Luna

This all started sometime early in February 1999. I’d just completed a run of Solomon by Händel and promptly came down with a terrific flu that put me in bed for 4 days. Combined with the flu I also had a sciatic attack so I really couldn't get out of bed. I lay there, slept, groaned, felt miserable and blew my nose as a form of physical exercise. But not much else.

Now, I've had colds and flus before but this one was somehow different. I couldn't seem to get completely over it. I had a temperature of about 99.5 - 100 and had no energy. I felt washe'd out. I’d gone to the doctor who gave me some antibiotics but they didn't help. All tests showed normal and I had a lung capacity of 117% - not surprising for a bass trombone player.

Finally my doctor sent me to a lung specialist who diagnosed asthma. At last - this condition that had been going on for over 10 weeks had a name. But I still got worse and worse until I was delivered to the emergency room of the local hospital, more dead than alive. There they ran me through the CAT scan and discovered lung embolisms - lots and lots of them. I spent the next 36 hours in intensive care and then another 10 days in the hospital. Got lots of work done, but, still I wouldn't recommend it as a new office space.

Anyway - the doctors said “either get more exercise or get a box”. I've got enough boxes already so ... and anyway, my wife had been bugging me for years to go for romantic walks with her - 2,3,4 times a day. So we walked. We walked first to the butcher shop. Then I made it all the way to the Post Office. After that I gradually extended my walking range to 6-8 kilometers. Who'd a thunk it.

It was too easy to have too much to do, not be in the mood, have a headache, not go out in the rain.

So one evening, after years of saying “...no, no dog...” my wife asked: “How about getting a dog?”

We started watching a pet show on TV and saw a really cute dog at one of the pounds. We decided to go there and just look. Just look, you understand? Sure your do. ;-)

So we got there and we were let into the noisiest room outside of a symphonic rehearsal hall. At least 30 dog “stalls” with 1-2 dogs in each one. We strolled through and looked at each one, studying the printed description on the door of each stall. Some dogs remained laying where they were, others jumped up and down as if saying “Take me, take me!” I was taken by 2 Husky puppies - I've always had a weakness for those wolf-like features and blue eyes - as well as a beautiful 2 year-old Berner Sennenhund that had been set out at a local slaughter house. Susanne was taken by a thin gangly Sennenhund that sat there and looked up at us and meekly came over to sniff our hands. We went back outside and the lady asked us if we'd like to take a dog for a 10-15 minute walk. We both said we'd like to take this last dog - Luna for a walk. She was a wisp-o-the-wind on the leash. She pulled every which way and had to investigate everything, but had no weight or strength. I thought this would be a great dog. Lively but still controllable. Here is a picture we took of here on the very first day on that walk.

During that walk - and don't forget we'd actually come to “look at” another dog, just to look - we decided to reserve Luna. But we had a lot of work to do. We had to dog-proof the house. A friend had gotten a Labby several months before and had told how this dog had chewed every shoe, coat and dress in sight, jumped on everything and was practically uncontrollable. We didn't want that.

We bought 2 baby gates from neighbors and put one at the stairs leading from my basement office to the front door and the other leading to the living room and the upper house regions. My wife built a sliding screen gate to block off the entrance to the kitchen which is in a bar-type form. I spent hours making sure that my office was so set up that no important books or papers could be reached. I blocked off totally my teaching corner and re-cabled all my other computers so that no cables were showing I also rolled up the oriental carpet in such a way that it made a natural barrier to my desk, meaning I’d have to be careful when leaving my desk or coming back to answer the phone.

We had to buy a dog bed, “blankets” for inside the bed shell, water and food dishes - elevated of course for a big dog. Toys, toys and more toys, We had to buy a wardrobe to store our shoes and umbrellas and “stuff” that otherwise collects itself around the front door. We reorganized the whole area across from the laundry room which is next to my office. Luna was to sleep in the cubbyhole under the stairs - a nice natural cave in the house.

