What Do You Want? » Pets

Proficient Hunting Retriever

Matthias Scheler — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:09:54 +0000

Over the course of the last year Silke and Vader have attended training courses organised by The Gundog Club. During these courses Silke taught Vader a lot of useful skills like retrieving, coming back when called by a whistle or staying put on command. The latter is particularly useful when you want him to pose for a photo. After each course Silke and Vader had to pass an assessment.

Last Sunday Silke and Vader passed their final assessment (grade 4) with Merit. Vader is now a Proficient Hunting Retriever. Here is a photo of him with all his ribbons.

Vader’s second Birthday

Matthias Scheler — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:24:28 +0000

It feels like it was only a few weeks ago when I blogged about Vader’s first birthday. And now he is already two years old and a fully grown dog. But fortunately he is still as playful as a puppy.

Here is the traditional photo in the corner of our kitchen to commemorate his second birthday:

Holiday in North Cornwall

Matthias Scheler — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:25:00 +0000

Silke and I have already been to the southern part of Cornwall last year. Because we liked the beautiful landscape we decided to go back and visit the northern part as well. Silke booked us a nice holiday home on a former Dairy Farm near Widemouth Bay for the beginning of November. As it was only about 1.5 miles inland you could actually hear the surf from the garden.

The weather was really good for this late in the year. It mostly rained during the night and the sun was shining during the day. Silke and I seized the opportunity and went on extensive walks with our dog Vader. This was an excellent way to enjoy the stunning scenery. As I probably couldn’t find adequate words to describe it I’ll simply let the pictures do the talking.

Holiday in the Lake District

Matthias Scheler — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:09:18 +0000

After living in England for more than six years Silke and I finally made it to the Lake District, one of the country’s most popular holiday destinations. We spend the first week of September in Far Sawrey near Lake Windermere. The beauty of the landscape was breath taking as you can see:

In the following week we moved on to a dairy farm near Carlisle. From there we went on several excursions of Hadrian’s Wall’s.

Our dog Vader loved these adventure walks. He was almost flying up the hills.

If only his humans wouldn’t ask him to stand still for a photograph all the time.

It’s a Dog’s Life

Matthias Scheler — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:07:22 +0000

Our dog Vader has a very demanding schedule every morning:

Make sure that the humans get really out of bed when the alarm clock goes off.
Chase all the cats and birds out of the garden.
Get cuddled by the humans.
Remind the humans that it is time for his breakfast.
Wolf his breakfast down.
Have a nap while the humans eat their breakfast.
Go on a long walk and whiz around.

Afterwards Vader is always dog-tired and needs to retreat to the sofa for an extended break.

Poor dog … such a hard life.

A happy Year

Matthias Scheler — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 23:46:31 +0000

Last Monday we celebrated a special anniversary. Exactly one year ago Silke and I brought our dog Vader home with us. He was a shy puppy at first …

… and grew to be a friendly and charming dog.

Vader wraps everybody around his paw easily, except Silke and me of course … honestly.

Vader’s first Birthday

Matthias Scheler — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 23:00:11 +0000

Today is Vader’s first birthday. It is unbelievable how fast our little puppy …

… grew up to be a handsome dog:

We hope that we will celebrate many more birthdays with Vader.

Vader vs. The Funny White Stuff

Matthias Scheler — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 23:35:38 +0000

We had a little bit of snow overnight, not really more than a dusting of the landscape.

But for Vader, our cocker spaniel, it was something really exiting. He sniffed the whole lawn and even ate some of the funny white stuff. Finally he started running around like a bat out of hell and greatly enjoyed being chased by Silke and me.

We are not sure whether Vader has seen snow before but he definitely likes it. We are looking forward to see what he will do if we actually get a decent amount of snow. We will keep you posted when that happens.

Holiday in Cornwall

Matthias Scheler — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 23:05:25 +0000

After a trip to Wales earlier this year Silke and I visited Cornwall, another beautiful part of Britain, in the past week. Silke had rented us a nice cottage in the hills near the south coast.

Considering that it was early November we actually had very good weather. We took advantage of that and went on long walks with our dog Vader. He loved all the new locations full of exciting smells. He was constantly running up and down the hills and must have made at least twice our mileage.

We also visited the fishing ports in Polperro (very nice fish and chips in The Wheelhouse) and Looe (excellent Cornish Pasties in The Pasty Shop).

Back in our Cottage we enjoyed relaxing evenings in front of the fireplace.

Our week in Cornwall seemed to go by much too quickly. But at least we returned home happy and very relaxed.

Vader’s Puppy Foundation Assessment

Matthias Scheler — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:33:24 +0000

Our 8 month old Cocker Spaniel Vader passed his GCDS Puppy Foundation yesterday. He owes this award mostly to Silke‘s loving efforts to train him. She turned a bouncy puppy into a friendly and well behaved dog. Even cat owners like Vader.

And here is a picture of our award winning dog: