it, some movement on our part gives it away. But Frannie will immediately get into a sit and wait to receive her treat.

6, Fleischwurst - When we go to the butchers, Frannie has to wait out in the car for us. Dogs are allowed in most stores and restaurants, but grocery stores and butchers don't allow dogs. But she doesn't mind, because she knows that her patience will be rewarded.  The butcher will always give us a small piece of fleischwurst for the dog (they do this for young kids that come into the shop as well, trying to get them hooked while they are young). Frannie has learned to expect this treat when we return and enjoys her part of the bounty (as do we).

5. Cheese - I don't think Frannie will every go back to Koger cheese again. Especially the Kroger "Swiss" cheese with the drilled holes. The Emmentaler that she gets here is just so much better. The fake Emmentaler and Gouda from Holland are also pretty good. Her favorite Swiss cheese is Appenzeller. However, "cheese one" for her is French. We're talking the gooier, the riper, the smellier the better. Open up a nice ripe Camembert, and you have Frannie's complete attention.

4. Hikes - When we start to collect our boots and get ready to head out for a hike, Frannie's eyes widen and ears perk. She won't let us out of her sight, prancing from one of us to the other, occasionally touching our hand or leg with her nose to make sure that we are aware she is there. She absolutely does not want to be left behind because hiking is one of here favorite things. When we arrive at the trail, she is ecstatic. She starts by prancing proudly around the parking lot, waiting for us to get our boots on. On the trail, if Magda and I are walking together, she will be out in the lead. If we are separated, Frannie will station herself between the two of us, trying to keep us both in sight. I guess that is the collie in her. If we walk through a field, Frannie will take off  running in a big circle as fast as she can. Then she comes prancing back with a big doggie smile, happy as can be to be out.

3. Ike - Ike is Frannie's boyfriend, or at least Frannie thinks so. Frannie is normally a very quiet dog that doesn't care much for other dogs. However, there is something about this Belgian shepherd that changes her whole attitude. When she see Ike, she runs over to him barking and inviting play. If there is a field, she will start running around the field in circle, hoping Ike will follow. One time she was so involved with her running that she ran right into a light pole. It startled her so, that she forgot about Ike and run back to me looking for protection from the pole. For the next week, she would not walk near one of those light poles. I literally had to walk her or sit her near those poles to make her deal with her fear.

2. Boiled Pig's Ears - When we were doing obedience training with Frannie, the instructor kept insisting that we needed to find some treat that will get Frannie excited. We found some that she found interesting, none brought real excitement. That was was until our housekeeper brought a bag of frozen pig's ears. We boiled them and refroze. Now whenever we bring them out, Frannie will jump on us wanting a piece. It is the only thing that we have come across that will make her jump on us.

1. Magda - there is no doubt what is Frannies favorite thing in Germany. When Magda is at work, she lays around waiting for her return. While she will walk with me, she is hardly excited about it. About an hour before Magda is expected home, Frannie turns into a doggie radar, ears perked for any sound from the stairs. And when she hears the right footsteps on those stairs, she will run back forth between me and the door. If I open the door for her, she scurries down with her tail flying to meet her number one thing in Germany.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4

Walking Frannie - Her Boyfriend, Ike

Frannie has herself a boyfriend. His name is Ike and he is a Belgium Shepherd. Every time that Frannie sees him, She becomes very excited, running up to him and trying to entice him to play. She use to bark quite a bit, but I think she has figured out that doesn't work and may in fact be considered bad manners. Now she just follows Ike around, sometimes getting into play stance in front of him. Ike is the only dog that I have ever seen Frannie greet this way

Ike is pretty cool about the whole thing. I expect that Frannie is not his only girlfriend. His owner tells me that there are other dogs that, like Frannie, will only play with Ike. Not sure why this is. Certainly Ike is a handsome dog. And his is well behaved as well. Ike's owner does spend a lot of time training him. What every it is, Frannie seems quite happy with him.

In Search of Edible Stones

This week we had an opportunity to connect with our common hunter-gatherer past in doing a activity that while it is not common, it is practiced more widely here in Germany than in the USA. That wold be mushroom hunting.

The idea started at the 70th birthday party of Ulrich, one of Magda's friends. As we were talking,  Ulrich mentioned that on a walk the previous week he had started to collect Steinpilz in the last week and that there were few things better than Steinpilz in a cream sauce over pasta. Before I had a chance to say anything, Magda jumped in saying how she would love to go with him one day to learn about collecting. And so, a few days later, we arranged to do just that.

