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Eurasiers,
my lovable dogs
and companions
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as a child, I always wanted a dog. Luckily for me, my husband had the very same
wish.
Both of us grew up with reading the books written by Prof. Dr. Konrad
Lorenz, a famous man, who observed and studied animal behavior and was awarded with the nobel
prize. Especially the stories he wrote about his female dog fascinated us. She
was the product of an
un-planned mating between his Alsatian and his wife's Chow-Chow. Prof. Dr. Lorenz wrote that
it had luckily turned out that she combined the best qualities of both breeds
with very different characters. She was a charming specimen and developed a very close bond to
him. Deep inside I wished: One of these days I would like to have such a special
dog, too. (See Konrad Lorenz: "Man Meets Dog",
1953, and "King Solomon's Ring", 1952).
In 1987,
I stumbled across a magazine with a description of Eurasiers.
It immediately caught my attention and I then shared this article about a
purebred dog breed with my husband. We were eager to learn more.
From the moment we saw our first Eurasiers, we fell in love with
them; we were impressed by their variety in colour, their size, their cuddly coat and
fur, but even more by their behaviour. They were calm,
quiet and even tempered, no sign of pushiness; even during larger meetings,
far away from busy roads, most of them were
free, not on a lead. Their "reserved nature" won our admiration: Puppies and young dogs, still curious, would let us pat
and cuddle them, whereas most adult Eurasiers tactfully sidestepped any of our attempts
to touch them. The adult Eurasiers preferred to keep a certain distance to us "strangers".
No dog jumped up at us, no dog was pushy, they were all very polite, and
showed a friendly, open demeanor. We had found "our" breed of dog.
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became members of the German Eurasier Club Zuchtgemeinschaft
fuer Eurasier
e.V. (ZG) and had our name added to the waiting list for a Eurasier puppy.
Due to our personal circumstances, we waited for a full three years. We used this
time to learn more about this breed, and attended many Eurasier gatherings. At
last, our dream came true: Two days before
Christmas 1990, we went to pick up our very first Eurasier puppy, Baronesse von
Hassel. We called her Ayla.
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I had reserved all the time in the world for this
little puppy, and discovered the world again from a different angle. This time I
tried to see the world the way it might appear to a
dog. Our Ayla was quick to learn new things and she soon
developed the eurasier typical antennae for moods and vibes. She was adaptable
and yet always kept her very own personality; every now and then, she could even
display a good portion of stubbornness, but in a very charming way.
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| Ayla was
open-minded, curious in a pleasant way, and she had an intuitive mind for
situations and humans. As a puppy and young dog, Ayla was very friendly with
other people, the "noble reserve" towards strangers, which we so much
cherish, developed much later. She showed this reservedness only after she was fully
grown, as
an adult. But even as an adult, every now and then, Ayla would clearly display her sympathy for
a stranger. Such a person was always somebody we learned to like, too. Sometimes
we were convinced that Ayla could sense special situations, her intuitive
mind telling her when a person needed signs of affection or comfort, which she
then gave freely. |
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| Ayla successfully
passed all necessary tests for breeding and we could have a litter with her.
With this, another dream came true. I prepared myself well for the
coming birth. Without problems, Ayla gave birth to six females and one male.
Ayla visibly enjoyed raising the puppies. For us it was a wonderful experience, we learned a lot,
assisted her and enjoyed watching how our Eurasier female
Ayla, with
her intact instincts, cared for and raised her puppies.
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We would have been very sad if we gave away all puppies, and so we kept the male, our Merlin.
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Again, we had the welcome
opportunity to
see things through a new perspective:
How mother and son - with me and my husband - learned
to find their way and get along in our world and theirs.
As a puppy and young dog, Merlin was very lively, not
easily tired and always ready for practical jokes. Under our wings and
those of his dog mom, Ayla, Merlin gradually
developed into a pleasant, well-mannered and even tempered Eurasier.
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Merlin was always friendly, always seeking harmony, never provoked a
fight, quite the opposite, Merlin preferred the role of a "peacemaker".
The older he grew, the more he reminded us of a greek philosopher who
stoically and calmly viewed the world around him. I loved to look deep
into Merlin's dark brown eyes and always had the impression he expected me to
read his mind.
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I often
invited Merlin and his mom Ayla to show me what they would like.
Whenever this communication was successful, Merlin's face beamed with
joy. Ayla took it for granted that I "asked" her about
her wishes. One of the games they loved to play went like this: I would
display five different goodies in my hand. Ayla loved to carefully consider which one she wanted to eat, fully enjoying the
situation of trying to make up her mind which one of the goodies she
preferred today. She would then take her time to eat and enjoy the one
she chose. It always reminded me of the situation when a person is
offered a box of chocolate specialties during coffee at a dinner party and carefully
chooses just one of the specialties. Merlin, on the other hand, had his very
own way of playing this game: He quickly snatched ALL five goodies, one
by one, and ate them all in no time. "What you got,
you got".
Ayla and her
son have died, but they are still with us, in our hearts and in our
memories. We think of them often, remembering the good times we had
together.
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| We stayed true to the breed Eurasier.
We had another Eurasier couple: Eurasier female Blikki von Bokina
and a young Eurasier male, Don vom
Isselbruch.
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As a puppy, Blikki was a whirlwind, a bundle of energy.
My husband would often call her "the cannon ball".
Blikki prefered to keep a - friendly - distance to strangers. On the other hand,
she liked to sit on other people's feet during Eurasier meetings? If I
asked Blikki to let somebody touch or pat her, she would eventually
comply.
She also complied at the vet's.
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Blikki could do the most elegant
jumps. She had a very
expressive face and could never hide her emotions: laughing, pouting, looking
inquisitive, enticing for some play, etc. Blikki had a great sense of
humour and loved to be cuddled by us. With age, she became more calm and settled.
Eurasier puppy Don brought life into our home
again.
Don took care that Blikki - and we - had no time to get rusty:
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In dog
school I had the possibility to try out a few agility elements with
Blikki and Don. Both had fun doing them. Don sometimes likes to
retrieve something, and, as we could also find out in dog school, Don
enjoys using his nose to find something. Outdoors, in the garden or
during our walks, Blikki and Don let off steam, they would run and play.
In the house, they
were both
calm, one hardly noticed them. A neighbour once asked me if our Eurasiers can bark at all. They can, but do it
seldom, and if they bark, they have a good reason. They follow me
in the house where I go, are simply there, without ever being a nuisance.
Don is now
alone. He gets his special cuddles and playtime and keeps us going.
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They are Eurasiers,
our lovable companions. |
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Eurasiers from Controlled
Breeding
VDH
° FCI ° IFEZ
Our Eurasiers are from the
Zuchtgemeinschaft
fuer
Eurasier e.V.
since
1973
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