Chris and Gerti

It seems like it was just yesterday when Chris Barr came here all the way from Indiana to pick up his new puppy Gerti (Gwen v Moosbach-Zuzelek). Actually it was 13 months ago as she was a puppy from Gilda's litter sired by Billy. Chris did a lot of research and communicated with the people who have already had dogs from us, like Chuck Collier and Joe Walters. Chuck and Joe's dachshunds are short coated with no beard, and Chris insisted on a puppy with this type of coat.

Today I got a nice e-mail from Chris, who wrote:

"Hi Jolanta,
Just a quick Gerti update. She got her shots last week and was less than impressed with the needle. She weighed 20.8 lbs and the vet was impressed with the shape she’s maintaining.

I know you know what I mean, you hate to say any dog is your favorite because you love all that you have or have had, but Gerti is absolutely the best companion dog I’ve ever had. The kids are running all the time. They basically just need dad for rides and cash. This allows me a lot of time to spend with Gerti. We have several places that we exercise, you know, I don’t want her to get bored or anything, including the neighbor’s pond where she has evolved into a swimming nut. I think she likes to swim as much or more than my lab did. I took her fishing last night with my daughter’s boyfriend and my son, and Gerti swam for an hour solid. She went from person to person, doing her best to catch their bait, (not a great thing) or the fish they were reeling in. My son finally stripped down to his skivvies and swam with her. She loves it. She’s especially fond of trying to catch the hundreds of squeaking frogs. Makes her as you put it, “a good/tired puppy”.

She runs rabbits beautifully; I can’t wait to try her on a field trial next spring. However, I’ve tried to limit the “rabbit exposure” this summer at Andy’s urging since Trackfest. She’s so gamey; just want her to focus on deer when we’re tracking. When we’re out and she bumps one though, it makes for a great opportunity to work on her recall.

It’s been too hot to lay any practice tracks since July 4th weekend when the mosquitoes and deer flies nearly carried us away. So we’ve just spent the month walking, running, and swimming. When it starts to cool a bit, we’ll do some more training.

October 1st is right around the corner, hard to believe. My goal for Gerti is 20 tracks, with hopefully at least 5 legitimate finds.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and tell you how much we love Gerti. The kids say she’s “spoiled rotten”."

Below there are two pictures of Chris and Gerti, first one with Joe and the other one with Chuck. They all have become good friends.

Thanks Chris for the update! We are really happy that you and Gerti bonded strongly and enjoy each other so much.