Steinpilz (literally translated as "stone mushroom") is perhaps the most desirable of Germany's  edible wild mushrooms. They are a large, meaty mushroom. The best comparison in terms of consistency and taste that would be common to Americans would be the porcini. However, they are different mushrooms. Steinpilz is only one of the many varieties of mushroom than one can find in the German forest, some of which of course are poisonous. But there are a wealth of edible ones and until recently it was common practice for Germans to go out to collect then.  Magda actually showed me the text of a biology book from the 1970's. The book taught mushroom identification so that people could learn how to safely collect them. Some of the mushrooms mentioned include the following:

• Ziegenbart which looks, as its name suggest, like the beard (Bart) of a goat (Ziegen) sticking out of the ground. However, ziegenbart is a "giftig" which has nothing to do the the English false friend "gift". "Giftig" means toxic.
• Parosolpilz is a pretty mushroom that grows taller than most on a slender stem with a dome-shaped cap. Ir looks like an umbrella sticking in the ground.
• Pfifferling are what we call chanterelles. It is also one of the most sought after edible mushrooms in Germany.
• The red skin of the cap of the Täudling would make you think it is toxic, but it is not. According to the biology book, it tastes like a potato.

But we were after the German king of edible mushrooms, Steinpilz. We meet Ulrich in his village, Lay. Lay is on the Moselle, not far from Koblenz. We took the trail up out of Lay to where the trail entered a old deciduous forest. This would be out hunting grounds. We headed off the trail in search of our prize. Stienpilz is a fairly large mushroom with a skin that starts dark brown and gets lighter as the mushroom ages. Stienpilz does not use gills to release spores, rather a system of tube like structures that give the appearance of a sponge under the cap. Another distinguishing characteristic is the shape of the stem. It become thicker at the base as compared to where it meets the cap.

It wasn't long before we started to find a few, enough for dinners for two families.  Our haul can be seen in the first picture. It was also fascinating to see the great array of mushrooms that you just would miss if you stay on the trail. We saw a number then that were mentioned in Magda's biology book, and a few that weren't. The one that had the most fun off the trail was Frannie. She just seemed in seventh heaven running from place to place and sticking her nose in the leaves for some new smell. It might be a while before we can get her trained to be a mushroom hunter.

Dinner as you would expect consisted of the meal that started this whole adventure, Steinpilz in a cream sauce over pasta. Hardest thing about it is cleaning the mushrooms. Snails also like Steinpilz, so you want to be sure to cut away from around where snails have taken a bite. Saute onions and bacon until the onions begin to soften. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft. Then add the cream, season and add a bit of fresh parsley. Serve with pasta. The Spatbugunder (pinot noir) that we had worked great. But a dry Moselle Riesling would also work well. Guten Appetit.

Rheinsteig - Koblenz to Braubach

Last week, Frannie and I used one day for a 20 km hike on the Rheinsteig. The short story goes something like the following:

First 18 km mostly through woods with 2 good climbs and one steep downhill. Felt good to be out, Frannie seemed to enjoy it as well. But I didn't need that hill between 18 and 19 km. Still after getting to the top, the reward was some great views of the Rhein and the castle Marksburg.

The longer story is a bit more involved. The previous week while looking at the map of Rheinsteig, I noticed that the trail passed Koblenz directly on the opposite bank of the Rhine. So is seemed like a good idea for my second hike on Rheinsteig to walk across the bridge and follow the trail up river.

So one morning last week found Frannie and I crossing the bridge over the Rhine. When we dropped down from the bridge on the other side, we were on Rheinsteig. The trail follows the river for less than a kilometer, then turns up through the villiage of Pfaffendorf. pass the church and into a valley as it climbs 300 metes over the next 5-6 km. At the top is Lichter Kopf, a tower build in WWII to allow German troops to watch over this part of the Rhine. That was until the heavy winds at the end of February that blew the tower down. Now all that is left is the twisted remains of the base of the tower.

The next 4.5 km offered views of the Lahn river that flows into the Rhine. At this point the trail begins a 145 meter drop in a 1/2 km called Ruperts Klamm. In Ruperts Klamm, there are places where the trial disappears. You just follow the flow of the water and scramble over any rocks in you way. It really looks more dangerous as it actually is. And there are covered steel cables that can be used in some of the tougher spot. Of course, those didn't help Frannie. There were a couple of spots that were difficult for her, but she managed to get through the Klamm without incident.

