Getu is a climbing area in China. An area we went to as Petzl athletes for the Petzl Roc trip a couple years ago when we still were sponsored by Petzl (read about why we quit our sponsorship over a year ago on my blog here.)
Get valley with the two big climbing arches.
Getu was a real adventure for us. The train ride, the climbing, the locals, the culture. Just everything was intense.
So the name stayed in our head.
And here we needed it again; a name for our new little friend. A clear name, a name no other has, a name with a positive meaning for us.
I like animals and like to have one myself. And always told myself it would be impossible to have one with our current lifestyle like itās impossible to have children.
But the memory of Esja and the dogs on the farm always stayed with me. Esja was the dog I got to meet when I met my ex-boyfriend in Iceland.
Esja was always such sweet companion.
Esja in her favourite surrounding; climbing area Hnappavellir
For more than a couple years I made my calculations; how much does a dog cost me, what about care, walking the dog, injuries, what kind of breeds, teaching a dog skills…
I started to become a āspecialistā. Knowing so much…
And then I started looking for a dog. Animal shelter after animal shelter, foreign animal shelters, webpages, forums, Facebook pages…
I walked dogs in Dutch shelter homes, thought I met my new best friend, a German Pointer, but every time I missed the āclickā. The click I felt with Esja, the click I should have to foster a dog for life.
And suddenly I thought; yes, this is the one: a 3 year old English Setter from Greece. A beautiful dog, no owner and with my support she could have a new life again, here in the Netherlands and wherever Iād go.
But…when she arrived in the Netherlands with organisation Gaia Dogs she turned out to be older, very, very shy, and by far not fit enough for my lifestyle. Aye… such a beautiful dog, but maybe not my dog now. Nothing to blame Gaia Dogs, they didnāt knew and truly still do a very good job in getting street-dogs a new life.
The English Setter called Iria from Gaia Dogs
So the search went on; a dog breeder had so many cute and beautiful ones; cross breeds from Husky-Collie to utterly beautiful Scottish Collies. I knew almost for sure Iād get my dog here. They looked healthy, playful, beautiful. Only thing that āitchedā me was āhow are the mother dogsā? The honest man even gave me a look in the ābreeding sheltersā where many little dogs were waiting for their new owner together with their mummies. It was clean, but it still looked like the dogs were held like pigs for their meat. It felt awkward, but in a way I understood; this is business.
Then later I met another litter of pups; Dachshunds. Small, fast, playful. And in this litter there was one little pup I hadnāt seen online when I made the appointment: and sheās now named Getu.
The pups in the litter were dappled, chocolate brown, or grey-brown patched with two that had a little white stripe. Except this one, she sat alone in a little separate bench. She was slightly smaller compared to the other ones, slightly shy, but just as playful as the other pups in the litter. Her ear missed a piece and she had a couple āholeā-like wounds on her other ear, shoulder and right hip. A big German Sherperd had bitten her a week before.
Poor thing, but still playful. She walked up to me a couple times, seemed interested and social towards me. Maybe even more than the other dogs in the litter.
Suddenly all calculations of the last year came together; a dog that fits in the van, is active enough to walk in the mountains, might be carried if she canāt walk (like when weāre climbing), doesnāt eat as much as a bigger fella, and…she looks sĆ³ different!
Not just a little different; but really different. This little Dackel had patches of brown on a white layer and blue eyes. Iād never seen such dog before. Knowing about the āaccidentally white/merleā I wasnāt fully sure yet. I didnāt knew yet exactly what a ādouble dappleā meant but I did understand she was a true mistake, and thatās why she doesnāt have official papers (but both her parents do have the papers). I mean, an handicapped dog wouldnāt really fit our lifestyle and would mean a radical change in our daily routine… But, she seemed to hear and seemed to see properly (her pupils were only a little diluted).
Suddenly I decided: yes, Iāll have her.
We paid (ā¬350,-) and I took her in my arms to our new home.
Wow. I own a dog!
Getu shaking because of nervousness on her first car-ride
For days in a row I slept bad. Will she recover from her wounds? Will she always be so playful? Will she gain enough weight? Will her eye shight stay allright? Will her hip recover so she can walk properly? Does she sleep through the night? Did she wet her nest? Will she like me? Will I be able to give her all she needs?