This all took about 10 days of hard work next to normal work, music notation assignments, rehearsals and concerts. But every day I went to the pound and took Luna out for a 30 - 90 minute walk. She went absolutely crackers every time she saw me. Sometimes she was nuts for the whole time, other times she was OK. The people at the pound described her as being totally wild. She was not house-broken and had had no training whatsoever. Although I still liked her, I was beginning to have some doubts as to my ability to control her. But one day my wife came with me and we walked together with Luna. While not perfect, she was actually much better. And a stranger came up to us to ask us how old our Swiss Sennenhund was - how beautiful she was and that one could see, that she had a great character. It was uplifting for me, and it was the first time I’d heard of a Grosser Schweizer Sennenhund (Great Swiss Cattle Dog). At the pound they'd said she was an Appenzeller.

We went out and bought everything we could find about Sennenhunde and dogs in general. We were finally ready to bring Luna home.

We chose a day when both of us were free. We picked Luna up from the pound and signed all the necessary papers. One paper that we were not supposed to see said that Luna was an Appenzeller and that she was not good in cars. Her shot record listed her simply as a mixture.

First we took a long walk along the Rhine - about 30 minutes or so. Then we went on the street car for about 10 minutes and walked a little further. Then back on the street car and shortly before our town we got out and walk the rest of the way. The idea was - if she's not good in a car, she might not be good in a street car - we don't own a car. So rather than risking a street-car full of puke, we decided to simply alternate ride and walk. We also wanted Luna to be tired when she got to her new home so that she could investigate and then just flake out for awhile.

That worked. She investigated everything. I showed her her new bed and she got right in and went to sleep. My son sleeps in the room by the front door on the same level as Luna, my office and the laundry room. In the middle of the night he called upstairs to say that Luna had jumped over the gate. Well, I got dressed and took her outside. She immediately did both businesses - she had diarrhea. Probably the excitement. Anyway, afterwards I took her back to her bed and told her to stay. The next morning I went downstairs to take her out and she stood at the gate, tail wagging furiously and grunting like a pig!! I open the gate and she sprang all over me, grunting and squeaking. I knew then that we'd been adopted.

We became steady customers in a pet shop 3 towns away. We'd take Luna there and it was like three kids in a candy shop - me, my wife and Luna. Somehow we got to talking to one of the salesmen who had said “Hey - that's a Grosser Schweizer Sennenhund, right?” He was of the opinion, that we should take Luna to the farmers' fields and let her run around. We shouldn't be afraid that she wouldn't come back, because it was clear, that we were her people. We weren't so sure, however. I’d only dared do this with one dog that I’d ever had and that only after intensive training. Well, we went one day armed with lots of hot-dog meat and dog goodies. We let Luna off the leash. At first she went just as hog-wild as when we'd first “met” her. But after a couple of minutes, we called her and - she came right back! Huh? Was that all?

Well, we put the leash back on her and started walking home. On the way, we saw a lady on the same path coming our way. We had Luna on the leash. She called out to us, asking if Luna “would do anything” if she let her dog off the leash. We said no and she let her dog go and called out that we should do the same. We were fearful that the two would disappear and never again be seen, but we decided to risk it. The 2 dogs played and played and played with each other. This woman introduced herself to us. She was one of the instructors at the dog school 2 towns away. She explained what they do there and invited us to stop by and check it out. It sounded great and the young-dog course was when we both were free, so we said we'd come.

That was the start of Luna’s real training and socialization. To make a long story a tad shorter, we've been there since January 2000. Luna started the young-dog course as one of the oldest and finishe'd it was one of the youngest. She's been now in the basic training for “Begleithund” course since April. She's learned the normal stuff like sit, come, lay-down, stay at our side and at distances of about 20 yards. She loves doing the jumps and has started apporting. She's never had a problem going through the group of people to fetch to a goody and can walk at heel well (when she wants to) with and without leash. Recently she's started tracking and doing a search of a revier (spelling?). And this is the wild dog we picked up at the pound!

