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.

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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 - 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 - 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.

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.