A million thoughts and questions…
Every bit of free time I put into researching more about the ābreeding mistakeā and my nights didnāt get much better. Did I do right? Wouldnāt it have been better to go for the Scottish Collie instead?
The visit to the vet didnāt make it much better. She was worried about her weight, how skinny she is and her size.
She advised me to feed her more often (5 times a day instead of three times a day). And track her growth (which I already did).
Looking back now, three weeks later I think I should have tracked her growth ever better with size measurements instead of just her weight.
Utterly skinny little creature.
Breeding mistake, yes. With Dackels you shouldnāt cross two ādappledā (Dachshund with patches) dogs. The result of crossing the two dapples is a dog that has a significant possibility to be deaf, blind or both and have more issues like severe skin-rash, no hair, under developed eyes, and more. The Dachshund organisations around the world all discourage breeding dapple-dapple (double dappled) dogs because of these clear health issues. Getu was a mistake. The āmum & dadā accidentally got together at the wrong moment and the owner didnāt knew for a while her fox-brown patched dog was pregnant byĀ her dark-chocolate brown patched dog (she owns several Dachshunds).
Luckily Getu doesnāt seem to be deaf nor blind. Read more about the Double Dapple:
– Anipal TimesĀ
– Dachshund Organisation
– Dachshund Breed CouncilĀ
Read about the daily life of two deaf and blind double dapple’s here: Noddy & Saartje.
She was the size of the ‘iron dackel’ when I just got her…
…look at the difference three weeks later!
Getu’s growth chart
Today my little Dackel seems skinny but fine. She doesnāt pee on the rug anymore, does her pees and poos outdoors, I can go for walks, obeys to ānoā, āstayā, ālay downā, āoffā, ācome hereā, āsearchā and right now weāre teaching her to play fetch and āroll overā. Sheās 4 months young this week and Iām getting more relaxed during the nights. Less thoughts, less worries and Iām truly starting to fall in love with her (and she with me).
Last weekend she already starred on the cover of the album of the lead competition and Iām sure sheāll show up in more climbing related events.
I can already take her with me in my backpack so Iām sure sheāll be a real climbing Dachshund.
Getu
Getu is a climbing area in China. An area we went to as Petzl athletes for the Petzl Roc trip a couple years ago when we still were sponsored by Petzl (read about why we quit our sponsorship over a year ago on my blog here.)
Get valley with the two big climbing arches.
Getu was a real adventure for us. The train ride, the climbing, the locals, the culture. Just everything was intense.
So the name stayed in our head.
And here we needed it again; a name for our new little friend. A clear name, a name no other has, a name with a positive meaning for us.
I like animals and like to have one myself. And always told myself it would be impossible to have one with our current lifestyle like itās impossible to have children.
But the memory of Esja and the dogs on the farm always stayed with me. Esja was the dog I got to meet when I met my ex-boyfriend in Iceland.
Esja was always such sweet companion.
Esja in her favourite surrounding; climbing area Hnappavellir
For more than a couple years I made my calculations; how much does a dog cost me, what about care, walking the dog, injuries, what kind of breeds, teaching a dog skills…
I started to become a āspecialistā. Knowing so much…
And then I started looking for a dog. Animal shelter after animal shelter, foreign animal shelters, webpages, forums, Facebook pages…
I walked dogs in Dutch shelter homes, thought I met my new best friend, a German Pointer, but every time I missed the āclickā. The click I felt with Esja, the click I should have to foster a dog for life.
And suddenly I thought; yes, this is the one: a 3 year old English Setter from Greece. A beautiful dog, no owner and with my support she could have a new life again, here in the Netherlands and wherever Iād go.
But…when she arrived in the Netherlands with organisation Gaia Dogs she turned out to be older, very, very shy, and by far not fit enough for my lifestyle. Aye… such a beautiful dog, but maybe not my dog now. Nothing to blame Gaia Dogs, they didnāt knew and truly still do a very good job in getting street-dogs a new life.
The English Setter called Iria from Gaia Dogs
So the search went on; a dog breeder had so many cute and beautiful ones; cross breeds from Husky-Collie to utterly beautiful Scottish Collies. I knew almost for sure Iād get my dog here. They looked healthy, playful, beautiful. Only thing that āitchedā me was āhow are the mother dogsā? The honest man even gave me a look in the ābreeding sheltersā where many little dogs were waiting for their new owner together with their mummies. It was clean, but it still looked like the dogs were held like pigs for their meat. It felt awkward, but in a way I understood; this is business.