But more important, she's turned into a perfect member of the family. At first we'd left the laundry room open at night. I just closed her gate leading to the front door and the kitchen and the door to my office. She had her little cave all to herself. No whining, whimpering or barking. The first 2 weeks there was never a puddle or pile anywhere in the house! What did they mean not housebroken? We took her out every 2 hours or so for short (30 minutes) or long (2 hours) walks. This was my health dog that was going to ward off any more lung embolisms or leg thrombosis! Then one morning I looked in the laundry room and there were 3 piles of diarrhea and some throw-up. Shed obviously been ill in the night, but had gone in there to do her business. I was impressed. She didn't do it on the floor in front of her bed. She didn't jump the gate - we knew she could if she wanted to because she'd done so the first night - she'd gone into the laundry room, where there is a drain in the floor. Then I looked in the drain and saw in a recessed part that there was yellow water. Shed also done a number 1 there. Maybe she'd done this the whole 2 weeks - a number 1 in the laundry room. Well, we made sure that we took her out, as I said, every 2 hours AND took her out the last time around midnight. I’d get up at 6 a.m. and take her out again. The next 2-3 weeks there was no more No. 1 in the laundry room - I’d leave the door only a little open to see if she'd push it open to do her business and it was always in the same position each morning. What a dog! Shed housebroken herself!

From the very beginning, Luna learned that she was not allowed in the kitchen. The kitchen borders on the live-in dining room, where she was allowed, but if the sliding screen was open, she was still not allowed in. She tried once, but we told her a sharp NO! And that was that. Now, even today whilst hunting flies, she will not go into the kitchen. Around the middle of February we took down the screen and have not had it up in front of the kitchen since. Once she stole a piece of bread from the dining room table. Again - a sharp NO! And she's never ever even tried to take something from the table. We've left bread, cheese, meat on the table after a meal and she's never touched it! All the stuff she loves so much better than dog food. What a dog!

A month later we took down the baby gate in front of the living room. We didn't want her in there because my wifes piano, clavichord and all her music is in there. She didn't want any of it chewed (like in our friends house). There are four steps leading from the dining room to the living room. To this day Luna has not even tried to go up past the last stair. Its like the gate was still there. She stands there wagging her tail so fast you could use it to whip cream into butter and her ears are so laid back that she looks like a weasel, but she refuses to go into the living room. From there it's just another flight of stairs to our bedrooms, but she knows they are not for her. Absolutely amazing!

In the meantime, Luna has grown some. That thin, wisp-o-the-wind has knocked me over twice. Once on the ice, spraining my ankle and once in the forest spraining my hand. Not intentionally, both times she got spooked, but she's now 61 cm at the shoulder and about 30-35 kg (about 70-80 pounds). She has a gait similar to a stalking lion when she's relaxed or with head and ears perked like a graceful gazelle when she's curious about something. Just last Sunday we were waiting for the other members of the tracking class when a woman come up through the same parking lot with her dog - a mountainous Grosser Schweizer Sennenhund. She called out, let her dog off the leash and I let Luna off and while the dogs were sniffing and playing we talked. Her “boy” was a purebred with papers and all of 65 kg (about 150 pounds) and absolutely huge but without a gram of extra fat on him. The leader of our group commented later that the proportions of her male to our female were perfect. Others on a couple of web sites and here in Switzerland are certain that Luna is a Grosser Schweizer Sennenhund, if not pure bred than a mix with an awful lot of GSS in her. If she has an impurity, it would be her ears that stand out too far. I've seen pictures of other GSS's with her finer features - small and thinly built. While my wife and I both tell anyone who asks that she is a mix, in my heart I believe that she is a GSS - probably from an unregistered litter.

But at any rate, Luna is a doll, even if she sometimes shows her puberty - becoming seemingly deaf if there’s an especially good tasting piece of horse dung on the trial. We’ve become great pals in and out of the house. If I’m laying on the couch Luna will come over first to wake me with a right cross to the chin and then she’ll flip herself onto her back and demand a tummy-rub until she falls asleep snoring in that position. Outside she’ll take the leash in her mouth and “Show Me the Way To Go Home”. I average 2-4 hours per day outside with her, rain or shine. I never thought anything would get me away from the computer for so long, but I‘ve found that during a romp with her I charge up my own batteries so high, that I can concentrate much better than before.

