mis

Let me tell you more about the dog.  He was born in Lohmen, a good 23 kilometers away from my parents’ house. It was a pretty close call: he wasn’t breathing when he came out of his mother’s womb and the breeder had to help him a little. He developed fine, thanks, not least, to his rather healthy appetite.

He is one of eight siblings, five boys and three girls, all of whom found a good home. There are plenty of pictures of the little ones’ growing up on the breeders’ homepage. If you want to spot our four-legged friend among the happy crowd of wee dogs, then look for a puppy with a white spot right on top of its head. Yep, that’s him. Barney.

The breeders posted a few videos on Youtube as well. There is this one (below) of Barney playing with one of his sisters  when they were four months old. Don’t ask who is who, at that age, it was still rather hard to tell them apart. The female voice in the background is the breeder’s, the male my dad’s, the barking is probably Gundula’s (the doggies’ mum) or their step-dad’s, (Moses) who sadly died a few weeks ago.

My dad and I visited Barney and his siblings a few times after they were born before we took him home in February this year. The first time I got to hold him he weed on me. He didn’t know it, in fact neither his eyes nor his ears had opened by the time, and he didn’t even have a name, yet, but this was probably the first time Barney marked his territory or, rather, declared ownership. I had, of course, already lost my heart to him by then, in the bleak midwinter of 2010.