The trail continues down to and across the Lahm, then climbs the other side, passing by a hotel. Then we head down to that 18 km mark. At this point, I was feeling OK. but I was out of water, so the climb between 18 and 19 km was a bit harder than I would have liked. Frannie and I took a rest at the top, not knowing that if we had walked another 80 meters, we would had had a wonderful view of Braubach, the Rhine and Marksburg setting on the hill over the town.

Marksburg castle is one of the best preserved castles in Germany. It is certainly in the top 5 of castles to visit. Unlike the glamor castles built to satisfy 17th and 18th century egos, Marksburg is a true medieval fortress castle that claims to have never been over-run by invading armies. Well worth a tour.

The last kilometer was all downhill, depositing us in the middle of Braubach. Frannie and I found the train station and took the bus back to Koblenz. This was Frannie's first bus trip. But I don't think she noticed much. All she wanted to to was find a place to lie down and sleep.

Walking Frannie - Finding Her Voice

I made this video of Frannie a couple of days ago. It is pretty shaky because I was trying to get her to play with me while filming her. The only reason I put it up here is that it actually captures her barking. She does it twice about half way through the film.

I know, many wondered if she actually had a voice. I only heard her bark twice in the year and a half we had her in the USA. But we have notice her doing the a bit more recently. At home she is quiet, although she did let out a bark the other day when a wind caused some drapes to move. So maybe she has a future as a watchdog.

From 2010-05-03

Walking Frannie - First Spring Hike

What with the weather and vacation, it had been a few weeks since we had Frannie on a hike. So we decide to take a Easter hike today and I got a couple of videos of Frannie enjoying herself. Hope you like as well. Just click on the images to see the videos.

From 2010-04-04

From 2010-04-04

Walking Frannie - Breakthroughs

Frannie has been with us for almost 2 years. It is sometimes hard to remember the shy dog that we first met back then, tail between legs, feeding only at night after we were in bed, crawling more than walking on her lead. Especially after the events of the last week.

First, Frannie has discovered other dogs. She has been marking during walks for about a Month now, but when she would actually meet a dog, she wanted nothing to do with them. That was until a week ago when she met a black and white dog about her size. As Magda was talking to the owner, Frannie decided, for the first time, to invite the other dog to play. And he accepted. Then a few days later, Frannie made a similar invitation to a Lab. The Lab wasn't interested. But for Frannie this these were major breakthroughs.

Another sign of her progress was on a trip to a nursing home where the mother of one of Magda's friends is now living (she's the lady that made Dipperküchen for us back in November, click here for that story). Frannie goes with Magda on her trips there and has become a fixture there. She seems fearless in approaching people at the home. Today, as she was walking through the home with Magda, Frannie noticed folks in the dining room and decided to take head into the room. Magda followed as Frannie entered the room and went up to one gentleman with memory problems, allowing him to pet her. Frannie then walked up to a lady she had met on previous visits who was quite happy to the recognized. Is she aware how she is helping these people?

But for me, the biggest breakthrough was Friday after my German class. I was to meet Magda and Frannie at the car. Magda had taken Frannie on a short walk by the Rhine when I arrived at the car. I saw the two of them turn the corner and head towards the car. So I headed to the sidewalk were I could be seen. Frannie has always preferred being around Magda. It's not that she disliked walks with me, she just preferred walks with Magda. So I was amazed to see Frannie, who was following behind Magda at the time, recognize me in the distance,  run past Magda and with her wide dogie smile come running to me. Not only that, but when she arrives, she stood up on her hind legs, placed her front legs on my arm and her head against my body. At that moment, these last two years made complete sense.

Walking Frannie - Snow Storm

As expected, Mother Nature gave us another snow storm on Saturday. Temperatures fell into the mid-20's and we had about 4 inches of snow. It did feel colder than the 25, I think because we had started to get use to upper 40s and 50s.

Frannie, however, likes the snow. You can easily distinguish Frannie's tracks in the snow when she walks off leash. She plows a trough in the snow with her nose. So her tracks consist of this trough with her paw prints on either side.

Of course this snow-ploughing also means that she wears a white nose while she is out in the snow. Which we find humorous.

