I hate traveling. In fact, I hate it so much that my last trip abroad was a study trip to Hungary in 1992.
It was therefore quite a surprise for my family when I told them that we were going to Norway during the winter holidays to pick up a Schipperke puppy - namely little Don Audi, who would be 9 weeks old at that time.
The man in the house was shocked when he heard that we were getting another puppy. He still had a vivid memory of what Cookie was like as a puppy. The kids cheered. Probably more at the prospect of a trip to Norway than at the thought of another Schipperke in the house.
The Schipperke is called the Little Black Devil, and it is a very apt name for the first two to three years of its life. It is lively, noisy and completely beyond the reach of education. Fortunately, it is so charming that you forgive it all its faults as soon as it tilts its beautiful head a little and looks up at you. It is said to be the world's smallest sheepdog and has been used as an alarm and rat dog on barges in the Netherlands.
Ignorant as I was, I thought that Norway was the neighboring country and therefore just a stone's throw away from Horsens. I learned more. It takes ten hours to sail from Frederikshavn to Oslo. Only a few of the cabins allow dogs, and when we were going to sail home for the winter holidays, there were only cabins left on the Oslo - Copenhagen route, which takes 19 hours.
Cookie, our second Schipperke, is the only puppy I have ever bought. The other dogs were either born with us or came to us as adults. Cookie was born an hour's drive from our house, so we followed her from birth. We visited her at least once a week, so she knew us and was already attached to my daughter Sigrid when we picked her up as an 8-week-old puppy.
It was different to have to pick up a dog in Norway. I had to choose based on the video and the breeder's description and conversely the breeder had agreed to let us buy a puppy without having met us other than once in Denmark when she mated her bitch. It required trust from both sides.
The thought that we, as strangers, would have to take 9-week-old Audi away from his family and everything he was comfortable with, send him on a one and a half hour drive, a 19 hour boat trip - where stormy weather was even predicted - and then another 3 hour drive home to Horsens, did not sit well with me. That's why we had rented a cabin close to Audi's breeder so that we could visit him a few times before we came and picked him up home. Our transport box was left with him along with some toys on the first day we were visiting, and he was given a blanket from the breeder when we went home.
Audi quickly bonded with our two children, so his transport cage stood between them on the drive to the Oslo ferry.
It quickly became clear that Audi is a real globetrotter. During the entire trip, he acted as if he had never ordered anything other than to travel. When storm Otto accompanied us in the form of five-meter high waves on the open sea, the children vomited, Birger and I felt nauseous, but little Audi ran around, played and ate and finally crawled into his crate by himself and slept. I am impressed by the calmness he showed, even though everything around him was new and different.
Once home, Audi was greeted by our other three dogs over the course of a few days. Our Corgi, Mini, is especially happy with him, but Cookie and Bastian have also welcomed him nicely.
Now all the experiences such as puppy training, socialization, showing and other fun await. We look forward to following his development.
In fact, I've already made an appointment to go to Norway again this summer to attend a big Schipperke meet. Maybe one day I'll end up really enjoying traveling?
About the blogger:
Helene is 48 years old. She is on early retirement and spends a large part of her time with her animals. The animal group consists of 4 dogs, 1 cat, 15 free-range chickens, approx. 80 aviary birds and her daughter has three axolotls.
She loves writing short stories, poems and stories from her everyday life and enjoys reading a good Scandinavian crime novel.
In addition to Helene and all the animals, the family consists of Birger 55 years old, Thor 12 years old and Sigrid 10 years old.
Audi is coming home
I hate traveling. In fact, I hate it so much that my last trip abroad was a study trip to Hungary in 1992.
It was therefore quite a surprise for my family when I told them that we were going to Norway during the winter holidays to pick up a Schipperke puppy - namely little Don Audi, who would be 9 weeks old at that time.
The man in the house was shocked when he heard that we were getting another puppy. He still had a vivid memory of what Cookie was like as a puppy. The kids cheered. Probably more at the prospect of a trip to Norway than at the thought of another Schipperke in the house.
The Schipperke is called the Little Black Devil, and it is a very apt name for the first two to three years of its life. It is lively, noisy and completely beyond the reach of education. Fortunately, it is so charming that you forgive it all its faults as soon as it tilts its beautiful head a little and looks up at you. It is said to be the world's smallest sheepdog and has been used as an alarm and rat dog on barges in the Netherlands.
Ignorant as I was, I thought that Norway was the neighboring country and therefore just a stone's throw away from Horsens. I learned more. It takes ten hours to sail from Frederikshavn to Oslo. Only a few of the cabins allow dogs, and when we were going to sail home for the winter holidays, there were only cabins left on the Oslo - Copenhagen route, which takes 19 hours.
Cookie, our second Schipperke, is the only puppy I have ever bought. The other dogs were either born with us or came to us as adults. Cookie was born an hour's drive from our house, so we followed her from birth. We visited her at least once a week, so she knew us and was already attached to my daughter Sigrid when we picked her up as an 8-week-old puppy.
It was different to have to pick up a dog in Norway. I had to choose based on the video and the breeder's description and conversely the breeder had agreed to let us buy a puppy without having met us other than once in Denmark when she mated her bitch. It required trust from both sides.
The thought that we, as strangers, would have to take 9-week-old Audi away from his family and everything he was comfortable with, send him on a one and a half hour drive, a 19 hour boat trip - where stormy weather was even predicted - and then another 3 hour drive home to Horsens, did not sit well with me. That's why we had rented a cabin close to Audi's breeder so that we could visit him a few times before we came and picked him up home. Our transport box was left with him along with some toys on the first day we were visiting, and he was given a blanket from the breeder when we went home.
Audi quickly bonded with our two children, so his transport cage stood between them on the drive to the Oslo ferry.
It quickly became clear that Audi is a real globetrotter. During the entire trip, he acted as if he had never ordered anything other than to travel. When storm Otto accompanied us in the form of five-meter high waves on the open sea, the children vomited, Birger and I felt nauseous, but little Audi ran around, played and ate and finally crawled into his crate by himself and slept. I am impressed by the calmness he showed, even though everything around him was new and different.
Once home, Audi was greeted by our other three dogs over the course of a few days. Our Corgi, Mini, is especially happy with him, but Cookie and Bastian have also welcomed him nicely.
Now all the experiences such as puppy training, socialization, showing and other fun await. We look forward to following his development.
In fact, I've already made an appointment to go to Norway again this summer to attend a big Schipperke meet. Maybe one day I'll end up really enjoying traveling?
About the blogger:
Helene is 48 years old. She is on early retirement and spends a large part of her time with her animals. The animal group consists of 4 dogs, 1 cat, 15 free-range chickens, approx. 80 aviary birds and her daughter has three axolotls.
She loves writing short stories, poems and stories from her everyday life and enjoys reading a good Scandinavian crime novel.
In addition to Helene and all the animals, the family consists of Birger 55 years old, Thor 12 years old and Sigrid 10 years old.