Then later I met another litter of pups; Dachshunds. Small, fast, playful. And in this litter there was one little pup I hadnāt seen online when I made the appointment: and sheās now named Getu.
The pups in the litter were dappled, chocolate brown, or grey-brown patched with two that had a little white stripe. Except this one, she sat alone in a little separate bench. She was slightly smaller compared to the other ones, slightly shy, but just as playful as the other pups in the litter. Her ear missed a piece and she had a couple āholeā-like wounds on her other ear, shoulder and right hip. A big German Sherperd had bitten her a week before.
Poor thing, but still playful. She walked up to me a couple times, seemed interested and social towards me. Maybe even more than the other dogs in the litter.
Suddenly all calculations of the last year came together; a dog that fits in the van, is active enough to walk in the mountains, might be carried if she canāt walk (like when weāre climbing), doesnāt eat as much as a bigger fella, and…she looks sĆ³ different!
Not just a little different; but really different. This little Dackel had patches of brown on a white layer and blue eyes. Iād never seen such dog before. Knowing about the āaccidentally white/merleā I wasnāt fully sure yet. I didnāt knew yet exactly what a ādouble dappleā meant but I did understand she was a true mistake, and thatās why she doesnāt have official papers (but both her parents do have the papers). I mean, an handicapped dog wouldnāt really fit our lifestyle and would mean a radical change in our daily routine… But, she seemed to hear and seemed to see properly (her pupils were only a little diluted).
Suddenly I decided: yes, Iāll have her.
We paid (ā¬350,-) and I took her in my arms to our new home.
Wow. I own a dog!
Getu shaking because of nervousness on her first car-ride
For days in a row I slept bad. Will she recover from her wounds? Will she always be so playful? Will she gain enough weight? Will her eye shight stay allright? Will her hip recover so she can walk properly? Does she sleep through the night? Did she wet her nest? Will she like me? Will I be able to give her all she needs?
A million thoughts and questions…
Every bit of free time I put into researching more about the ābreeding mistakeā and my nights didnāt get much better. Did I do right? Wouldnāt it have been better to go for the Scottish Collie instead?
The visit to the vet didnāt make it much better. She was worried about her weight, how skinny she is and her size.
She advised me to feed her more often (5 times a day instead of three times a day). And track her growth (which I already did).
Looking back now, three weeks later I think I should have tracked her growth ever better with size measurements instead of just her weight.
Utterly skinny little creature.
Breeding mistake, yes. With Dackels you shouldnāt cross two ādappledā (Dachshund with patches) dogs. The result of crossing the two dapples is a dog that has a significant possibility to be deaf, blind or both and have more issues like severe skin-rash, no hair, under developed eyes, and more. The Dachshund organisations around the world all discourage breeding dapple-dapple (double dappled) dogs because of these clear health issues. Getu was a mistake. The āmum & dadā accidentally got together at the wrong moment and the owner didnāt knew for a while her fox-brown patched dog was pregnant byĀ her dark-chocolate brown patched dog (she owns several Dachshunds).
Luckily Getu doesnāt seem to be deaf nor blind. Read more about the Double Dapple:
– Anipal TimesĀ
– Dachshund Organisation
– Dachshund Breed CouncilĀ
Read about the daily life of two deaf and blind double dapple’s here: Noddy & Saartje.
She was the size of the ‘iron dackel’ when I just got her…
…look at the difference three weeks later!
Getu’s growth chart
Today my little Dackel seems skinny but fine. She doesnāt pee on the rug anymore, does her pees and poos outdoors, I can go for walks, obeys to ānoā, āstayā, ālay downā, āoffā, ācome hereā, āsearchā and right now weāre teaching her to play fetch and āroll overā. Sheās 4 months young this week and Iām getting more relaxed during the nights. Less thoughts, less worries and Iām truly starting to fall in love with her (and she with me).
Last weekend she already starred on the cover of the album of the lead competition and Iām sure sheāll show up in more climbing related events.
I can already take her with me in my backpack so Iām sure sheāll be a real climbing Dachshund.
Getu’s first climbing adventure
Because Iām not sure everyone would like to follow the Dachshund adventures in between our own adventures she got her own Facebook page: Getu – the climbing Dachshund.Ā
More pictures in her Picasa web album here.
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