Today, we are back to blue skies and temperatures expected back to 50s tomorrow. So Frannie can enjoy the snow today. I'm sure that she is the only one in this house hoping that Mother Nature throws another storm our way.

Walking Frannie - Signs of Spring

Mother Nature is trying hard to draw me in and get me to start thinking about spring. We've had a few nice sunny days in a row now. And we haven't seen snow for a couple of weeks. On top of that, the snow drops and crocus are blooming. And we are hearing more and more birds singing.

But the big tip off for Frannie is that our walk along the Rhine became a walk in the Rhine. Snow melts at the higher elevations had caused the Rhine to rise out of it's banks in Wallersheim, covering some of the trail. At points, the water made the trail impassable. At other point, it was less than an inch deep. This gave us the appearance of "walking on water" during our morning walk. It also surprised a few ducks that though they were safely surrounded by water and away from the riverbank before we walked up to them.

It is fun to watch the barges when the water level on the Rhine rises and the the current becomes stronger. The boats heading upstream (south) have to work so hard, yet are barely able to travel faster than our walking pace. Meanwhile the boats heading downstream are just flying by.

Going downstream like that might be fun here at Koblenz. but getting around the Loreley a bit south of here might be a different story. The Loreley is rock formation on the eastern bank of the Rhine that causes a sharp bend in the river. According to mythology, many captains have wrecked their boat after being detracted by the song of a young maiden there.

As nice as the weather has been the last couple of weeks, I'm not buying this spring thing quite yet. There is still plenty of time for Mother Nature to pull another trick or two. Maybe this time next month, I'll start to believe, but not just yet.

Walking Frannie - Relaxing After Car Ride

Magda and I went down to Badenweiler for the week-end, taking Frannie along. Frannie handles riding in a car pretty well. She certainly does much better than we hear from a lot of other dog owners. But she does like to spread out and relax after the drive. She does have a way of taking over the sofa.

Walking Frannie - Father Rhine 2

There is just something about walking along a large body of water be it the Atlantic Ocean, Lake Eire or the Rhine River. It just has a different feeling to it.

To reach the Rhine, Frannie and I must make out way through the maze of streets in Wallersheim. Finally reaching a small alley that passes by a half-timbered building that bulges a foot into our path from settling over the 300 or 400 years of it's existence. At the end of this alley we reach the Rhine and are suddenly have unobstructed views across and down the river. Maybe that is part of it. As your eyes are able to see further, your might is allowed to follow, free from obstuctions.

Maybe it is just some thing primal, a distant memory of the habitat of early ancestors as they spread along the coasts.

For Frannie, it is primarily about the smells. Mostly this is the smells of other dogs, as the trail is a popular place for people in the village to take their dogs. But also included are the birds. There is a large population of mallard ducks and swans. But also gulls and cormorants can be seen (and I guess smelled). Also, there is a pair of Nile geese. No one knows they came from. They just showed up one day a couple of years ago and have stayed ever since. They have even done some inner breeding with the mallards, as there are some ducks that seem to combine characteristics of the two.

Frannie is particularly interested in the ducks and the swans. She will not only smell where they have been but will stand on the bank, ears forward, watching them for minutes on end. The swans are not exactly happy with Frannie's interest, especially when they are out of the water. They will stand up tall, making themselves appear as large as possible, and start hissing at her. Frannie makes no move towards them, but she does stand her ground, and every now and again looks at me like she is asking "what exactly is their problem, I just was to look". For those who know Frannie, they know this is quite a change for our dog.

Frannie is an Honorary Schängelhund

Frannie is now registered with the city of Coblenz. Since she wasn't born in Coblenz, she can not officially be considered a Schängel (referring the the mischievous schoolboy that is a symbol of the city). But she thinks of this as home now. 

She wears here new metal proudly, don't you think?

She and I had to register at the same place, soon after arrival. We both claimed no religion, because it's true and it avoids paying the taxes that are collected for the church. I, however, did not get a medal to wear.

Walking Frannie - Father Rhine

On the mornings that Magda works, Frannie and I take a walk. Generally this lasts about an hour. Sometimes, it's a little more. Sometimes, it's a little less. It's not that we walk very far. It's just that Frannie's way of experiencing the word through her nose requires a good deal of time stopping to get a good sniff.

Generally, we begin by walking north, pass the Schreber gardens where there are some nice green spaces for Frannie to perform her duties. Then we have some freedom to go whatever direction we wish. But usually our choosen direction is east to find one of the alleys that provide public access to what the Germans call "Father Rhine".