All in all, Luna has turned our lives around. Both mine and my wife’s. She too has fallen in love with Luna who guards her when she’s practicing or siting in back of the house. Sometimes we have to really work out who wants to go out with Luna and who went the last time. She gave her permission to have a dog in the house to get me healthy and lost her own heart to Luna. She hadn’t figured on that. Our daughter knew we’d chosen Luna even before we brought her home. Right after we decided to take her, we found out that Luna would be in the TV pet show as being up for adoption. They’d already shot the film before we’d reserved her. We all sat in front of the TV and Barbara (my daughter) said - “If I could choose, I’d take that one.” pointing to Luna on the TV. You can imagine how she reacted when we told her we’d already reserved Luna. Our son David was more standoffish. He was afraid that the dog would mess up his room (what a JOKE!) or that he’d have more chores to do because of Luna. Well, it took awhile, but now he too romps with Luna through the house and has even consented to taking her out once for a walk - with poop-bag! He’s not a goofy about Luna as the rest of us are, but maybe he is and just doesn’t show it as much.

Well, that’s our Luna. Of course yours is better, smarter, prettier more talented - but you’d be wrong. Luna is the (OUR) champ! ;-))))))

from 24. March 2001

Well, Luna made it. Today she had her first "Begleithund I" test. Sorry about the German, but if I describe the test and how Luna did, you'll be able to come up with your own equivalent:

1) Tracking - 100 yards with one 90 degree turn, laying down in front of the object to be found without touching it.. Luna did very well, getting 95 out of a possible 100 points. She lost the 5 points because once she lifted her head from the ground while tracking and right at the corner she obviously caught the scent of the next leg and cut the corner to go to it.

2) Walking, up-down, fetching - Here the dog must walk a zig-zag over about 75 yards with left and right turns and 2 about faces, one of which the dog must go behind the handler, coming out in stride on the left side. Once on the leash, once without leash.

Luna did -ok- here. She tends to either sniff the ground without breaking stride or have her head held slightly below level. The judges want to see the dog looking up at the handler the whole time, but this is only mandatory at the higher levels.

Up-down is from the "sit" position she must go straight down and upon command come back up into "sit." Done twice. Up-down-up-down. Her second time down she wasn't 100% parallel to me.

Then was the fetch by the numbers:

1. tell dog to wait and throw object at least 6 yards away.
2. tell dog to bring object. The dog must fetch the object and without delay or chewing/playing, bring it back to a sit position in front of the handler
3. upon command the dog must let the object out of it's mouth into the handlers hands
4. the dog must return to the normal "sit" position on the handlers' left.

Luna does this very well and snappily, but today she decided to twirl the object a couple of times in her mouth while waiting for the "out" command and she came slightly off-center to me.

89 out of 100 possible points.

3) Stay-down, Group-walk and jumps

5 minutes in the down position without getting up or crawling. Funny enough, that was a tough one for Luna. She loves to start nibbeling on grass, and of course the best grass is always just a couple of inches out of her reach. Fortunately she didn't find the grass to be that appealing during the test.

The group walk consists of walking on the leash through a group of people. Up and back. Then I take off her leash, tell her to wait and walk back through the people. Once through, I call her to me and she must come through the people into the "sit" position.

This she did very well.

After that, there was the high jump and long jump. Luna jumped ok but was a little ahead of the command.

95 out of a possible 100 points

Total: 279 out of 300 for a grade of "very good"

She took a well deserved third place! One other thing: The dogs in first and second place had both already participated in these tests before. This was Luna's first test ever. She was also the youngest dog in the whole test in any class at only 21 months - a mere baby.

We are so proud of her, especially since the folks at the pound where we got her 15 months ago claimed she was totally wild. She is now without a doubt the best behaved dog I've ever had, one we can take anywhere. Of course we knew that at the latest when we were on vacation in Croatia and she went everywhere with us, not causing a problem anywhere. But now we have the paper and pin to prove it.