There we are often greeted by the barges, some half a football field long, that ply the river. Some ride high in the water, empty and heading to their next load of goods. Others are loaded, riding low in the water, the bow wake six inches below the deck.

Frannie will stare in the wonderment of these huge beasts passing by. But she is much more intently interested in the other animals, or more precisely, the smells of the other animals. Obviously, other people walk their dogs here. The mallards, gulls and cormorants produce more than a passing interest. But she doesn't have a clue of what should be done with these large, long neck white birds on the water's edge, or on the bank.

The swans are year-round residents at Neuendorf, thanks to the handouts that they get from the human residents here. Frannie, so far, has been content to stare at them, ... and smell where they have been. We do wonder if she is viewing then as playmates ... or as a dinner.

Walking Frannie - Picking Up

There is at least one aspect of German culture that I don't accept. As a general rule, people don't pick up after there dogs. In a country that tries so hard to make sense in so much of what is done, it hard to understand that the sanitary and aesthetic value of picking up doesn't out weight the effort in doing so. I mean it's not safe to walk on the grass in the park. Sometimes it's not even safe walking on the path in the park. And the cost is a bag and 5 second to reach down and pick up.

I'm not accepting and environmental argument about increased use of plastic in bags. Reduce the impact with the use of bags from recycled plastic or paper.

I will accept different rules when walking in the country than in the town.

This is one area where Magda and I have decided not to assimilate. We will pick-up after Frannie. It's the right thing to do.

If we do it, who knows, maybe 3 or 4 other will do it. And if 3 or 4 others are doing it, as Arlo would say, you got yourself a movement. Then if you can just get a few more to join the movement, you got yourself a revolution. And that just what we need here in Wallersheim, a dog pile pick up revolution.

Sure enough, while walking Frannie in the park, we say a lady walking a husky. The husky went, the lady took out a bag, picked up and tossed it in the near-by waste bin.

Three more and we have a movement.

Frannie's Postcard Home

Frannie sent a postcard to a friend in Clintonville. Hope you can read it. It is sort of hard writing with paws.

Hint: click on the picture to see a larger image

Walking Frannie - Other Dog Breeds

As noted previously, Frannie at 50 pounds is one of the larger dogs in Wallerheim. The predominate dogs here are terriers or terrier mixes. As you get out into the country, you see more larger dogs. Many are mixed breed, and many did come from animal shelters. Finding a companion from the shelter seems a preferred path for most Germans and it is for more and more Americans.

The image that most Germans would associate with the word dog is the German Shepherd. An they are certainly popular here. Although a lot of these seem smaller the the German Shepherds I know in Columbus.

German Shorthair and Wirehair Pointers are seen here just about as often as I see them in the US.

There are other German dog breeds that seem more popular in the US than they are here. I have never seen a Weimaraner here. Although an internet search does show clubs dedicated to the breed. Same with Doberman and Rottweilers. Although, I have seem one Rottweiler here.

There are a couple of German breeds that we have seen here, but have never seen in the US. One is a Wachtelhund. Litteraly, this would translate to "Quail hound", but I think they are also know as German Spaniels in English. They appear to be a bit larger than a Brittney or Springer. Coloring can vary from dark brown patches on white to all dark brown. As the name suggests, these a bred as birding dogs.

The Münsterlander that we meet was a beautiful dog. She was 13 years old, white with large and small patches of mahogany brown. She about the same weight as Frannie, but with longer legs. Her coat was medium length and she had brown, intelligent-looking eyes. She also seemed to have a good temperament. Both she and Frannie set under adjacent tables in a restaurant on one of our hikes. A really, really pretty dog.

Walking Frannie - Doggie Relations

Frannie is not the only dog in Wallersheim. That is not too surprising, Germans do love their dogs. It is also not too surprising that Frannie is one of the larger dogs in the neighborhood. The realities of living in 1000 to 1200 square foot apartments lead to a preference for smaller breeds. What has been surprising is the aggressive reactions of other dogs to Frannie. Or the number of times on a walk that you see someone with their dog change direction to avoid their dog reacting to Frannie.

Magda actually was not at all surprised when I mentioned this. It turns out that it is highly unlikely that these dogs have been neutered. The general feeling in the culture is that neutering changes the dogs personality and that would not be right. Of course, Germans do not appear to deal with puppy mills or wide spread problems of dogs in the street. In point of fact, I'm told that animal shelters actually have to import dogs from areas that do have such problems for placement in German homes.

Walking Frannie - Green Spaces

As anyone with a dog knows your dog's need for "waste elimination" becomes a concern in scheduling your day. Some folks are able to get away with letting the dog out in the back yard. Frannie has always required a more high maintenance approach. Typically this means a walk that include green spaces where she can "do her duty". Concrete or blacktop would not be considered acceptable.

Living in Magda's 4th floor apartment Wallersheim presents additional challenges. First is the challenge of 4th floor living. It doesn't sound like a good idea to hurry down 3 flights of steps with a dog that needs to go right away. It is necessary to time things so that Frannie has the need, but it's not an urgent need.

The second is the challenge of living in Wallershiem. Wallershiem is a community of Koblenz along the Rhine just north of the Deutsche Eck at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers. Prior to 1970, this community was mostly orchards. As the "Wirkshaft Wonder" attracted people to leave the country side for jobs in the city, the framers in communities adjacent to large cities figured out that they could set themselves for life by building apartments and houses on their land. And that is what happened here. Four and five story apartment building and row house sprung up faster that the growth could be controlled. The result is a complex maze of streets with little green spaces available.

So, one of our first missions was to locate the nearest green spaces for our walks with Frannie. We do have two small parks about 2 blocks away. These happen to be on the way to a passage to the banks of the Rhine where there is additional green for Frannie's use. Another somewhat larger park is about 3 blocks away. And there are some spaces in front of some Schreber gardens (gardens belonging to a club and rented by members to tend, named after the name that described the healthful effects of gardening) about 4 blocks in yet a different direction.

The good news is that we do have places for Frannie to claim, and we are able to have some variety in our walks.

The Flight to Germany

Checking in for the flight took an hour. This was because the NW/Delta agent was concerned that the date on Frannie's EU 998 health certificate was older than 10 days. The NW/Delta manual stated something to the effect that a dog need a "health certificate signed within the last 10 days or forms required for entry into the destination country". The requirement for German was a EU998 that showed following:

• a rabies vaccination at least one month and no longer that 1 year prior to travel
• a micro chip that meets the EU standard or a tatoo
• signed by the vet and authenicated by the US FDA.
  

There was no 10 day requirement on date on the vets signature.

The agent made about 10 calls looking for verification that the date was OK. I suppose the good news about this is that it took an hour off the time that Frannie would have to spend in the crate. We also met and talked to the TSA agents that would be inspected Frannie and her crate. Eventually, the agent got the OK to ship Frannie. TSA inspection went smoothly. The agent was kind enough to take Frannie directly to the plane. At our connection in Detroit, I was informed that Frannie was on the plane to Frankfurt. So far, so good.

Arriving in Frankfurt, it took a bit longer than normal for me to get through passport control. In typical EU fashion, there were 3 stations open, 2 for EU citizens and 1 for non-EU. And the non-EU station was shared with crew and handicapped both of which went immediately to the front of the line. So the 40 minutes seem longer not knowing how Frannie took the trip.

When I finally got through, I found Frannie's crate at the large baggage area. She was definitely happy to see to see a familiar face, wagging her tail and licking my fingers through the door of the crate. I was a little worried about taking her out of the crate at that moment, having visions of Frannie using the middle of the baggage hall as a WC. So I placed the crate with Frannie inside on a cart, got my bag and proceeded to customs.

Customs looked at the date of the rabies vaccination and the microchip. Did not care at all about the vet's signature, or the US FDA seal.

As we entered the arrival hall, I saw Magda waiting to the left, which was also the direction to the door to the crate was pointing. When the crate was even with Magda, the cart started to wave back and forth so that I needed both hands on the cart to control it. There was also a loud thump, thump, thump coming from the crate. Frannie had seen Magda through the door of the crate for the first time in 2 months, had stood up in the crated and was shaking her tail so hard that the cart was shaking. This continued as Magda greeted Frannie and through the airport as we looked for someplace to let her out of the crate.

Once out of the crate Frannie went back and forth between Magda and I, curling around as she rubbed against our legs wanting to be petted. Magda gave her a short walk, but as there was no grass at the airport, Frannie waited for the first rest stop before making her initial claim to German soil.

As a side note, while this happened I watched a kestrel hovering above a field dive down catch a mouse and carry it away.